One of the things I always really enjoyed about erowid was the experience reports section for different compounds. I’ve added a section to all Nootropics pages for anecdotal/experience reports on SN. I’d love to have your help in getting your feedback and personal experiences to attempt to build up this database, as I think it can be a very good resource to see what commonly works, what commonly doesn’t, etc.

So, to help out, please visit the main Noots page (http://www.smarternootropics.com/table-of-contents/) and then choose the noots you have experience with, click on that page, then scroll down to just above the comments and you’ll see a section that says “Experience Reports” and submit your report.

Please feel free to leave me feedback about what you like/don’t like, or if you think this is a terrible idea for some reason feel free to critique in the comments below.

I ordered some from AwakeBrain.com, which doesn’t look like the most reputable vendor but was the only one selling it. It was also very expensive ($65 for 25 tablets), which is most likely not worth it.

Shipping was quick. The bromantane arrived within 3 days of me placing my order. It appears they ship from Pennsylvania.

Top of package showing pills:

Back of package showing labelling:

So it appears to be legitimate. Shipping was quick, although the product was very expensive.

The website, Piracet.am seems to have been set up very recently and that this is a new company. I put in my order for the tablets to see what the deal was. Almost a month later my box has arrived. Interesting pieces to note:

1. The customs declaration was… creative. I won’t post it here.
2. It shipped from Delhi, India, and took about 3 weeks
3. Fapiram is not a product that seems to show up in any google search
4. The Fabino website is entirely made up of dead links

With those two things said, the sample was free and appears to be either of good quality or a very detailed fake. If it’s a fake, someone went through a lot of effort, so I’m inclined to believe it’s legitimate, although without actual chemical analysis (I do not have the tools on hand) I cannot definitively say one or the other.

Fapiram-800 tables, top of box:

Front of box – Piracetam Tablets 800mg. Fapiram-800 Tablets. Fabino:

Side of the box with ingredients:

Reverse side of box with batch #s, Mfg dates, etc.

Top of box with capsules:

Tablets in blister pack:

Back of blister pack:

Maven Labs sent us a sample to test and review for a month; before we discuss the results of the trial, here’s a break down of the ingredients and dosages of Brainstack:

GPC Choline (175 mg)

Huperzine A (150 mcg)

Hericuium Erinaceus (300 mg)

L-Theanine (120 mg)

Caffeine (60 mg)

Bacopa (200 mg)

Pterostilbene (50 mg)

Mucuna Pruriens (200 mg)

GABA (200 mg)

Vitamin B-6 (15 mg)

Vitamin B12 (100 mcg)

Acetyl-L Carnitine HCL (300 mg)

GPC Choline (175 mg): included to “enhance memory, mental focus, attention and cognitive ability.” GPC has demonstrated benefits in patients for orientation, attention, memory, language, and mood most research has been done around those with degenerative cognitive diseases and did significantly benefit memory and other cognitive measures. Is GPC Choline effective: Yes [1]

Huperzine A (150 mcg): Included to “enhance memory, cognitive function, and have neuroprotective effects”. Huperzine A is derived from the Hupertzia Surrata, which has been used by Chinese herbalists and healers for centuries as a fever reducer and an anti-inflammatory. Huperzine A is an alkaloid compound that has been proven to be a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor and a very useful tool in combating cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s. Is Huperzine A effective: most likely, yes. [2]

Hericuium Erinaceus (300 mg): Included to “enhance focus, memory, increase nerve repair, detoxes liver, ward off alzheimer’s, regulate blood sugar and cholesterol levels.”  Results obtained in studies suggest that Hericuium Erinaceus (Yamabushitake mushroom) is effective in improving mild cognitive impairment. It stimulates nerve growth factor. There have been several different compounds synthesized from the Yamabushitake mushroom that have shown positive results in preventing cell death and retarding the progression of Alzheimer’s. Is Hericuium Erinaceus effective: yes. [3]

L-Theanine (120 mg): Included to “improve focus, sleep, immune system strength and blood pressure control.” An Amino acid most commonly found in Green Tea, L-Theanine has been shown to decrease serotonin levels, Blood pressure, and increase Alpha brainwaves, which are associated with Human relaxation. It also has a synergistic effect with caffeine.  Is L-Theanine effective: yes. [4]

Caffeine (60 mg): Included to “enhance focus, enhance memory, increase stamina, detox liver, ward off Alzheimer’s, increase mental stamina, and ease depression.”  Probably the most well known ingredient in Brain stack, caffeine has well known effects.  While I didn’t find much proof that caffeine eases depression, my research did inform me that Caffeine does have some detoxifying effect on the liver. However, that research points towards those effects come from caffeine in conjunction with coffee not other drinks.  Is caffeine effective: yes. [4]

