London, Jan 28 (Inditop.com) Top-selling herb Ginkgo biloba, used to treat a wide array of health problems, is likely to increase the risk of seizures among epileptics and even curtail potency of anti-seizure drugs, according to research.
The study also suggests that eating raw or roasted Ginkgo seed or drinking tea prepared from Ginkgo leaves may even have harmful effects in other people.
Eckhard Leistner of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universit�t, Germany, and Christel Drewke note that consumers use pills, tea, and other products prepared from leaves of the Ginkgo tree to treat health problems like Alzheimer’s disease and other memory loss, clinical depression, headache, irritable bladder, alcohol abuse, blockages in blood vessels, poor concentration and dizziness.
Scientific concern focuses mainly on one chemical compound in the herb. It is a potentially toxic material known as ginkgotoxin.
They reviewed scientific research on Ginkgo and found 10 reports indicating that patients with epilepsy who take Ginkgo products face an increased risk of seizures.
They note that lab studies explain how Ginkgo could have that unwanted effect. Ginkgotoxin seems to alter a chemical signalling pathway in ways that may trigger epileptic seizures.
Further evidence showed that Ginkgo can interact with anti-seizure medications and reduce their effectiveness, said a release of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
“Contrary to our own previous assumption, we are now convinced, however, that G. biloba medications and other products can have a detrimental effect on a person’s health condition,” the report concludes.
“It is, therefore, important that the large number of G. biloba product users and their health care providers be made aware of these risks, in order to enable them to make informed decisions about the use of these preparations,” it says.
The reports appeared in the Journal of Natural Products, an ACS publication.
