Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair)

Available as cut dried herb and herbal tincture.

Please note this is a nutritional, functional horse food supplement and not veterinary medicine. See Dr Kellon's Horse Sense - 'Nutrition is not 'Alternative' Therapy.

Tincture

Our human-grade, certified organic tinctures give you a ready-to-absorb potent source of phytonutrients at the highest-strength available, for immediate absorption straight into the bloodstream and to the body’s cells.

100% certified organic pure tincture: Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair Tree) Leaf, Fresh Infused 1:3 25% , Organic Cultivated, Origin China

Feed Guide

• Horse - 30-40ml / Pony - 15-20ml, daily in feed.
• Always shake the bottle to disperse any sediment.
• 3-year shelf-life.

Dried Herb

Produced to ecological standards and free from agro-chemicals.

Certified organic dried herb: Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair Tree) Leaf , Organic Cultivated , Origin China

Feed Guide

• 5g/100kg bodyweight per day, thus for an average 500kg horse add 25g daily to feed.
• 1-year shelf-life.

Functional Nutritional Value

Constituents: Flavone glycosides, proanthocyanidins, and terpene lactones, quercetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin (including coumaric acid esters of flavonoids).

NB. Our range of botanicals are all grown, harvested and dried without the use of agri-chemicals, non-irradiated and GMO free - see our Quality page for Quality Management & Certification Documents. Laboratory tested for identification and compliance to the British and European Pharmacopoeia standards, and are human grade. Please be aware that if you're purchasing our dried botanicals for human use, our dried range is cut to appropriate sizes for feeding to horses.

More ...

The ancient ginkgo tree is well-known not only for its longtime medicinal use, but for its longevityas a species. It’s widely known as perhaps the oldest continuous species of any kind; fossils of the plant have been dated to over 250-million years old, making it likely that it could have been dinosaur food! It’s also unique among trees as it bears little genetic resemblance to any other tree.

Individual ginkgos are also known for their longevity, with some cultivated trees in China, Japan and Korea reaching over 1000 years old, though it’s not clear whether any wild trees still exist. It’s said that its tenacity to withstand huge geographical shifts and catastrophic events, from lightning strikes to nuclear radiation, point to its energetic and medicinal qualities. Fruehauf wrote that ‘Eyewitness reports from post-war Hiroshima and Nagasaki relate that it was particularly gingkos and cockroaches which thrived again soon in areas most affected by atomic bomb radiation.’

Ginkgo biloba is native to south-eastern China, and was traditionally cultivated around temples in China and in Japan.

The German botanist Engelbert Kaempfer, who encountered it in a Nagasaki monastery in 1691, introduced the tree to the Western world in his posthumous 1712 work, Amoenitatum Exoticarum. Before the end of the century, it reached the American colonies, first planted by William Hamilton in Philadelphia in 1784 (del Tredici, 1981).

Ginkgo leaf is primarily antioxidant, anticoagulant, and antithrombotic, a tissue perfusion enhancer, circulatory stimulant, nootropic, and anti-inflammatory. It’s also a powerful antioxidant, exhibiting powerful free radical scavenging activity.

Ginkgo has been shown to act potently on the circulatory system and on vascular tissue in many other ways. It has been shown to lower blood pressure by increasing the release of endothelium-derived relaxing factor and prostacyclin, causing vasodilation and improving the tone of blood vessels, making them more flexible and increasing capillary circulation. Its use improves membrane properties of red blood cells and inhibiting platelet aggregation, making it a useful prophylactic against atherosclerosis and thrombosis.

Because of its ability to increase blood flow to the head, ginkgo plays a valuable role in treating imbalances of the inner ear, including tinnitus, vertigo, and acute cochlear deafness caused by ischemia. Its circulatory and antioxidant qualities also may make it an effective treatment for early macular degeneration and glaucoma.

The medical literature shows ginkgo’s effectiveness in treating dementia in the elderly. Although there has been little evidence to support the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, ginkgo has been shown to enhance the memory and cognitive function in other forms of dementia and age-related cognitive decline in particular. It’s also said to be a valuable support for elders suffering from treatment-resistant depression. Ginkgo is said to sharpen mental focus by improving the synthesis and turnover of neurotransmitters, and normalizing ACh receptors in the hippocampus.

Ginkgo may also be helpful in treating type-II diabetes, increasing blood flow and tissue perfusion while simultaneously improving glucose utilisation. In general, conditions which can be improved by increased or enhanced blood flow suggest the usefulness of ginkgo leaf.

Ginkgo also has a beneficial effect on the lung and kidney channels as documented in Chinese medicinal practice, i.e. it modulates fluid balance, reducing cerebral and retinal edema. The combined result is increased bronchodilation, leading to a reduction in symptoms and improved peak flow rates. It’s also said to be useful for treating COPD, alongside liquorice.

We include Ginkgo in our BreathePlus, both CushTonics, EyeTonic, LymeCARE, MetaTonic, OptimaCARE, PollenTonic, and StressTonic blends.

Safety

• Because ginkgo acts as an anticoagulant, there has been concern expressed in the literature about its potential interaction with blood-thinning pharmaceutical drugs.