Bacopa (200 mg): Included to “increase brain function and memory.” Studies suggest that the use of Bacopa can help memory retention, specifically in people ages 40 – 65. It’s also been helpful in the reduction of beta-amyloid deposits in animal brains inflicted with Alzheimer’s. Is Bacopa effective: yes. [5]

Pterostilbene (50 mg): Included to “fight off and reverse cognitive decline, lower blood lipids, and lower cholesterol.” pterostilbene has been shown to be a potent modulator of cognition and cellular stress. Is Pterostilbene effective: yes. [6]

Mucuna Pruriens (200 mg): Included to “boost energy levels, focus, concentration and promote deep sleep.”  Mucuna pruriens can significantly restore the endogenous levodopa, dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin content in patients. Nicotine adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and coenzyme Q-10, that are shown to have a therapeutic benefit in Parkinson’s disease, have been found present in the Mucuna pruriens. Is Mucuna Pruriens effective: yes. [7]

GABA (200 mg): Included to “promote deep sleep, calmness, lucid dreaming, and reduce anxiety.” Previous studies revealed that various GABA agonists and the GABA uptake inhibitor tiagabine promote deep sleep in young individuals and/or rats. Is GABA effective: GABA was decreased from 300mg in the original formula to 200mg in the current formula. GABA does not cross the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB), but the people at Maven Labs claim that many consumers stand by it’s usefulness and that other research claims that GABA can affect the brain through channels other than the BBB. We are highly skeptical. [8]

Vitamin B-6 (15 mg): Included to “increase energy, regulate mood and proper brain development.” Vitamin B-6 is proven to be essential in metabolic processes of Amino acids, hemoglobin synthesis, gene expression and more. Is vitamin B-6 effective: yes. [9]

Vitamin B12 (100 mcg): included to “decrease fatigue, decrease lethargy, and decrease stress.” vitamin B₁₂ (Cobalamin) in the form of hydroxocobalamin or cyanocobalamin injections has been widely used to treat chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Hydroxocobalamin is a nitric oxide scavenger and is proposed here to act as such a scavenger in CFS treatment. Is Vitamin B12 effective: yes, while it’s not in the form of hydroxocobalmin, Vitamin B12 is well-known supplement. [10]

Acetyl-L Carnitine HCL (300 mg): included to be “a powerful anti-oxidant and reduce fatigue.” Statistical analysis shows significant effects of Acetyl-L Carnitine HCL’s treatment of fatigue, in particular in patients with Multiple Sclerosis related fatigue. However, it is important to note that many media sources are currently accusing Carnitine of potentially being a causative agent of cardiovascular disease. [11]

Maven Laboratories seems to have put together a good comprehensive Nootropic with a heavy roster of well-tested compounds. Many of Brainstacks ingredients are seen in other well-trusted nootropics and is comparable in price to products like Alpha Brain. All of the BrainStack ingredients fall under the DSHEA guidelines for a supplement, and most have clinical trials to back them up.

Sources

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11190987

2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8701750

3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18758067

4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18641209

5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12093601

6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21982274

7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15548480

8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1571855/

9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0003054/

10. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155210

11. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15616239

Nootropic Effects From Your Food!

At this point you probably have heard a lot of talk about nootropic chemicals and how they
can affect your body to give you a boost both mentally and physically. My question to you
what is causing us to need this boost in the first place? As humans have evolved, wouldn’t
we have evolved with these chemicals in our daily life to use them? Well, we did! Many of
these chemicals are also available in foods and plants that our individual native cultures grew
up eating and drinking. If you think back to what you already know about how you give your
body the edge mentally and physically you should come up with a few things quickly. Coffee,
proteins, and sugars are probably some of the first that came to your mind and these do have
the effects individuals are often looking for. The next question then becomes how can you
optimize your food intake to get the best nootropic effects.

After you have read 3 Nootropics Everyone Should Know About you have already had a brief
introduction to two commonly used nootropics that are made from two B vitamins, choline and
B-6. Choline is really the hard hitter here and it is essential to optimize the amount of choline
your body has, regardless of your desire for its nootropic effects or not. Choline is part of the
most common neurotransmitter in your body, acetylcholine, and as such is involved in a wide
variety of pathways in the body. It also has a large impact on transportation of fat molecules
in and out of cells, bringing nutrients and removing waste, supporting cellular metabolism and
membrane fluidity [1].

