by Comedian and actress Hannah Gadsby added her hit show Nanette which she recognized [pause for dramatic effect] “tired”. In a monologue that dealt with many hard truths, that one in particular hit home for me.
The common refrain is that many of us are exhausted, have trouble sleeping, can’t concentrate, and can’t even do simple tasks without procrastinating.
It’s no wonder then that a large and lucrative market has emerged dealing in so-called “natural” brain boosters; over-the-counter supplements, drinks and other products that claim to improve brain health and cognitive performance, sharpen memory, reduce fatigue, elevate mood, and even slow age-related neurodegeneration. Already worth US$2.2bn worldwide, according to some estimates, the market is expected to grow to US$4.4bn by 2032.
The list of brain-boosting ingredients in these products, from drinks to cookies, includes the familiar, such as caffeine, to the not-so-good; products like ayahuasca, ashwagandha, bacopa and L-theanine. Some are newly discovered, others have been used in traditional medicine for perhaps thousands of years.
But, as with so many over-the-counter products, there is a big question mark as to whether any of them have sufficient scientific evidence to support their claims.
Related: People who use ‘smart drugs’ do worse at complex tasks, study finds
The short answer, according to Professor Kaarin Anstey, director of the UNSW Aging Futures Institute, is no. “A lot of work has been done on supplements and the conclusion is that it’s not worth investing in supplements,” says Anstey.
This does not mean that chemicals and nootropic compounds found in foods or drinks do not affect the brain and central nervous system, as anyone who drank too much coffee or took a guarana energy drink had too much coffee. -based to try to draw the whole. -can witness a night work marathon. There is growing evidence that some plant-derived compounds affect the brain in different ways. Researchers are looking more closely at these mechanisms in the hope that age-related neurodegeneration and diseases such as dementia may be better prevented or treated. However, when it comes to enhancing a healthy brain with supplements, the gap between what scientific evidence suggests and what companies claim is particularly wide.
I can really avoid taking supplements because I am so aware of the lack of information.
To get a ‘natural’ brain-enhancing product listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, manufacturers simply need to show that all the ingredients are approved products in Australia; that they are manufactured in accordance with the principles of good manufacturing practice; and that the health claims made are within the ‘low level indication’ range set by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. This relates to claims such as helping to relax the mind, improve brain health, increase cognitive performance and reduce cognitive fatigue.
Companies are not required to provide evidence that the product does what they claim it does. This is a far cry from the stricter requirements for registered and prescription medicines, which are required to provide detailed clinical evidence of their effectiveness and safety before they are approved.
“I really avoid taking supplements because I’m so aware of the lack of information,” says neuropharmacologist Dr Katrina Green, from the University of Wollongong. Her research focus is ‘nutritional psychiatry’, looking for plant-based compounds that have any type of psychoactive effect and exploring the mechanisms of that effect.
That lack of information extends to understanding the full neurological effects of nootropics. “It is a psychoactive substance, but the regulations around these substances are much more relaxed, and we have very little idea of the effects it might have on the brain.”
Green is also concerned that many of these products are marketed to people in their late teens and early adulthood. “This is a period of time where the brain undergoes final maturation,” says Green. Using any neuroactive products, whether legal or illegal, during this time period, she says, could alter “the neurodevelopmental trajectory” in a way that could lead to illnesses further down the line. the track.
‘Nature may have better answers’
But the prospect of discovering new compounds that could change brain development, chemistry and function is exciting, especially with dementia being the leading cause of death in women and on track to be the same in men. Despite decades of research, there are still no effective treatments, let alone cures, for dementia.
Mental illness is also a modern epidemic – more than four in ten Australians have experienced mental health problems at some point in their lives, and 18% of Australians took prescribed mental health medication in 2021-22.
That’s what sparked Green’s interest in the field. She began her career studying conventional psychopharmacological therapies, such as prescription antipsychotics and antidepressants, but soon found this area of medicine blocked. “We basically haven’t progressed much since the fifties,” she says. “So I started thinking, maybe the traditional white powder kind is not the way to go, and maybe nature has better answers for us.”
One of her recent studies reported on the levels of neuroprotective compounds—in particular, ones that reduce oxidative stress, which is linked to inflammation—in foods including pomegranate queen plum, clove, elderberry, lemon balm and sage. This study suggested that many of these foods reduce the negative effects of oxidative stress on SH-Sy5Y nerve cells, help to strengthen these cells after experiencing oxidative stress, or neutralize the substances that caused the oxidative stress.
At the Queensland Brain Institute, neurophysiologist Professor Frédéric Meunier is investigating the nootropic activity of the Lion’s Mane mushroom – Hericium erinaceus. Even in the wonderful world of mycology, Mane Lion is an oddity – it looks a lot like a pink brain.
Meunier and his colleagues are treating cells from the hippocampus – the region of the brain associated with memory – with different compounds isolated from the mushroom, as well as feeding mice different concentrations of the mushroom.
Mice fed mushroom extracts were more curious and performed better on memory tests. But studies in mice do not predict human outcomes, and even so the study results are far from developing something that boosts cognition or memory, or prevents their age-related loss. However, Meunier hopes to establish a research center specifically focused on healthy brain aging, in order to identify and test compounds that improve cognitive retention, strengthening the brain against age-related declines.
One challenge with studying the potential benefits of nootropics is that even if they have a clinical effect, it is likely to be small, says Professor Nenad Naumovski, a researcher in human nutrition at the University of Canberra.
“With these types of products, it is very difficult to observe the very large physiological changes, as you would expect with medicines,” says Naumovski.
Instead, researchers are looking for clues in brain chemistry about smaller benefits that may build up over time, such as increased levels of antioxidants that people think may reduce the brain inflammation associated with so many diseases. reduce neurodegeneration, including dementia and multiple sclerosis.
One compound that is emerging as an interesting candidate is L-theanine. It is an amino acid – the substances known as the most common building blocks for proteins – and is found in very high levels in green tea, which also contains caffeine, although at lower levels than in coffee.
L-theanine, especially in combination with caffeine, is one of the most studied natural nootropics. Studies suggest that it can improve attention, memory and distraction levels.
“When it’s consumed, when it crosses the blood-brain barrier, it stimulates the production of alpha waves in the brain, and that’s also related to that feeling of alertness, but of relaxation,” says Naumovski. The combination of L-theanine and caffeine in green tea appears to be key, he says, because the L-theanine interacts with the caffeine to reduce its effect on heart rate but without the ‘kick’ reduce caffeine. Naumovski and his colleagues are also investigating whether L-theanine in green tea may have sleep benefits and are recruiting participants for a clinical trial called THESleep Project in Canberra.
Supplements v balanced diet
Perhaps the strongest evidence for the power and effectiveness of plant-based nootropics is when they are consumed in their original form – fresh fruits and vegetables, for example – as part of a balanced, healthy diet, says Anstey. “Fruits and vegetables are rich in nutrients that are neuroprotective,” she says, and have positive effects on almost every other aspect of health.
Like many quests for a magic bullet of medicine that will solve complex problems, such as mental exhaustion or dementia, the answer usually lies in following a healthy diet.
Green’s own research into natural nootropics influenced his dietary habits. She tries to include as many purple foods in her family’s diet, but she also focuses on putting a lot of different colored plant foods on the plate.
“It’s about modifying the trajectory,” says Anstey. “A healthy diet can slow down some of these processes or stop them from starting.”
