Nature's "Brain Food" Also Improves General Circulation

Ginkgo leaf and its extracts contain several active constituents, including flavonoids, terpenoids, and organic acids.  Many ginkgo leaf extracts are standardized to contain 24-25% of the flavonoid glycosides and 6% of the terpenoids.  Although many of ginkgo's constituents have intrinsic pharmacological effects individually, there is some evidence that he constituents work synergistically to produce more potent effects together. 

Ginkgo's mechanism of action is still only partially understood, but it is known that ginkgo leaf flavonoids have antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties, which protects cells and tissues from oxidative damage.  Ginkgo biloba offers anti-inflammatory actions, and ginkgo also seems to improve blood flow to capillaries throughout the entire body, including the central nervous system, eyes, ears, extremities, and other tissues. 

Overall, ginkgo seems to increase cerebral and peripheral blood flow.  Symptoms of reduced blood flow to the brain are the same symptoms of age-related cognitive impairment and more serious dementia: memory and concentration difficulties, absentmindedness, confusion, lack of energy, depression, anxiety, dizziness, tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and headache.

By restoring blood flow to the brain, ginkgo often alleviates these symptoms, with studies showing improvement in short-term visual memory and possibly speed of cognitive processing in non-demented patients with age-related memory impairment.  Preliminary studies show that the same benefits can be realized by people under 50, with no complaints of memory impairment. 

Intermittent claudication (caused by decreased blood flow to the legs), visual impairment (resulting from free radical damage to the fragile capillaries of the eye), erectile dysfunction in men (due to inadequate blood flow), breast tenderness (from PMS), intolerance of cold temperatures -- in short, virtually any disease in which poor circulation is involved is likely to benefit from ginkgo biloba.