Should You Take Brain Supplements for Memory and Focus? Here’s How to Find Out Before You Spend a Dime
Do you know what a whole network of shy people is called?
A nervous system…
Unfortunately, I don’t think we have a treatment for that yet, at least not a physical one, but today I want to talk about some things we may have treatments for… or perhaps not. It’s really a little hard to say for sure.
That’s the crux of the problem, actually. I want to talk a little about brain supplements, which could be the next big thing to change the world… or not.
It really depends on what folks are taking, and what it really does… and that can be a hard thing to determine without running your own clinical study.
I think I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Let’s back up just a little bit and briefly touch on why someone might want to take brain supplements, and why the whole idea can be so confusing.
Why Take Brain Supplements?
I feel like this question answers itself, but the truth is that there are many possible reasons, and the ones you find most important will be different from the ones I might care about.
It could be to improve your memory, speed up your thinking, fight off brain fog, speed up your wit, or to help fight the early warning signs of dementia, just to name a few.
There are probably a thousand or more “brain supplements” out there, all with competing claims, and most without particularly great evidence because, in many ways, it’s an unregulated market.
While this suggests that a lot of the supplements may actually be less beneficial than they claim, that doesn’t mean that all of them are a waste of time. Some can be quite helpful.
The trick is in being able to tell the difference, and that’s what I really want to talk about today. How can we offer our brains a little something extra, without wasting our time and money on expensive supplements that will go right through us?
This topic has been covered before by actual experts and in more depth, so if you want to read the facts right from the specialists, you can find that online for free as well.
For now, I’ve got the short version to help us tell the best options from the bogus ones.
3 Big Questions To Ask Before Buying Brain Supplements
1. Was this supplement actually tested in people?
One thing I often remind people of is that “bleach or a handgun can kill cancer cells in a petri dish, so it’s super important that a product has been tested in humans before we give it credence and try it in our own bodies.”
Get Janet Klein’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
There’s nothing wrong with studies in animals or cell cultures — they’re an important stepping stone before doing human trials.
However, if they haven’t done human trials yet, you don’t want to be the test subject.
It’s also a good idea to make sure the test subjects were similar to yourself, because if they’re suffering from a different condition than you are, the treatment is likely to have different effects.
2. Was the dosage, timeline, and study realistic?
If you pop a tic-tac, then successfully answer a few questions, it doesn’t mean the tic-tac made you smarter… but some “studies” try to make claims along those lines.
It’s important to check the actual studies before you take a new supplement, look at the doses, how long they were taking them, and what tests were done at what points.
The best studies will take place over months or years, and a study that all happens in a single day isn’t likely to provide realistic results at all.
You should also check how many people were enrolled in the study, if it was blind, double-blind, had a control group, or used a placebo.
Lastly, check the actual outcome of the trial — how many people made it to the end, and what were the actual benefits that stuck around? That’s what really counts.
3. Did the study test what’s actually in the bottle?
This is an interesting one, and it’s often overlooked, because sometimes the studies these companies are using aren’t actually testing what they’re selling.
While they may have tested some part of what they’re selling as a finished product, often what you’re getting in the bottle is a compound where the “active ingredient” has been tested, but not the full compound itself.
This is simply bad science, and you shouldn’t fall for it, because the results could be far from what you’re actually expecting.
It’s never a good idea to take an untested compound, even if some individual ingredients have been tested by themselves.
Always check the studies they’re referring to, and make sure the ingredients used in the study match the ingredients on the label.
Our brains are a precious treasure, and I’m pretty sure we only get one each to last us for our entire lives.
It’s probably not a good idea to go bombarding them with untested supplements, so before you do, dig a little. Ask an expert. Read the label a second time, or a third.
Do some googling.
We can’t all be brain specialists, but we can do our due diligence before we take supplements that may or may not have even been tested in humans.
There are probably some great compounds out there to help with our brain health… I just wouldn’t trust that the labels have all the answers without questioning them first.
