What food sources benefits offer over dietary supplements:

• Greater nutrition. Whole foods are complex, containing a variety of the micronutrients your body needs — not just one. An orange, for example, provides vitamin C plus some beta carotene, calcium and other nutrients. A vitamin C supplement lacks these other micronutrients.
• Essential fiber. Whole foods provide dietary fiber. Fiber, as part of a healthy diet, can help prevent certain diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and it can also help manage constipation.
• Protective substances. Whole foods contain other substances recognized as important for good health. Fruits and vegetables, for example, contain naturally occurring food substances called phytochemicals, which may help protect you against cancer, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Many are also good sources of antioxidants — substances that slow down oxidation, a natural process that leads to cell and tissue damage.

Ginkgo Biloba-one of dietary supplements that believed effective in reducing the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in older people. But according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Ginkgo Biloba fails to show its benefit.

The study was conducted primarily to determine if ginkgo biloba would decrease the incidence of all types of dementia and, more specifically, reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Secondarily, the study evaluated ginkgo biloba for its effects on overall cognitive decline, functional disability, incidence of cardiovascular disease and stroke, and total mortality. The primary endpoint was the diagnosis of dementia as determined by an expert panel of clinicians using standard criteria for diagnosis. The patients with a diagnosis of dementia underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans to determine their dementia type.

The principal investigator on the study said that the results of this study confirm the importance of randomized trials in the development of new therapies for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and in determining therapeutic benefit not only for conventional therapies but also complementary therapies like ginkgo biloba.

If older patients are considering using ginkgo biloba for preventing dementia, better they speak with their health care providers about the results of this study and work together to create the best treatment plan.