When Dr. Bin Ye of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and team, compared more than 600 women with ovarian cancer to 640 healthy controls, the investigators found that among the five most commonly used herbal supplements – ginkgo, echinacea, St. John’s Wort, ginseng, and chondroitin – only ginkgo was associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Dr. Ye’s team also found that exposing ovarian cancer cells to a low dose of ginkgolide for 72 hours slowed their growth by 80 %.
These findings suggest that ginkgo biloba protects against ovarian cancer.