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Gingko Biloba: For Being Kind To Your Brain Lobes

Going With The Ancient Flow

After the destruction of Hiroshima during the second world war, six trees remained. Of the two tree varieties that endured, one was Gingko Biloba. Known for resiliency, the strength of this ancient tree and their leaves is just as miraculous in its remedying ability for human healing. No matter our age, the benefits of these powerful leaves help us to be as resilient and resistant to malaise as they are themselves to disease and insect invading. They share their strength with us, with powerful abilities to improve our memories, immunity, circulation, breathing, and help us reach a life that is more healthy.


Kind To Your Lobes: Healing The Brain With Biloba

Gingko’s name is a reference to the bi-lobing of its leaves, which creates a two fan shape, mirroring the lobes our own brains. This shape is the perfect pairing for their phytochemical—‘plant helper’—profile with healing properties for rebuilding and protecting our neurons and neural membranes. The leaf has the ability to alleviate malaise for mental well-being from the every day headache, all the way to fluid retention, and to severe brain toxicity, as well as the miraculous ability to improve memory impairment for humans suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The neural benefits are helpful for all ages, whether as a preventative to neural degeneration, for improving cognition and memory today, or to help remedy already accrued damage of great strain and disease. As one doctor said of the leaf, gingko is one of the rare botanicals that is just as powerful for both those who are in pain as it is for those who are caring for those who are suffering.


For The Everyday Brain

For the reduction of headaches caused by stress, gingko can calm the brain after vessel constriction from unforeseen and intense events, through its ability to increase cerebral circulation, as well as soothe the brain after hormonal responses, returning the mind to equilibrium and homeostasis. If your headache is caused by too much circulation instead, the leaf can also reduce the increase of fluid in the brain, maintaining healthy flow by not only regulating the expansion of constricted blood vessels, but when needed, by also helping in their bandwidth reduction to keep them toned. Gingko works in this way as circulatory regulation and mitigation. For dizzy spells, the leaf can help to maintain equilibrium to reduce vertigo.


Happy Hippo[campus]

Gingko improves cognition, and increases neurotransmitter activity by supporting brain receptors in our hippocampus. The leaf helps increase neuronal transmission, and increases replenishment of cerebral neuromediators, helping our synaptic links keep flowing and working through the protection of healthy brain fats with the prevention of lipid oxidation—simply, preventing brain disrepair to help you to think! Gingko’s cognitive enhancing abilities source from their phytochemical profile, complete with neuroprotective properties. A brain flow enhancer through increased circulation, the leaf helps brain receptors receive signals, reverses the loss of serotonin levels (the chemical related to our mood, sleep, and well-being and feeling of being happy) which can be lost during aging, and can also help with depression and anxiety from youth through old age by increasing blood flow to the brain.

Some of the most profound neural remedying effects have been observed in those with advanced age, especially those with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. For Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, gingko was shown to improve memory, attention, cognitive abilities, as well as social functioning, helping patients reconnect with other human beings.


Oldest News: Ancient Nootropic—Cognitive Enhancer

Through cognitive enhancing abilities, gingko leaves can help with ADHD, autism, generalized anxiety, and depression through neurotransmitter support, by increasing circulation, and reducing constricting cerebral spasms--which can be especially helpful for those with cognitive sensitivities. The plant's phytochemical flavone is especially powerful to prevent cognitive decline in the elderly. However, the plant’s eponymous gingkolides are the special key to brain support. Gingkolides A and B, as well as bilobalide, serve as neuroprotection for our brains. The leaf helps increase memory performance and learning capacity, as well as inhibits the reduction of brain receptors, by preventing choline uptake. Cholines are important for fat transport and healthy neurotransmitters [think of the important Omega 3] for our brains, in the happy hippocampus with the help of these leaves. For stroke victims, the leaf has demonstrated increased cerebral blood flow, motor recovery, intellectual performance, memory, and mood improvement.


