A new HPLC method using charged aerosol detection was developed for the determination of terpene lactones in a Ginkgo leaf extract. The linearity of the standard curves was excellent (r>0.999). The repeatability of the method was less than 3%, and its reproducibility was less than 5% for each analyte. The limit of detection was between 0.087 and 0.45 microg/ml. The developed method was applied to the analysis of terpene lactones in Ginkgo leaf products distributed in the Japanese market. The results suggest that some health food products contained approximately equivalent amounts of terpene lactones to those in the medical product and that the proportion of terpene lactones varied in each health product.