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Home › Research › What the research found › Every row

Every row of the evidence table

One row per finding: what was tested, which way the result went, and how the study was built. The answer by area, and where the studies disagree, are on the main page.

Every row

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Area All 382 Care, carers and services 140 Medicines 85 Genes (not modifiable) 35 All modifiable factors together 27 Diet and supplements 23 Exercise and activity 21 Sleep, mood and social life 19 Hearing and vision 8 Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis 6 Infection and vaccination 5 Heart and metabolic health 4 Injury, delirium and falls 4 Environment 3 Cognitive activity 2
Question Both Prevention 190 Treatment 192
Direction Any Benefit 144 Harm 105 No effect 38 Mixed 37 No direction reported 58
Design Any meta-analysis 57 randomised trial 44 phase 3 trial 15 systematic review 9 phase 2 trial 10 cohort study 136 phase 1 trial 2 cross-sectional study 31 case-control study 14 modelling study 20 regulatory decision 7 company announcement 1 coverage determination 1 None 35
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Showing 2 of 382 rows. One row per study per exposure: a study that tested two different things appears twice, once for each.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Research and outcomes, 2 rows. Every row links to its source.
Exposure Question Direction Outcome measured Design People Effect size, as the source reported it Source
Ginkgo biloba Diet and supplements Treatment Mixed
why

In dementia there may be small-to-moderate benefits at six months (low-certainty evidence, I2 88-96%); in MCI ginkgo probably has little or no effect (moderate certainty); in subjective cognitive complaints the effect is very uncertain. Adverse events were similar to placebo.

 Global clinical status, cognition and activities of daily living at 6 months in dementia and in MCI; adverse events meta-analysis 10,613 Dementia Thirteen studies (3288 participants) compared ginkgo with placebo for dementia. At six months, low-certainty evidence suggests that people taking ginkgo may have better global clinical status on a six-point Likert scale (lower is better; MD -0.06, 95% CI -1.00 to -0.20; I² = 88%; 5 studies, 1359 participants), better cognition measured by decreases on a short cognitive performance test (Syndrom-Kurztest; MD -1.86, 95% CI -3.48 to -0.24; I² = 96%; 9 studies, 2801 participants) ... Mild cognitive impairment ... moderate-certainty evidence suggests that ginkgo probably has little to no effect on global clinical status measured on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (MD -0.03, 95% CI -0.06 to 0.01; 3 studies, 631 participants; I² = 0%) The Cochrane database of systematic reviews 2026
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41641880
Omega-3 / fish and fish oil Diet and supplements Prevention Mixed
why

The biochemical primary outcome was met (DHA raised the CSF DHA-to-arachidonic-acid ratio versus placebo), but there was no difference in cognition or brain volume over 24 months. The authors recommend against further supplementation trials of this kind.

 CSF DHA/AA ratio at 6 months (primary, target engagement); cognition and brain volumes at 24 months phase 2 trial 365 DHA supplementation increased CSF DHA/AA ratio at 6 months vs placebo (0.17 [95% CI 0.15-0.18] vs -0.02 [95% CI -0.04 to -0.0004]; difference 0.19 [95% CI 0.16-0.21]; p < 0.0001), independent of APOE ε4 status (interaction p = 0.71). Dropout was 38%, mainly due to COVID-19. No treatment differences were observed in brain volumes or cognitive performance over 24 months EBioMedicine 2026
✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 42315445

How this table was built, and where it is weak →