Gingko Biloba

by LE VERT, SUZANNE

• ISBN13: 9780440226253
• ISBN10: 0440226252
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 1998-11-10
• Publisher: Dell

Summary

Do you want to improve your concentration? Boost your energy? Fight aging? Ginkgo biloba, an extract from the oldest tree in the world, can increase your brain function and offer a wide range of benefits--from better sexual performance to higher test scores! Used in China for centuries, this potent herb has undergone rigorous clinical studies that prove its astounding effectiveness. Authoritative and completely up-to-date, this remarkable guide brings you in-depth information on ginkgo biloba, a powerful natural aid for health and healing. Discover: Greater intelligence--a boost for academic and career performance, the right supplementation provides better short-term memory and concentration at any age An effective antidepressant--no side effects, no "downside," the special properties of ginkgo biloba may be your natural alternative to prescription drugs One of the world's most potent antioxidants--a ginkgo biloba "plus" that slows aging and keeps you young Circulatory health--the secret of ginkgolides for improved tone of blood vessels and protection against heart attack and stroke Male potency--exciting news about ginkgo biloba and men's sexual health And much more!

Author Biography

Glenn S.  Rothfeld, M.D, M.Ac., was a clinical fellow at Harvard University School of Medicine after his training in family medicine.  He has also been trained in nutritional and herbal medicine and has a master's degree in acupuncture.  He is the founder and medical director of Spectrum Medical Arts in Arlington, Massachusetts, one of the nation's first medical practices to combine conventional and alternative approaches.  Currently, he is the regional medical director for American WholeHealth.  He is also a clinical assistant professor of community medicine and family health at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.  Dr. Rothfeld is the author of four books on natural medicine and has written numerous articles for medical journals and health magazines. &

Excerpts

Ginkgo Biloba: An Ancient Tonic for Health and Longevity

Eons ago, when the first ancestors of humans noticed that chewing certain  leaves seemed to give them extra energy or protect them from sickness, the  field of herbal medicine was born. Through much of recorded history people  looked to the plant world to provide them with medicines as well as food,  shelter, and clothing. Folklore was built around the healing powers of  certain herbs. Wars were fought over ownership of ginseng, a medicinal  herb grown in the Orient, and over camellia sinensis (tea), an herbal  beverage plentiful in the East Indies. Holy men and women revered the  ginkgo biloba trees, protecting and cultivating them on the grounds of  their Chinese and Japanese temples. Healers learned to prepare herbs in  every manner from teas and infusions to poultices, washes, and tinctures.  And no garden was complete without the beauty of healing herbs like  echinacea, lavender, and feverfew.

Then came the machine age, and with it the ability to create out of  chemicals what once was the province of nature. Following their successes  providing Civil War soldiers with battlefield medications, pharmacists  like Squibb and Eli Lilly started to produce medications and taught  doctors how to use them. New drugs were more powerful, but also more risky  and more expensive. Though many drugs were based on natural plant  components, they usually were altered so that the potency was heightened,  and the balance of natural ingredients was eliminated. Medical schools  graduated generations of doctors who relied heavily on these drug  therapies, and the pharmaceutical companies were constantly producing new  ones. Currently, of the 200 most commonly used medications, fewer than 20  were developed before World War II.

But in the last few years, a movement has begun in medicine to turn again  toward our natural world and seek answers to what it might hold. Just as a  sprout of grass might grow up through a concrete sidewalk, so has herbal  medicine reasserted itself in the arena of healing choices. But there is a  new twist to the current use of herbal medicine (also called phytomedicine  or botanical medicine). That is, the state-of-the-art science that has  driven our pharmaceutical industry now analyzes the active components of  herbs to standardize them, to produce them in mass quantity and in easily  dispensed forms like tablets and capsules, and to hold them up to the  light of clinical and experimental trials and studies.

More and more, drug companies are looking into the use of herbs either as  primary medications or as sources of new ideas in drugs. Several of the  larger companies have bought herbal firms or have started their own. Some  herbs, like taxol and vincristine from rain forest areas of South America,  have been found to have anticancer properties. Other substances, like  Mexican yam and aloe, have been used in the production of new types of  medications. And the search has been on for the active ingredients of  herbs, so that new forms of these herbs can be produced that don't rely on  the brewing of teas or the chewing of leaves.

Nowhere is this new type of herbal medicine more evident than in the  exploding use of ginkgo biloba extract. Not that ginkgo itself is new. In  fact, as you will read in this book, ginkgo is well over 2,500 years old.  And its powerful effects on the mind and body have been known for almost  as long. The ancient Chinese physicians, who explored hundreds of herbs  and used them in their treatment of patients, knew of the ways that ginkgo  could be used in the aiding of memory and mental clarity.

