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interventions / Ginkgo

Ginkgo: what the evidence actually shows

declining  ginkgo — memory claims faded after null prevention trials

Reviewer and governance status are shown on each atomic claim below.

What it is

Ginkgo is tracked as a health intervention in this evidence graph. Also known as: ginkgo biloba.

Studied forms and doses

No form-specific catalog record is available. This does not mean all forms are equivalent.

Mechanisms

Mechanistic plausibility is context, not proof that a clinical outcome improves.

No structured mechanism is recorded.

⚠ Safety in context

Products and verification

No product label snapshot is mapped in this released catalog. Ingredient evidence does not establish any bottle’s identity, potency, purity, availability, or value.

Evidence by outcome

inflammationgrade Bmoderate certainty— Systematic review and meta-analysis of 17 RCTs (1104 participants): Ginkgo biloba leaf extract significantly reduced serum CRP, IL-6, and TNF-alpha versus placebo. Effect on CRP was strongest at higher baseline inflammation (CRP ≥3 mg/L) and lower doses (<500 mg/day). One of the more consistent anti-inflammatory signals in this dataset.
cognitiongrade Clow certainty— no reliable benefit for preventing cognitive decline in large trials
moodgrade Clow certainty— Systematic review and network meta-analysis of herbal anxiolytics: Ginkgo biloba showed a modest anxiety-reducing signal among the herbs assessed, but the evidence base is heterogeneous and of limited certainty.
blood sugargrade Clow certainty— Meta-analysis: Ginkgo biloba extract significantly reduced fasting blood glucose and improved insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) versus control, plus reduced BMI and waist circumference, but did NOT significantly change HbA1c or fasting insulin levels — a partial biomarker signal, not comprehensive glycemic control.
joint healthgrade Dvery-low certainty— Narrative review: Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761) has demonstrated anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and chondroprotective properties in experimental and preliminary clinical research for knee osteoarthritis, but this is a synthesis of mechanistic and early findings, not a meta-analysis of controlled trial outcomes. Too preliminary for a confident effect estimate.

People say · Evidence shows

“Ginkgo prevents dementia and boosts memory”

aheadlargemarketing claim

What it probably doesn't do

Grade history

Re-review cadence: every 12 months (Grade A/B) · next scheduled by · methodology v1.

By outcome — the money pages

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More

sources: PMID:35781715 · PMID:26058281 · PMID:35378276 · PMID:42157337 · PMID:41425500

Cite this page

Citation is encouraged. The proposed reuse license is CC-BY-4.0; status: pending-governance-ratification.

Plain-text citation
Substrate. Ginkgo: what the evidence actually shows. https://evidencebased.info/interventions/ginkgo. Updated 2026-07-16.
BibTeX
@misc{substrate_ointerventionsginkgo,
  author = {Substrate editorial},
  title  = {Ginkgo: what the evidence actually shows},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://evidencebased.info/interventions/ginkgo},
  note   = {evidencebased.info}
}