Herbal treatments may soon overtake conventional medication altogether, for a new study revealed ginkgo may help treat multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

Ginkgo has been used for thousands of years by the Chinese as an herbal remedy for a variety of health conditions. It contains flavoglycosides, which are potent antioxidants that have been shown to have neuroprotective effects in animal models of spinal cord injury.

Further, ginkgo has terpene-lactones that block a substance known as platelet activitating factor -- important in regulating blood vessel function as well as mediating inflammation and the sticking of inflammatory cells to blood vessels.

Gingko's Benefits on MS Patients

MS patients have long suspected that ginkgo improves disease symptoms. And thanks to the results of a 39-patient trial including:

Twenty patients who received ginkgo.
Nineteen who received a placebo.
... researchers discovered that ginkgo improved the attention spans of MS patients who suffer from cognitive impairment, and with minimal side effects.

While there were no differences on baseline performances in a string of neuropsychological tests among the two groups, researchers did find the ginkgo group was four seconds, or about 13 percent, faster than the placebo group in a "Stroop" test -- a color/word test that measures attention as well as planning, decision making and controlling goal-directed behaviors.

During the Stroop test, MS patients were shown colored boxes and asked to identify the names of the colors they saw. They were then shown the names of colors printed with different-colored inks (i.e. the word blue would be printed in yellow) and asked to read the word. Last, patients were instructed to describe the ink used for each word. According to researchers, the differences in results from the Stroop would be comparable to variances in scores between healthy people ages 30-39 and those 20 years older.

Based on these findings, ginkgo will remain as one of the many weapons in the arsenal for fighting MS.

Oregon Health & Science University April 27, 2005