Posted by Tom Matthews

> Hello fellow health nuts! I was wondering if anyone had information on
> taking ginkgo biloba if you have high blood pressure. Is it advised not to? Have
> any studies been done on it? I thought Ginkgo thinned the blood, improving
> circulation. Am I wrong?

You are right, except that "thinned the blood" is not really the correct
way to put it. Ginkgo reduces the clotting ability of the blood. There
is also evidence that it relaxes blood vessel walls under hypoxic
conditions which thus reduces blood pressure. There is no evidence that
ginkgo raises blood pressure under any conditions. Here are couple of
abstracts which answer your questions.

Hua Hsi I Ko Ta Hsueh Hsueh Pao 1996 Dec;27(4):415-7
[Effects of ginkgo plus on hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in rats].
[Article in Chinese]
Cheng D, Chen W, Yang X, Xiao X, Xu D
Department of Internal Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Chengdu.

We examined the effects of Ginkgo Plus on the pulmonary hemodynamics and
right ventricular hypertrophy in rats exposed to
isobaric chronic hypoxia. The rats treated with chronic hypoxia
developed pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular
hypertrophy. Ginkgo Plus reduced significantly the hypoxia-induced
increase of mean pulmonary arterial pressure and
pulmonary vascular resistance as well as the ratio of right ventricular
weight vs left ventricular plus septal weights. The results
suggested that Ginkgo Plus could relieve the hypoxic pulmonary
hypertension.

Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther Toxicol 1992 Mar;30(3):97-102
Hemorrheological and circulatory effects of Gincosan.
Kiesewetter H, Jung F, Mrowietz C, Wenzel E
Department of Clinical Hemostasiology and Transfusion Medicine,
University of the Saarland, Homburg-Saar, Germany.

Gincosan is a combined preparation containing 60 mg ginkgo biloba and
100 mg ginseng, standardized of 24% ginkgo flavone
glycosides and 4% ginsenosides. Hemorrheological and circulatory effect
as well as blood pressure behavior after the
administration of gincosan were studied in an acute trial on 10
voluntary subjects with a mean age of 26 years. Systolic blood
pressure decreased significantly both for the large-dose (120 mg ginkgo
biloba +200 mg ginseng) and low-dose administration
(60 mg ginkgo biloba +100 mg ginseng). Diastolic blood pressure and
heart rate decreased only in the high dosage group. The
pathologically increased spontaneous platelet aggregation is reduced by
both dosages. Erythrocyte velocity in nail fold
capillaries increased significantly only in the high dosage group. The
parallel group comparison of the high dosage and placebo
group showed that they differ only significantly concerning the
erythrocyte rigidity, erythrocyte velocity in nail fold capillaries
and spontaneous platelet aggregation. A trend towards a decrease in the
systolic blood pressure is revealed (p less than 0.1).

Arzneimittelforschung 1990 May;40(5):589-93
Effect of Ginkgo biloba on fluidity of blood and peripheral
microcirculation in volunteers.
Jung F, Mrowietz C, Kiesewetter H, Wenzel E
Department of Clinical Haemostasiology and Transfusion Medicine,
University of Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Fed. Rep. of Germany.

In a randomized placebo controlled single-blind cross-over study of n =
10 apparently healthy subjects the influence of Ginkgo
biloba (Kaveri) on blood fluidity and cutaneous microcirculation was
studied. Microcirculation was measured before and every
30 min for 4 h after administration of Ginkgo biloba; fluidity of blood
was determined before and after 1, 2 and 4 h. Significant
changes in blood pressure or heart rate were found neither during Ginkgo
phase nor placebo phase. Haematocrit, plasma
viscosity, erythrocyte rigidity, thrombocyte and leukocyte count as well
as thrombocyte aggregation and the number of
circulating thrombocyte aggregates were also not influenced by the
Ginkgo nor the placebo solution. In contrast a remarkable
influence on the erythrocyte aggregation was observed: comparing two
samples a significant decrease by 15.6% (p less than
0.001) with regard to the initial value was observed after 2 h. The
blood flow in the nail fold capillaries also increased
significantly by about 57% (p less than 0.004) 1 h after administration.

For other ideas on reducing blood pressure, see the Hypertension
protocol at: http://lef.org/protocols/prtcl-060.shtml

--Tom
Tom Matthews

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