Choline deficiency is not uncommon. If your body is low in choline you may experience
insomnia, fatigue, kidney and nerve-muscle problems, as well as fat accumulation in your
blood. Don’t some of these symptoms sound like reasons you would turn to nootropics? These
symptoms can occur from a diet low in choline containing foods. Choline is made of three
molecules: vitamin B-3, folic acid, and the amino acid, methionine. If we are low in any of these
three molecules our body will not be able to self-synthesize choline and we will start to notice
many of the symptoms that cause us to turn to using nootropics. So how can we make sure to
get enough choline, methionine, B-3, and folate in our diet?

When it comes to getting choline from your foods there is one thing to remember. Choline
breaks down with high heat so avoiding over cooking to get the most choline from your food.
The highest dietary compound containing choline is lecithin, a food additive from soybeans.
The highest whole food sources are eggs, 112mg/egg, shrimp, 92mg/4oz, and collard greens,
60mg/cup cooked. The average adult female is recommended to have 425mg a day and, for
males, 550mg. On the other end, toxicity symptoms of high levels of choline are common when
supplementing with 5-10g a day. A suggested upper limit is set at 3.5g a day by the National
Academy of Science where a risk of blood pressure lowering effect starts to show up, which
may not be a risk but a benefit to some. It would be hard to reach toxic levels by eating whole

food sources of choline. Focusing on eating more foods high in choline can give you the edge
that you can also receive with supplementation, without worry of hitting a toxic level [1]. It is
also important to make sure you get enough of the three molecules that make up choline. Of
them, methionine does not have recommendations by the Nation al Academy of Science. It
found highest in eggs, fish, and sesame seeds [2].

Niacin, or vitamin B-3, is not known for its association with the nervous system or cognitive
function. It is however, known to affect the bodies overall energy levels. Niacin is essential
to the body to convert your food into usable energy. The highest niacin containing foods are
chicken, tuna, and turkey, containing between 40-80% of your daily needs in one serving. If
you are a meat eater you should then have no trouble getting enough niacin in your diet. A
vegetarian may have more trouble getting enough of this nutrient if they are not eating a
proper diet. The highest niacin containing plant foods are a few specific mushrooms, raw green
peas, and raw asparagus with each only having between 5-17% of your daily needs in one
serving. Again, cooking alters the availability of the niacin in the food, specifically within plant
food [3]. The National Academy of Science now recommends, for the average adult male, 12mg
a day, and females, 11mg, of niacin [4] (in 1998 it was recommended for males to have 16mg
and females 14mg [3]). A tolerable upper limit to niacin supplementation is 35mg per day and
no upper limit has been determined for whole food sources [3].

Folate is one nutrient that has been specifically linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other
dementia related symptoms. When receiving high enough levels, folate works as a preventative
measure against dementia. Signs of deficiency in folate include irritability, mental fatigue,
forgetfulness, depression, insomnia, and fatigue, general and muscular. These are very similar
to our choline deficiency symptoms and reasons for taking nootropics. Beans are the winners
here with the highest daily values being lentils, pinto, and garbanzo beans, all 70-90% of your
daily need in one serving, spinach coming next at 65% and only more beans and greens to
follow. Folate is key to the development of the nervous system of children while still in the
womb. This is why so much of our food is already supplemented with added folate. Eating
enough beans and green vegetables gets you the amount you need [5]. The National Academy
of Science recommends all average adults have 320 micrograms a day and for pregnant
females, a much higher, 520 micrograms a day [4].

For more information on where to find whole food sources of these and other nutrients visit
The World’s Healthiest Foods at www.whfoods.org

Jillian Carnrick is a practicing clinical herbalist, nutritionist, and personal trainer in Maryland.
For support with finding the right diet and lifestyle plan to meet your individual needs please
visit www.thedancingherbalist.com or contact Jillian at thedancingherbalist@gmail.com.

Sources

1. http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=50
2. http://www.iom.edu/Activities/Nutrition/SummaryDRIs/~/media/Files/

Activity%20Files/Nutrition/DRIs/5_Summary%20Table%20Tables%201-4.pdf
3. http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=83
4. http://foodinfo.us/SourcesUnabridged.aspx?Nutr_No=506
5. http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=63

Alpha Brain ingredients at a glance:

• Alpha GPC
• Huperzine A
• Vinpocetine
• AC-11
• Phosphatidylserine
• Bacopa
• Pterostilbene
• L-Tyrosine
• L-Theanine
• Oat Straw
  
• Vitamin B-6

Alpha GPC
There is a lot of evidence to support that Alpha GPC increases acetylcholine levels in the brain, most of this evidence comes from research to help treat cognitive problems and certain types of amnesia.  Alpha brain claims the increase in acetylcholine is what causes dreams to be more lucid and vivid. There isn’t large study to confirm it’s affect on REM sleep but testing on lab mice shows Alpha GPC does counteract the decrease of acetylcholine in the hippocampus and cortex. Is Alpha GPC effective: It does seem effective in increasing levels of acetylcholine in the brain.

