You probably know Ginkgo Biloba from your mother or grandmother’s overwhelming stash of herbal products at home. And like most people, you probably knew it either as a capsule, powder, or essential oil in amber glass jars that the old folks love to take every day.
But if there’s one thing that you need to know about this superfood, it’s that no matter in what form you take it, the pure Ginkgo Biloba goodness can do wonders for your body.
In this piece, we’re going to dig a little deeper into how Ginkgo Biloba extract can potentially help you manage some of the common health conditions.
But before we get to that, here’s a little refresher for those who are not familiar with Ginkgo Biloba.
What is Ginkgo Biloba?
The Tree
Ginkgo Biloba, also called the maidenhair tree, is a huge native tree with fan-shaped leaves that were originally from China. It’s the last surviving species of a large group of ancient trees. The Ginkgo Biloba tree is so old that some even call it a “living fossil” because it dates back 200 million years ago.
Just to give you some perspective, dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago. And these big boys are still standing tall to this day! In fact, a single tree can live up to a thousand years and grow up to 37 metres.
The Superfood
From traditional Chinese medicine to modern herbalism, Ginkgo Biloba is already a household name. It’s popular among herbalists and superfood enthusiasts, thanks to its links to some promising health benefits like memory enhancement and increasing sexual energy.
In ancient Chinese medicine, the Ginkgo Biloba extract came from the leaves and seeds of the tree. But in modern herbalism, the extract comes from the harvested green leaves of the tree.
After drying the leaves and extracting the good stuff from the Ginkgo Biloba, the extract is then processed into several forms like powdered extracts, capsules, and tinctures to suit the consumers’ preferences.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s go straight to the meat of this piece.
5 Health Benefits of Ginkgo Biloba
Ginkgo Biloba has been around for ages and has been used for several purposes as a great health supplement. And that’s all thanks to its promising health benefits. Below are only some of them.
1. aids in keeping the immune system in check
You’ve likely heard of antioxidants – they are commonly advertised as being present in a wide variety of foods and have health boosting benefits.
Antioxidants are vital to the body in that they help to protect against free radicals, which can cause a number of different illnesses and contribute to aging. Your immune system works pretty hard to produce wide blood cells which help to protect against these free radicals, however, we can always do with a boost of antioxidants to help the protection efforts.
The antioxidant compounds found in ginkgo biloba are believed to be just as strong, if not stronger, than those found in blueberries, and are very effective at rounding up these free radical cells. Which may help to improve the strength of the immune system and lower your chances of getting sick as easily.
2. It may help to fight inflammation
Inflammation can be a bit of a confusing topic. That’s because it is a natural defense the body uses during illness and injury. Essentially, inflammation is the process of the gathering of white blood cells to the injured or infected area, and they work hard to fight it off.
However, inflammation isn’t always a good thing, and some chronic illnesses can trigger it even when there isn’t an illness or injury present. This constant or excessive inflammation can lead to permanent damage to the body.
When it comes to ginkgo biloba, it has been linked to the reduction of inflammation in some conditions, including arthritis and irritable bowel disease. The effectiveness of ginkgo biloba and the reduction of inflammation has largely been studied with animals, though the data is encouraging.
3. Believed to improve blood flow and circulation
Traditionally, in Chinese medicine, the ginkgo seed was used to improve the energy flow to the different organs by “opening up the channels”.
What this meant was that it was believed to increase blood flow to throughout the body which may actually be related to some of the other health benefits that are attributed to ginkgo biloba.
By promoting the dilation of blood vessels, and improving the circulation of blood throughout the body, ginkgo biloba may be able to help improve poor circulation.
4. It's linked to promoting brain functioning
For the brain to function at its best, it needs glucose and oxygen to fuel it. Oxygen is delivered to the brain through the blood cells. And with ginkgo being linked to improved blood flow and circulation, links to ginkgo enhancing brain health have been made.
Some studies have shown that ginkgo may increase mental performance in healthy individuals, however, there haven’t been enough studies to guarantee this.
5. can potentially support eye health
The increased blood flow attributed to ginkgo biloba has also been linked to improving eye health.
When it comes to age related macular degeneration, some data has shown that some participants in a study experienced an improvement in their vision. The research in this area is in the very early stages, however, there are some positive signs.
Get your Ginkgo Biloba Extract at Superfoods Australia
If you’re convinced that Ginkgo Biloba is the missing superfood in your stash, lucky you! Our special Ginkgo Biloba extract that is harvested from the remote forests of Siberian Taiga is right at your fingertips.
If you are very specific with your diet and nutrition, our Ginkgo Biloba extract is purely made from Ginkgo Biloba leaves, no fillers, no binders, or artificial ingredients and colours. Just pure Ginkgo Biloba goodness.
You can simply order our Siberian Ginkgo Biloba Extract and we’ll deliver it to you wherever you are in the country! We accept Afterpay and Zip Pay for smoother transactions.
