Ginkgo Biloba, For Memory And, Uh, What Else Again?

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The 10almonds Team

Ginkgo biloba, for memory and, uh, what else again?

Ginkgo biloba extract has enjoyed use for thousands of years for an assortment of uses, and has made its way from Traditional Chinese Medicine, to the world supplement market at large. See:

Ginkgo biloba: A Treasure of Functional Phytochemicals with Multimedicinal Applications

But what does the science say about the specific claims?

Antioxidant & anti-inflammatory

We’re going to lump these two qualities together for examination, since one invariably leads to the other.

A quick note: things that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, often also help guard against cancer and aging. However, in this case, there are few good studies pertaining to anti-aging, and none that we could find pertaining to anti-cancer potential.

So, does it have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, first?

Yes, it has potent antioxidants that do fight inflammation; this is clear, from an abundance of in vitro and in vivo studies, including with human patients:

In short: it helps, and there’s plenty of science for it.

What about anti-aging effects?

For this, there is science, but a lot of the science is not great. As one team of researchers concluded while doing a research review of their own:

❝Based on the reviewed information regarding EGb’s effects in vitro and in vivo, most have reported very positive outcomes with strong statistical analyses, indicating that EGb must have some sort of beneficial effect.

However, information from the reported clinical trials involving EGb are hardly conclusive since many do not include information such as the participant’s age and physical condition, drug doses administered, duration of drug administered as well as suitable control groups for comparison.

We therefore call on clinicians and clinician-scientists to establish a set of standard and reliable standard operating procedure for future clinical studies to properly evaluate EGb’s effects in the healthy and diseased person since it is highly possible it possesses beneficial effects.❞

Translation from sciencese: “These results are great, but come on, please, we are begging you to use more robust methodology”

~ Zuo et al

If you’d like to read the review in question, here it is:

Advances in the Studies of Ginkgo Biloba Leaves Extract on Aging-Related Diseases

Does it have cognitive enhancement effects?

The claims here are generally that it helps:

  • improve memory
  • improve focus
  • reduce cognitive decline
  • reduce anxiety and depression

Let’s break these down:

Does it improve memory and cognition?

Ginkgo biloba was quite popular for memory 20+ years ago, and perhaps had an uptick in popularity in the wake of the 1999 movie “Analyze This” in which the protagonist psychiatrist mentions taking ginkgo biloba, because “it helps my memory, and I forget what else”.

Here are a couple of studies from not long after that:

In short:

  • in the first study, it helped in standardized tests of memory and cognition (quite convincing)
  • In the second study, it helped in subjective self-reports of mental wellness (also placebo-controlled)

On the other hand, here’s a more recent research review ten years later, that provides measures of memory, executive function and attention in 1132, 534 and 910 participants, respectively. That’s quite a few times more than the individual studies we cited above, by the way. They concluded:

❝We report that G. biloba had no ascertainable positive effects on a range of targeted cognitive functions in healthy individuals❞

~ Laws et al

Read: Is Ginkgo biloba a cognitive enhancer in healthy individuals? A meta-analysis

Our (10almonds) conclusion: we can’t say either way, on this one.

Does it have neuroprotective effects (i.e., against cognitive decline)?

Yes—probably by the same mechanism will discuss shortly.

Can it help against depression and anxiety?

Yes—but probably indirectly by the mechanism we’ll get to in a moment:

Likely this helps by improving blood flow, as illustrated better per:

Efficacy of ginkgo biloba extract as augmentation of venlafaxine in treating post-stroke depression

Which means…

Bonus: improved blood flow

This mechanism may support the other beneficial effects.

See: Ginkgo biloba extract improves coronary blood flow in healthy elderly adults

Is it safe?

Ginkgo biloba extract* is generally recognized as safe.

  • However, as it improves blood flow, please don’t take it if you have a bleeding disorder.
  • Additionally, it may interact badly with SSRIs, so you might want to avoid it if you’re taking such (despite it having been tested and found beneficial as an adjuvant to citalopram, an SSRI, in one of the studies above).
  • No list of possible contraindications can be exhaustive, so please consult your own doctor/pharmacist before taking something new.

*Extract, specifically. The seeds and leaves of this plant are poisonous. Sometimes “all natural” is not better.

Where can I get it?

As ever, we don’t sell it (or anything else), but here’s an example product on Amazon

Enjoy!

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  • Beat The Heat, With Fat

    The 10almonds Team

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Surviving Summer

    Summer is upon us, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere anyway, and given that nowadays each year tends to be hotter than the one before, on average, it pays to be prepared.

