Do herbal supplements of Ginkgo biloba impact course of tinnitus?

Ginkgo biloba herbal extracts may be less effective than a placebo or may have no impact at all as a hearing aid, says an article published in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

People who experience tinnitus experience sound without any external source being present. It is frequently characterized as a whooshing, ringing, hissing, or buzzing sound. Between 5% and 43% of the general population are affected, making it a widespread condition whose incidence rises with age. Tinnitus can cause sleep issues (insomnia), difficulty focusing, communication and social interaction problems, anxiety and depression, and it can be chronic and bothersome for certain people. Education and counseling, relaxation therapy, tinnitus retraining treatment (TRT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), sound generators or hearing aids, and medication therapies are all possible forms of management. Ginkgo biloba, a herbal supplement, has also been employed.

In order to determine whether Ginkgo biloba lessens the severity of tinnitus and whether it has any unintended or harmful effects, Sereda M. and team conducted this study. Researchers sought for research comparing Ginkgo biloba to placebo (a "dummy" medication), no treatment, or only education/information in adults and kids with tinnitus. They evaluated our confidence in the evidence based on characteristics including how the research was conducted and the number of participants, and they compared and summarized the study results.

They key findings of this study were:

1. It was discovered that Ginkgo biloba may have little to no impact compared to placebo when the findings of two trials that examined the severity of tinnitus in the same way were pooled, however the data is extremely speculative.

2. Four trials that looked for any significant negative effects, all of which found none, suggest that ginkgo has no different risk profile from a placebo.

3. The included trials, however, did not examine Ginkgo biloba's possible negative effects when used in conjunction with other medications.

4. It's possible that Ginkgo biloba and a placebo have the same impact on tinnitus loudness.

5. However, this is very speculative. The possibility that alternative results might not vary was also discovered.

Reference:

Sereda, M., Xia, J., Scutt, P., Hilton, M. P., El Refaie, A., & Hoare, D. J. (2022). Ginkgo biloba for tinnitus. In Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Vol. 2022, Issue 11). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd013514.pub2