When I was little, I used to help Grandpa and Mum gently hammer the
Gingko Biloba aka PAK GOU in Chinese in Mum's pestle and mortar. I have
to use the right force, too hard, and I mesh the expensive kernel, and
too lightly, the shell of the kernel won't crack open. Then we had to
gently peel the skin and finally remove the germ. It is this germ which
must be removed as it has a bitter taste and could be poisonous. These
are then used to make sweets or the filling for the Chinese Glutinous
rice dumpling, our CHUNG. It was tedious work and I vowed I would never
buy the stuff when I grew up.
My sister is a qualified
Chinese practitioner. Dad had mini stroke before he died, and I am
always interest in alternative medicine as a head knowledge.
Vascular dementia is caused by problems with blood circulation to the brain.
Most commonly, patients suffer a series of "mini strokes", which is
when there's a sudden blockage or a leak of blood to brain cells causing
them to die.This can affect a patient's memory, speech and cognitive
ability.
Researchers in Western Sydney are now embracing a
Chinese herbal extract that is showing promising signs of helping
improve the memory, and daily lives, of those with the condition.
Sailuotongm, or S-L-T, is in the final phase of trials here in Australia.
Chief Investigator of Researchers Dennis Chung, says the team at NICM
Health Research Institute will take advantage of this so called
"multi-target" approach of traditional medicine
"We have done
quite a range of pre-clinical lab studies which has shown that this
particular herbal extract can improve blood circulation to the brain and
actually can stop the blood from clotting, " Professor Chung said.
"There's no viable option for patients, at the moment, and we really
hope that we will be able to confirm the findings from phase two and
this will be the last part of the clinical development."
"We're
targeting mild to moderate (vascular dementia), it would be too hard if
in the advanced stage, so we're recruiting patients who have established
diagnosis of vascular dementia," says Professor Chung said.
"The
message is to be really open minded...because it’s herbal, there's
always people may not actually believe it works but there's lots of
science behind it."
Patients on the trial will take two
affordable tablets, twice a day, with each capsule made of three herbs -
Ginkgo, Ginseng and Saffron.
www.acupuncture.org.au