    We’ve talked about dealing with the heat before:

    Sun, Sea, And Sudden Killers To Avoid

    All the above advice stands this summer too, but today we’re going to speak a little extra on not having a “default body”.

    For much of medical literature and common health advice, the default body is that of a slim and/or athletic white cis man aged 25–35 with no disabilities.

    When it comes to “women’s health”, this is often confined to “the bikini zone” and everything else is commonly treated based on research conducted with men.

    Today we’ll be looking at a particular challenge for a wide variety of people, when it comes to heat…

    Beating the heat, with fat

    If you are fat, and/or have a bit of a tummy, and/or have breasts, this one’s for you.

    Fat acts as an insulator, which naturally does no favors in hot weather. Carrying the weight around is also extra exercise, which also becomes a problem in hot weather. Fat people usually sweat more than thin people do, as a result.

    Sweat is great for cooling down the body, because it takes heat with it when it evaporates off. However, that only works if it can evaporate off, and it can’t evaporate off if it’s trapped in a skin fold / fat roll.

    If you’re fat, you may have plenty of those; if you have a bit of a tummy (if you’re not fat generally, this might be a leftover from pregnancy, or weight loss, or something else; how it got there doesn’t matter for our purposes today), you’ll have at least one under it, and if you have breasts, unless they’re quite small, you’ll have one under each breast, and potentially your cleavage may become an issue too.

    Note: if you are perhaps a man who has fat in the place where breasts go, then medically this goes for you too, except that there’s not a societal expectation that you wear bra. Use today’s information as you see fit.

    Sweat-wicking hacks

    We don’t want sweat to stay in those folds—both because then it’s not doing its cooling-down job, and also, because it can cause a rash, and even yeast infections and/or bacterial infections.

    So, we want there to be some barrier there. You could use something like vaseline or baby powder, as to prevent chafing, but fat better (more effective, and less messy) is to have some kind of cloth there that can wick the sweat away.

    There are made-for-purpose curved cotton bands that exist, called “tummy liners”; here’s an example product on Amazon, or you could make your own if you’re so inclined. They’re breathable, absorbent, and reduce friction too, making everything a lot more comfortable.

    And for breasts? Same deal, there are made-for-purpose cotton bra-liners that exist; here’s an example product on Amazon, or again, you could make your own if you feel so inclined. The important part is that it makes things so much comfortable, because let’s face it: wearing a bra in the summer is not comfortable.

    So with these, it can become more comfortable (and the cotton liners are flat, so they’re not visible if one’s wearing a t-shirt or similar-coverage garment). You could go braless, of course, but then you’re back to having sweaty folds, so if you’re doing something other than swimming or lying on your back, you might want something there.

    Different hydration rules

    “People should drink this much per day” and guess what, those guidelines were based on, drumroll please, not fat people.

    Sweating more means needing to hydrate more, and even without breaking a sweat, having a larger body than average (be it muscle, fat, or both) means having more body to hydrate. That’s simple math.

    So instead, a good general guideline is half an ounce of water per your weight in pounds, per day:

    How much water do I need each day?

    Another good general guideline is to simply drink “little and often”, that is to say, always have a (hydrating!) drink on the go.

    Take care!

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  • Holistic Approach To Resculpting A Face Affected By Hypothyroidism, PCOS, Or Menopause

    The 10almonds Team

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Mila Magnani has PCOS and hypothyroidism, but the principles are the same for menopause because both menopause and PCOS are a case of a hormone imbalance resulting in androgenic effects, so there’s a large amount of overlap.

    Obviously, a portion of the difference in the thumbnail is a matter of angle and make-up, but as you can see in the video itself, there’s also a lot of genuine change underneath, too:

    Stress-free method

    Firstly, she bids us get lab tests and work with a knowledgeable doctor to address potential thyroid, hormonal, or nutrient imbalances. Perhaps we already know at least part of what is causing our problems, but even if so, it doesn’t hurt to take steps to rule the others out. Imagine spending ages unsuccessfully battling PCOS or menopause, only to discover it was a thyroid issue, and you were fighting the wrong battle!

    Magnani used a natural route to manage her PCOS and hypothyroidism, while acknowledging that medication is fine too; it’s usually cheaper and more convenient—and there’s a lot more standardization for medications than there is for supplements, which makes it a lot easier to navigate, find what works, and keep getting the exact same thing once it does work.