Circulation Remediation

To prevent clotting, gingko works as an anti-thrombotic to inhibit platelet aggregation and adhesion, and prevents cell destruction to protect against hemolysis by supporting red blood cell membranes. The leaf is also anti-ischemic for supporting proper circulation throughout the body, important for fluid flow for stroke prevention, as well as anti-edematous to help prevent edema—excessive fluid retention. Through vasodilation, the leaf is able to promote microcirculation by opening smaller arteries, blood vessels, and capillaries, which reduces blood pressure. Gingko offers the best of both worlds—or both lobes—because as aforementioned in the brain, this circulatory modulation benefit works all throughout the body, relaxing vessels in the midst of spasms, as well as strengthening vessels through tissue-protective mechanisms which can increase tone as necessary to prevent overly relaxed fluid flow and permeability. Through metabolic and neuro-mediated pathways, gingko helps to regulate arteriolar and venular tone, keeping the tone of cells for healthy increase or restriction of flow. In traditional Chinese medicine, this is why the leaf was used to open channels of energy, and through the flow of such energy, or ‘qi’, help promote movement for healing throughout the body, because this flow is essential for the release of toxins, prevention of blockages, and consistent healing cycling. This ancient gift of traditional medicine applications for improved circulation has remained unchanged, promoting the flow to reduce inflammation and keep the body in healthy homeostatic motion.


Breathing With The Leaves

Traditionally used to help with asthma and bronchitis, gingko has been shown to increase oxygenation through the toleration of hypoxia—low access to oxygen—by promoting oxygen uptake in tissues. As resilient as their tree is through the flames, the leaf demonstrated the miraculous ability to help human beings ascend the world’s highest peak. Perhaps this is the most telling study revealing the strengthening power of this leaf. On a climb up the Himalayas, one of—if not the—greatest physical challenges on the planet for our bodies, some climbers in the group took gingko, while others went solo without biloba. None of the gingko climbers experienced acute mountain sickness, which results in headache, dizziness, and shortness of breath, compared to almost half of the solos without biloba. More, around fifteen percent of the climbers with gingko experienced altitude sickness in terms of respiration ailment, compared to about eighty percent of the solos without biloba. The gingko climbers were protected in cold-related circulatory problems as well, against symptoms like numbness and tingling. Whether you are climbing the world’s highest peak, or trying to keep healthy climbing throughout your everyday life, gingko provides the support you need.


Enlightening The Leaves’ Mechanisms: Phytochemicals

The antioxidant profile of gingko is another one of the keys to the healing power of this remedying leaf. The rich flavonoid complex, a potent antioxidant, is able to help deactivate toxin oxygen radicals as you breathe. Another powerful flavonoid in the leaf is quercetin, a polyphenol, which reduces allergic responses, as well as increases immunity. The antioxidants within the leaf protect from free radicals, inhibiting the radicalization of lipids to prevent peroxidation—the degradation of fats which can create malaise—and support neurotransmission within the brain. The proanthacyanid complex found in berries and grapes also serve to protect against bacterial infections as antioxidants, and help support the heart to prevent disease. As mentioned, the most unique phytochemical in the leaf, ginkolides, are neuroprotective to help our brains retain memory and cognitive ability.

Gold for Young, Middle-Aged and Old, The Miraculous Bi-lobe

From a tree that withstood the darkest days of war, this resilient leaf was also used to help remedy human beings who survived disaster after the unthinkable—radiation exposure from Chernobyl. Not only surviving their own extreme trauma, these trees that begin spare and feeble but that grow to be so strong have the power to profoundly help heal the trauma of others, and support human beings.

This is why gingko is a leaf of hope, a leaf of resilience, and a leaf of remediation that helps us to believe in our own ability to heal. For going back to the flow, like ancient medicine traditions taught us, healing our energy, and healing our bodies, one in the same.


Resources:

- Winker, M.A. 1997. Aging: A global issue [Editor's Note]. JAMA 278(16):1378b.

- Van Beek, T.A., E. Bombardelli, P. Morazzoni, F. Peterlongo. 1998. Ginkgo biloba L. Fitoterapia 49(3):195244

- Roncin, J.P., F. Schwartz, P. D'Arbigny. 1996. EGb 761 in control of acute mountain sickness and vascular reactivity to cold exposure. Aviat Space Environ Med 67(5):44552

- https://www.herbalgram.org/resources/expanded-commission-e/ginkgo-biloba-leaf-extract/

- https://thenaturopathicherbalist.com/herbs/g-h/gingko-biloba/

- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ginkgo-biloba-benefits#TOC_TITLE_HDR_10

- https://www.rjwhelan.co.nz/herbs%20A-Z/ginkgo_biloba.html