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Music Training and Ginkgo Biloba Benefit Memory
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| by Peter Barry Chowka |
| SOURCE: Natural Health Village News |
POSTED: 08/31/01 22:40:35 EDT |
Two recent studies in the mainstream scientific literature suggest that early music training and the popular herb Ginkgo biloba have benefits for human memory.
The Nov. 12, 1998 issue of the journal Nature published the results of a study by researchers at the University of Hong Kong. They gave a series of tests on verbal memory to 30 females who had had at least six years of music lessons before age 12, and 30 who did not have any music instruction. A typical test was to have the students listen to a list of 16 words and then try to recall as many as possible.
Agnes S. Chan and her colleagues at the university write, "We found that adults with music training learned significantly more words than those without any music training. Music training in childhood may therefore have long-term positive effects on verbal memory.'' Early music training, however, did not turn out to be associated with improved visual memory, such as reproducing drawings from memory.
The findings on music and verbal memory are consistent with the results of a 1995 study that compared MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans of the brains of musicians with non-musicians. As Chan and her colleagues note, the MRIs "show[ed] that the left planum temporale region of the brain is larger in musicians than in non-musicians. If this [difference] results from a change in cortical organization, the left temporal area in musicians might have a better developed cognitive function than the right temporal lobe."
The implication is that musical training might bring about changes in the function, as well as the structure, of the left temporal part of the brain. Since that area also handles memory for words, Chan and her colleagues speculated before beginning their study that people with musical training might have better verbal memory than people who have not studied music. The right temporal lobe handles visual memory, and the Hong Kong University investigators also had predicted that musicians and non-musicians would have a similar aptitude for remembering what they see. Both of these theories were borne out in the results of the Chan study.
Chan et al are planning follow-up studies to explore how the age when music training begins and its duration affect verbal memory.
In the Ginkgo study, a meta analysis (a review of four earlier published studies) on the herb was published in the November issue of Archives of Neurology -- one of the American Medical Association's publications that devoted significant space to complementary alternative medicine topics.
GinkgoGinkgo biloba, derived from a tree, has been used in Chinese medicine for 5,000 years and has become a best selling herbal supplement in the United States and abroad during the past half decade.
The authors of the study are Barry S. Oken, MD, Daniel M. Storzbach, PhD, and Jeffrey A. Kaye, MD of Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, OR. Their meta analysis of the earlier studies of Ginkgo, which involved a total of 424 Alzheimer's patients, found a small benefit for Ginkgo. The patients had been randomly assigned to take either Ginkgo biloba or an inert placebo. The meta analysis found that the patients who took the Ginkgo scored about 2 points -- or three percent -- higher on a memory test, the Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale cognitive subtest, compared with patients who were given the placebo.
The study's conclusion is that "Based on a quantitative analysis of the literature there is a small but significant effect of 3- to 6-month treatment with 120 to 240 mg of G biloba extract on objective measures of cognitive function in AD [Alzheimer's Disease]. The drug has not had significant adverse effects in formal clinical trials but there are 2 case reports of bleeding complications. . .Further research in the area will need to determine if there are functional improvements and to determine the best dosage. Additional research will be needed to define which ingredients in the Ginkgo extract are producing its effect in individuals with AD."
For more information,
The Efficacy of Ginkgo biloba on Cognitive Function in Alzheimer Disease Barry S. Oken, MD; Daniel M. Storzbach, PhD; Jeffrey A. Kaye, MD Arch Neurol. 1998;55:1409-1415
Music training improves verbal memory Agnes S. Chan et al Nature 396, 128 (1998)
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