More than 5 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that causes a progressive loss of memory and mental faculties. The number, however, is expected to grow in the coming years as the baby boom generation ages. By 2050, about 16 million people are forecast to have Alzheimer’s. Given the circumstances, scientists are trying to find ways to prevent the disease. Having a healthy lifestyle appears to significantly reduce such risk, but people need more than that.

Gingko biloba was believed the best solution for preventing Alzheimer’s disease, but a new study comes to contradict that. The study involved 3,069 people aged 75 or older. they were assigned either to 120 milligrams of gingko biloba on a daily basis or a placebo.

After six years, 523 study participants were diagnosed with dementia, 246 (16 percent) in the placebo group and 277 (18 percent) in the ginkgo group. The rate of Alzheimer’s disease did not differ significantly between the two groups, with 3.3 cases occurring for every 100 people treated with gingko biloba each year, compared to 2.9 cases in the placebo group. The study also found no effect on the progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

“We found that giving a standardized dose of ginkgo biloba over a period of time does not slow down the incidence rate of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Steven DeKosky, who was at the University of Pittsburgh when the study was conducted.

In fact, he added that people who are willing to continue taking the supplement “aren’t going to hurt themselves other than spending the money.”