    Other things she recommends include:

    • Lymphatic drainage: addressing the lymphatic system to reduce puffiness. Techniques include lymphatic drainage massage, stretching, rebounding (trampoline), and dry brushing. She emphasizes that for facial de-puffing, it’s important to treat the whole upper body, not just the face.
    • Low-impact exercise: she switched from high-intensity workouts to low-impact exercises like nature walking and gentle stretching to reduce stress and improve health.
    • Nervous system regulation: she worked on nervous system regulation by means of journaling, breathwork, and stimulating the vagus nerve, which improved sleep and reduced stress and anxiety. These things, of course, have knock-on benefits for almost every part of health.
    • Diet: she adopted a low-glycemic diet, reduced salt intake, and cooked at home to avoid water retention caused by high sodium in restaurant meals.
    • Natural diuretics: she uses teas like hibiscus and chamomile to reduce puffiness after consuming high-sodium foods.
    • Sauna and sweating: consider a sauna mat or hot baths to detox and reduce swelling; that’s what she uses in lieu of a convenient sauna.

    You may be wondering how quickly you can expect results: it took 3–6 months of daily effort to see significant changes, and she now maintains the routine less frequently (every 2–3 days, instead of daily).

    For more on all this, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Take care!

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  • Red-dy For Anything Polyphenol Salad

    The 10almonds Team

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    So, you’ve enjoyed your Supergreen Superfood Salad Slaw, and now you’re ready for another slice of the rainbow. Pigments in food aren’t just for decoration—they each contain unique benefits! Today’s focus is on some red foods that, combined, make a deliciously refreshing salad that’s great for the gut, heart, and brain.

    You will need

    • 1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream (if vegan, use our Plant-Based Healthy Cream Cheese recipe, and add the juice of 1 lime)
    • ½ small red cabbage, thinly sliced
    • 1 red apple, cored and finely chopped
    • 1 red onion, thinly sliced
    • 10 oz red seedless grapes, halved
    • 10 oz red pomegranate seeds
    • 1 tsp red chili flakes

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Combine all the red ingredients in a big bowl.

    2) Add the crème fraîche and mix gently but thoroughly.

    3) If you have time, let it sit in the fridge for 48 hours before enjoying, as its colors will intensify and its polyphenols will become more bioavailable. But if you want/need, you can serve immediately; that’s fine too.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Hypertension: Factors Far More Relevant Than Salt

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The 10almonds Team

    Hypertension: Factors Far More Relevant Than Salt

    Firstly, what is high blood pressure vs normal, and what do those blood pressure readings mean?

    Rather than take up undue space here, we’ll just quickly link to…

    Blood Pressure Readings Explained (With A Colorful Chart)

    More details of specifics, at:

    Hypotension | Normal | Elevated | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Danger zone

    Keeping Blood Pressure Down

    As with most health-related things (and in fact, much of life in general), prevention is better than cure.

    People usually know “limit salt” and “manage stress”, but there’s a lot more to it!

    Salt isn’t as big a factor as you probably think

    That doesn’t mean go crazy on the salt, as it can cause a lot of other problems, including organ failure. But it does mean that you can’t skip the salt and assume your blood pressure will take care of itself.

    This paper, for example, considers “high” sodium consumption to be more than 5g per day, and urinary excretion under 3g per day is considered to represent a low sodium dietary intake:

    Sodium Intake and Hypertension

    Meanwhile, health organizations often recommend to keep sodium intake to under 2g or under 1.5g

    Top tip: if you replace your table salt with “reduced sodium” salt, this is usually sodium chloride (regular table salt) cut with potassium chloride, which is almost as “salty” tastewise, but obviously contains less sodium. Not only that, but potassium actually helps the body eliminate sodium, too.

    The rest of what you eat is important too

    The Mediterranean Diet is as great for this as it is for most health conditions.

    If you sometimes see the DASH diet mentioned, that stands for “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension”, and is basically the Mediterranean Diet with a few tweaks.

    What are the tweaks?

    • Beans went down a bit in priority
    • Red meat got removed entirely instead of “limit to a tiny amount”
    • Olive oil was deprioritized, and/but vegetable oil is at the bottom of the list (i.e., use sparingly)

    You can check out the details here, with an overview and examples:

    DASH Eating Plan—Description, Charts, and Recipes

    Don’t drink or smoke

    And no, a glass of red a day will not help your heart. Alcohol does make us feel relaxed, but that is because of what it does to our brain, not what it does to our heart.

    In reality, even a single drink will increase blood pressure. Yes, really:

    Alcohol Intake and Blood Pressure Levels: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Nonexperimental Cohort Studies

    And smoking? It’s so bad that even second-hand smoke increases blood pressure:

    Associations of Smoke‐Free Policies in Restaurants, Bars, and Workplaces With Blood Pressure Changes in the CARDIA Study

    Get those Zs in

    Sleep is a commonly underestimated/forgotten part of health, precisely because in a way, we’re not there for it when it happens. We sleep through it! But it is important, including to protect against hypertension:

    Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption

    Move your body!

