Saturday, October 5, 2013

Ginkgo: Hello Autumn!


 Ginkgo biloba ©Am Ang Zhang 2013

Ginkgo biloba ©Am Ang Zhang 2013

Ginkgo biloba ©Am Ang Zhang 2013

Ginkgo biloba ©Am Ang Zhang 2013

Ginkgo biloba ©Am Ang Zhang 2013

Ginkgo biloba ©Am Ang Zhang 2013

Ginkgo biloba with its romantic botanical history is no longer the Dementia buster it promised to be. (Those who know of the village in Japan where there are loads of Ginkgo trees could have told you that. The village has the highest Alzheimer rates in Japan.)




June 3, 2013
Following a government report that the herbal ingredient Ginkgo biloba causes cancer in lab animals, the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest is urging the Food and Drug Administration to prohibit its use in foods and dietary supplements. The watchdog organization says the FDA should give the industry a reasonable time to comply with such a directive and then seize whatever products remain on shelves to protect consumers.

A March report from the National Toxicology Program found "clear evidence" that Ginkgo caused liver cancer in mice and "some evidence" that Ginkgo caused thyroid cancer in rats. Researchers from NTP told the New York Times that the number of cancers found in the mice exceeded the numbers ever seen before in their lab. While the supplement industry argued that the NTP used an extract of Ginkgo not used in supplements sold in the United States, the NTP says the composition of the extract it tested falls within the range of what is sold.


"It used to be the case that the only problems associated with Ginkgo were the unfounded and deceptive claims by manufacturers that it helped memory," said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. "Now we know these make-believe benefits are far outweighed by a real risk of cancer."

Looks like the living fossil that lasted 270 million years is going to last a little bit longer and perhaps there was a reason it lasted this long!
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