It was the growth of phytomedicine in Europe, however, that brought  ginkgo biloba into prominence. Using a standardized extract form that  allows the prescriber to give the exact same thing in every capsule,  European researchers performed dozens of studies on the herb. Their  remarkable findings are chronicled in this book. For ginkgo has potent  effects on several of the major organ systems of the body.

Millions of prescriptions are given for GBE (ginkgo biloba extract) every  year in Germany and other European countries. The majority of those are  given to patients over the age of 60. In study after study, GBE was found  to improve circulation to the brain and enhance cognitive function,  memory, and clarity, just as the Chinese physicians knew centuries ago.  Even Alzheimer's disease seems to be slowed in some cases by the judicious  use of ginkgo. In Germany, GBE is prescribed as a medication, paid for by  insurance companies, and considered a first-line treatment in the care of  the geriatric population.

But one doesn't have to be elderly to derive benefits from ginkgo. Even  young people have been shown to improve test scores and their ability to  perform intellectual tasks when given GBE. And there seems to be a  separate action on mood, so that ginkgo can have an antidepressant effect.  As such, it's frequently given with another herb, St. John's wort, in the  treatment of mild depression. With antidepressant medications, ginkgo  seems to be helpful in modifying side effects, and can be used safely in  combination with these drugs.

Ginkgo biloba also seems to have powerful effects on the immune and  clotting systems of the body. It is an inhibitor of something called  "platelet-aggregating factor," which plays a major role in the  inflammatory process, and the stress response generally. Thus, ginkgo can  be useful in many of the illnesses in which stress and inflammation are  issues. In the following pages, information can be found on the usefulness  of ginkgo in such varied illnesses as asthma, heart disease, and  allergy.

The positive uses of ginkgo in heart disease warrant their own chapter.  In clinical studies, ginkgo has been shown to improve circulation to the  brain, to the heart, and to the legs. Much of the problem in  atherosclerotic circulatory disease involves an abnormal clotting in the  arteries, leading to blockage of the circulation. Ginkgo biloba has been  shown to lessen that clotting, and to improve clinically the symptoms of  poor circulation.

One of the most exciting aspects of the new style of natural medicine is  its emphasis on health and on maximizing our potential, rather than merely  treating a severe illness. It has been the style of modern medicine up to  this point to wait until a disease process was far along, then treat the  symptoms of that disease with powerful drugs. Now comes a new style, which  is being called "integrative medicine" or "complementary medicine." This  new field encompasses herbal medicine but also nutritional medicine  (sometimes called "functional medicine"), exercise, relaxation therapies  like yoga and meditation, and ancient systems of healing like acupuncture  (Chinese medicine).

So taking ginkgo biloba extract might be an early step toward a healthier  mind and body, but it is by no means the only step. In the following  pages, we have reviewed the principles of good diet and nutrition. We have  stressed the importance of exercise and staying active in the maintenance  of good health. We have looked at stress and its myriad effects on the  body and on the mind. And we have suggested ways of responding to the  stresses of life that tend to wear us down.

Unfortunately, the same blessing that has given us the strong medications  that we rely on for long, healthy life spans has cursed us with a reliance  on a quick pill or capsule to solve all of our ills. Nature does not work  that way, or presumably pills would be sprouting from the ground instead  of whole leaves, roots, and stems. Our prehistoric ancestors had the same  physiology and anatomy as we do, and while our lives are very different,  it is sometimes helpful to look at their lifestyle for guidance.  Paleolithic man was physically active for five to six hours per day, ate  freshly found food, slept from sundown to sunup, and spent most of his  time in an unstressful environment punctuated by times of acute stress  (usually caused by a mastodon or other prehistoric beast bent on dinner).  And he relied on the herbal plant life around him for its healing  properties.

We have no mastodons to run from, but we have a constant parade of the  small stresses of life: the traffic jams, squabbles, deadlines, and family  angst. We eat foods from different continents in the same meal, fast foods  that sit under a heat lamp all day, processed foods that didn't exist 50  years ago. We are proud of ourselves if we exercise for 20 minutes three  times per week. And we toss and turn all night, or stare at the TV far  into the evening. We may share physiology with our ancestors, but we share  very little of their lifestyle.

However, we can share with them the use of plants and trees around us to  assist in our quest for health. And at the same time, we can rely on the  best modern science to ensure that those plants and trees provide us with  herbs that are potent, reliable, and efficacious. Today's herbal medicine  is a true blending of the ancient and the modern, of the past and the  future. And ginkgo biloba, the most ancient of herbs, is appropriately  leading the way toward this new vision of healing.

Glenn S. Rothfeld, M.D. M.Ac. and Suzanne LeVert

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Excerpted from Ginkgo Biloba: An Herbal Foundation of Youth For Your Brain by Glenn Rothfeld, Suzanne LeVert
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.