What the evidence actually says
Not one compound sold for memory has strong evidence in healthy adults. We read the trials, name the population every effect was found in, and say plainly when the honest answer is that nobody has studied it.
See the tier list → I have brain fog →Where do you want to start?
Three ways in, depending on what brought you here. Pick the one that matches your question.
Something is wrong with my head
Fog after meals, on night shifts, on no sleep, or with bloodwork that came back normal. Start with the situation, not the supplement aisle.
Does this ingredient do anything?
Forty compounds rated by evidence tier, each with the dose the trials used and the population the effect was found in. Almost nobody publishes that table.
Is this safe with my medication?
Blood thinners, SSRIs, thyroid medication, surgery. We separate documented interactions from case reports from theory — and we never sell anything on a safety page.
Why this site reads differently
Most pages about brain supplements exist to sell one. That shapes everything about them: the effect is always real, the population is never named, and the trial that found nothing is never mentioned. We went the other way. The most valuable sentences here are the ones that say something doesn’t work — two enormous ginkgo prevention trials that failed, a cocoa flavanol trial with no cognitive effect, a court that ordered a memory-supplement marketer to stop making its claims.
We do earn a commission when someone buys through a link on some of our pages, and we think you should know exactly where that happens. There are no product links at all on interaction pages, safety pages, debunks, or anywhere the honest answer is “see a doctor”. How we rate the evidence · Editorial policy · Affiliate disclosure
★ The three formulas that survived the filter
We audited 27 brain-supplement offers. Twenty-four failed on disease claims, invented doctors, undisclosed doses or red-list ingredients. These three passed — each with a caveat we state up front rather than bury. The three links below are affiliate links: we earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you, and it does not change what we write.
One of the few formulas in the audit that publishes a full dose panel. Its bacopa is 300 mg standardised to 50% bacosides — the actual trial dose, not a symbolic pinch.
Worth knowing: the bacopa is at the full dose the trials used, which is the reason to consider it. The PQQ sits at 10 mg where the trial used 20, so we would not buy it for that ingredient.
Creatine monohydrate at 5,000 mg — a real dose of the one compound with a genuine, if modest, cognitive meta-analysis behind it. No exotic botanicals, no proprietary blend, no disease claims.
Worth knowing: prices move between the offer page and the brand’s own store, so it is worth a thirty-second price check before you commit — a subscription is usually the cheaper route.
Nine botanicals, none of them on the regulatory red list, and — unusually for its format — no disease claims and no invented origin story.
Worth knowing: it lists its nine botanicals but not the amount of each, so we can vouch for what is in it and not for how much. If you want a published dose panel, Neuro-Thrive is the one that gives you one.
The nine ingredients that got the other twenty-four rejected →
Latest guides
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- Multivitamin vs Nootropic Stack: Which Has Better Evidence?A plain daily multivitamin has the largest replicated positive cognitive result in this field (COSMOS); most nootropic stacks have none. The evidence compared side by side.
- MemoryFuel Reviews: Ingredients, Price and What the Evidence SaysMemoryFuel is a creatine-based memory powder with no proprietary blend. Its doses vs trials, price, 90-day guarantee and red flags on the seller’s page, checked 30 September 2026.
- Neuro-Thrive Reviews: Doses, Price and What the Evidence SaysNeuro-Thrive prints every dose on its label, which few brain supplements do. Doses vs trials, price, 60-day guarantee and safety caveats, checked 30 September 2026.
- NeuroPrime Reviews: Ingredients, Price and What the Evidence SaysNeuroPrime lists nine botanicals and no per-ingredient doses. Price, guarantee, red flags and what the evidence says, checked 30 September 2026.
- The Caffeine Nap: A Protocol With Real Evidence
The caffeine nap: 200 mg of caffeine, then a 10-20 minute nap. What the driving-simulator trials found, and what it cannot do.
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The symptom
Brain fog · Red flags · Sleep debt · After eating · Normal bloodwork
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Myths & debunks · Evidence guides · Labels & buying · Without supplements · NeuroPrime · Neuro-Thrive · MemoryFuel