    Moving your body often is far more important for your heart than running marathons or bench-pressing your spouse.

    Those 150 minutes “moderate exercise” (e.g. walking) per week are important, and can be for example:

    • 22 minutes per day, 7 days per week
    • 25 minutes per day, 6 days per week
    • 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week
    • 75 minutes per day, 2 days per week

    If you’d like to know more about the science and evidence for this, as well as practical suggestions, you can download the complete second edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans here (it’s free, and no sign-up required!)

    If you prefer a bite-size summary, then here’s their own:

    Top 10 Things to Know About the Second Edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans

    PS: Want a blood pressure monitor? We don’t sell them (or anything else), but for your convenience, here’s a good one you might want to consider.

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

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  • Sesame & Peanut Tofu

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The 10almonds Team

    Yesterday we learned how to elevate tofu from “nutrition” to “nutritious tasty snack” with our Basic Baked Tofu recipe; today we’re expanding on that, to take it from “nutritious tasty snack” to “very respectable meal”.

    You will need

    For the tofu:

    • The Basic Baked Tofu that we made yesterday (consider making this to be “step zero” of today’s recipe if you don’t already have a portion in the fridge)

    For the sauce:

    • ⅓ cup peanut butter, ideally with no added sugar or salt (if allergic to peanuts specifically, use almond butter; if allergic to nuts generally, use tahini)
    • ¼ bulb garlic, grated or crushed
    • 1 tbsp tamarind paste
    • 1½ tbsp tamari sauce (or low-sodium soy sauce, if a substitution is necessary)
    • 1 tbsp sambal oelek (or sriracha sauce, if a substitution is necessary)
    • 1 tsp ground coriander
    • 1 tsp ground black pepper
    • ½ tsp ground sweet cinnamon
    • ½ tsp MSG (or else omit; do not substitute with salt in this case unless you have a particular craving)
    • zest of 1 lime

    For the vegetables:

    • 14 oz broccolini / tenderstem broccoli, thick ends trimmed (failing that, any broccoli)
    • 6 oz shelled edamame
    • 1½ tsp toasted sesame oil

    For serving:

    • 4 cups cooked rice (we recommend our Tasty Versatile Rice recipe)
    • ½ cup raw cashews, soaked in hot water for at least 5 minutes and then drained (if allergic, substitute cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained)
    • 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
    • 1 handful chopped cilantro, unless you have the “this tastes like soap” gene, in which case substitute chopped parsley

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk well (or use a blender if you have one that’s comfortable with this relatively small quantity of ingredients). Taste it, and adjust the ingredient ratios if you’d like more saltiness, sweetness, sourness, spiciness, umami.

    2) Prepare a bowl with cold water and some ice. Steam the broccolini and edamame for about 3 minutes; as soon as they become tender, dump them into the ice bathe to halt the cooking process. Let them chill for a few minutes, then drain, dry, and toss in the sesame oil.

    3) Reheat the tofu if necessary (an air fryer is great for this), and then combine with half of the sauce in a bowl, tossing gently to coat well.

    4) Add a little extra water to the remaining sauce, enough to make it pourable, whisking to an even consistency.

    5) Assemble; do it per your preference, but we recommend the order: rice, vegetables, tofu, cashews, sauce, sesame seeds, herbs.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Cooking for Longevity – by Nisha Melvani

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The 10almonds Team

    Before it gets to the recipes, this book kicks off with a lot of science (much more than is usual for even healthy-eating recipe books), demystifying more nutrients than most people think of on a daily basis, what they do and where to get them, and even how to enhance nutrient absorption.

    As well as an up-front ingredients list, we additionally get not just meal planning advice in the usual sense of the word, but also advice on timing various aspects of nutrition in order to enjoy the best metabolic benefits.

    The recipes themselves are varied and good. It’s rare to find a recipe book that doesn’t include some redundant recipes, and this one’s no exception, but it’s better to have too much information than too little, so it’s perhaps no bad thing that all potentially necessary bases are covered.

    In terms of how well it delivers on the title’s promised “cooking for longevity” and the subtitle’s promised “boosting healthspan”, the science is good; very consistent with what we write here at 10almonds, and well-referenced too.

    Bottom line: if you’d like recipes to help you live longer and more healthily, then this book has exactly that.

    Click here to check out Cooking For Longevity, and cook for longevity!

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