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American Morning

Study Finds Ginkgo Ineffective

Aired August 21, 2002 - 08:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to the natural treatments for two very different problems. They are on the doctor's plate for this morning's "House Call." First, if you have been taking ginkgo biloba to improve your memory, you may be wasting your money. And as women search for alternatives to hormone replacement therapy, what actually works?
Well, Dr. Gupta joins us live this morning with everything we need to know to help us get through the day -- hi, Sanjay. How are you doing this morning?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Absolutely. There has been dozens of studies on ginkgo, and certainly it gained a lot of acclaim just a few years ago when people found that perhaps it did improve the memory, improve the thinking in people that had problems with that, such as people with dementia, Alzheimer's, things like that.

Since then, it has really become a huge industry, a $46 million industry in the United States alone, and a lot of people have started to study it a little bit more closely. This particular study that is gaining so much attention now looks at 230 people; 115 were given ginkgo, 115 were given a placebo. All these people were elderly, over the age of 60 as the classify it, and had no problems, really. They didn't have any problems with memory or thinking, and what they found was that nobody had any difference either in the ginkgo or the placebo group. That is, they tested them before, they tested them after. They talked to their friends and relatives, said, Have you noticed any differences?

Really nothing was any different. Now, having said that, a lot of the supporters of ginkgo have come out and said, Listen, it's really hard to test these sort of things. You are testing people on memory-type things, and a lot of times people honestly forget. Sometimes they forgot whether or not they even took it, and it is really targeted towards people who have difficulty with memory in the first place. So a little confusing there, Paula.

ZAHN: Well how is it supposed to work? I have taken it, and I actually thought that I was more alert than probably I should have been, but explain to us what actually happens physically.

GUPTA: Like I said, it has been studied pretty closely, and let's look at this animation here really quickly. Basically, the thought behind ginkgo biloba is that it actually improves the blood flow to the brain. So these molecules actually get into the bloodstream and actually do something to increase the diameter of the blood vessels so that overall, when you look at the brain and measure the blood flow in it, you'll actually see more blood flow in the patients who have taken ginkgo biloba versus those who have not.

The hard part, then, is taking that information, Paula, and deciding whether or not that increased blood flow actually leads to improved memory, leads improved thinking abilities, things like that. They haven't been able to make that link yet, but they have been able to show this.

ZAHN: OK. On to a very controversial issue, and that is natural replacements for hormone replacement therapy. I know you have been inundated with e-mails, as I have, from women desperate to find the right answer as they go through menopause.

GUPTA: Yes, this is something we've talked about a lot. A lot of women approaching menopause. Now they are hearing pretty conclusively from large government organizations they should not be taking hormone replacement therapy long term.

So, without question, they started looking for alternatives. I get a lot e-mails, as you mentioned Paula -- here is one of them as well that I got from a woman specifically about this topic.

From Di Huffman, "Every doctor with whom I discussed menopause just pushed HRT and derided any homeopathic alternatives... I found an herbal remedy that eliminated 99 percent of my menopause symptoms. Shame on the medical profession that they have been so narrow minded and arrogant when it comes to women's health."

And this is a little bit extreme, Paula, but certainly I get a lot of e-mails like this, and people are very concerned about the fact that they haven't learned about other alternatives. I want to talk just briefly about some of those alternatives and say before that, these alternatives haven't really been studied yet. I think that they probably will be, given all the attention now focused on hormone replacement therapy.

But certainly, for the symptoms of menopause, most notably hot flashes, there are alternatives available. Let's just go through some of them here. Soy, for example, is one of them that a lot of women have talked about in the past. That comes in the form of things like edamame, red clover, things like that.

Black cohosh is something -- you probably haven't heard that term yet, but I think a lot of women will. This is something that a lot of women -- I see on the Internet, doctors especially pushing natural sort of herbal supplements, have talked about black cohosh. Dong quai is another one, evening primrose oil, kava kava. I actually bought some of these -- or my producer bought some of these this morning, they are not cheap. You can see them here, but they are somewhat effective, at least for some of the women anecdotally.

ZAHN: And the edamame is really good, you know how you do it? You boil it in rock salt.

GUPTA: Boil it in rock salt, and sprinkle a little salt on top. Eat the little soy beans. It's delicious, no question.

ZAHN: Do you know what particular alternative the woman was talking about who said it alleviated 99 percent of her symptoms? Did she say what she was taking?

GUPTA: She was talking about -- black cohosh was the one that she was talking about. And you know, I've talked to a few obstetricians and gynecologists who specialize in this area, and that is one that keeps coming up over and over in conversation as well.

ZAHN: Well, this is very helpful. At least it gives women some information that they can continue to pester their doctors with, because there's a lot of confusion and anger surrounding this issue.

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: That's right. And it needs to be studied. I think this is going to be a booming industry, and it's going to get studied, it's going to get studied.

ZAHN: Tell them to start the studies now, Sanjay.

GUPTA: OK, I will.

ZAHN: OK, we need that info. Appreciate your dropping by to dispense all that medical advice this morning.

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