June 22, 2004 – The vision of 27 people with glaucoma is said to have improved considerably thanks to the ingestion of an extract of ginkgo biloba, during a clinical study1 carried out in Italy.
This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study involving 16 women and 11 men of Italian descent, with an average age of 70.4 years. The participants all consumed 40 mg of a ginkgo biloba extract, or a placebo, three times a day for four weeks. At the end of this time, they observed an eight week cleansing period, then they changed groups.
Throughout the experiment, the researchers analyzed several parameters in the participants, including field of view and intraocular pressure, to name a few.
One constant then emerged: whether they started the experiment with the placebo or with the extract of ginkgo biloba, all saw their field of vision improve significantly as they consumed the extract. The placebo, for its part, had no effect on the patients’ vision.
Of note, the effects of ginkgo biloba wore off when people stopped using it. This suggests to researchers that the product should be taken long term to provide a long lasting effect.
Ginkgo biloba, however, did not reduce eye pressure. Unable to explain exactly how the extract works on the eye, they believe that ginkgo biloba could facilitate blood flow to the optic nerve and thereby improve vision.
Glaucoma is a disease that affects the optic nerve, often due to an abnormal rise in pressure in the eye. This condition mainly affects the elderly: 5% of people over 70 are affected, while in people over 80, this proportion rises to 10%. It is the second leading cause of blindness in the world after macular degeneration.
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
According to HerbalGram
1. Quaranta L, Bettelli S, Uva MG, Semeraro F, Turano R, Gandolfo E, Effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on preexisting visual field damage in normal tension glaucoma, HerbalGram No. 62, 2004, 30.