Huperzine A
The Huperzia Serrata a type of Chinese moss that Huperzine A is derived from has been used by Chinese herbalists and healers for centuries as fever reducer and an anti-inflammatory. Huperzine A is an alkaloid compound that has been proven to be a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor and a very useful tool in combating cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s. Is Huperzine A effective: Yes

[Editor's Note: it's come to our attention that Huperzine A may not be safe to take on a daily basis]

Vinpocetine
There aren’t a huge amount of clinical trials with Vinpocetine. There is one that studied the ability to increase blood flow to the brain in stroke victims, while the results weren’t hugely significant it did show that Vinpocetine increased blood flow more than the placebo administered. Is Vinpocetine effective: Possibly but not enough evidence to say conclusively

AC-11
a water soluble compound derived from Cat’s Claw or Una de Gato. AC-11 and other derivatives from Cats claw like C-Med-100 have been shown to reduce cell damage and cell death from harmful elements like UV exposure. AC-11 is able to regulate both anti-inflammation and DNA repair simultaneously, making it a perfect candidate for care products like sun screen and other forms of cancer prevention. Is AC-11 effective: It would seem that it is effective in DNA repair yes

Bacopa
Studies suggest that the use of Bacopa can help memory retention, specifically in people 40 – 65. It’s also been helpful in the reduction of beta-amyloid deposits in animal brains inflicted with Alzheimer’s. Is Bacopa effective: yes

Phosphatidylserine
A Phosphilid species associated with multiple membrane related functions including cell excitability and communication. Phosphatidylserine also plays some role in the regulation of neuroendocrine responses that release acetylcholine, dopamine and noradrenaline. is Phosphatidylserine effective: yes

Pterostilbene
Has a good amount of clinical studies to support it’s claim as an antioxidant and free radical scavenger. is Pterostilbene effective: yes

L-tyrosine
An amino acid that has been used in clinical studies dealing with weight loss, stress relief and mental disorders. Most studies have dealt with L-tyrosine’s role in the production of dopamine. is L-Tyrosine effective: Yes

L-Theanine
An Amino acid most commonly found in Green Tea. L-Theanine has been shown to decrease serotonine levels and increase Alpha brainwaves which are associated with Human relaxation. Is L-Theanine effective: yes

Oat Straw
There are lots of Claims of Oat Straw lowering cholesterol naturally and as an anti-stress medication used to treat hypertension and insomnia but there is little clinical evidence to back any of these claims up.  It is one of the lower ingredients on the list and even if it does not do what it claims by Alpha Brain I can’t imagine it’s addition being harmful in any way. Is Oat Straw effective: can’t say for sure not enough backing information

Vitamin B-6
The most well known ingredient on the list, Vitamin B-6 is essential in metabolic processes of Amino acids, hemoglobin synthesis, gene expression and more. Is vitamin B-6 effective: yes

Anecdotal Evidence:
I’ll say that the two or three days I took Alpha Brain I did feel more focused and energetic although I never experienced any of the lucid dreaming or heavy REM sleep experiences, I also don’t exercise regularly enough to know first hand if it was helpful in that regard.

Conclusion:
The science behind Alpha Brain seems legit.  Doing the research certainly piqued my interest and makes me consider trying the supplement again. Every ingredient on the list save for Oat Straw seems to have several clinical trials under it’s belt. The majority of the ingredients all have a history of being used to help find more effective treatments for mental disease, in particular many of the substances are used to help combat Alzheimer’s. I’d say that if your interested in trying a Nootropic and you have the money to spend on AlphaBrain then it’s a worthy investment.

[Editor's Note: There is some speculation that Huperzine A might not be healthy to take on a daily basis, so please research Huperzine A further before taking Alpha Brain]

Smarter Nootropics has been discussing whether or not to include or promote banners on the website. We’ve done a lot of research into it, and it’s been on our radar. I want to be entirely transparent with the community and readership (you) about what goes on here at Smarter Nootropics. I have no wish to push things down anyone’s throat, or attempt to deceive them for money.

Here’s the pro and con list we put together regarding this decision:

Downsides?

• Putting banners on the site could potentially make us look less professional
• It could cause us to look like corporate shills
• It could cause our readership to lose some faith

Upsides?

• It would provide revenue to invest in more articles
• It would provide money to build new functionality (reviews, human trials, etc)
• It would help pay for hosting and servers

Decision

We have had Amazon.com links to different nootropics on the sidebar in the past. These were intended to generate some revenue for us to defray hosting costs, although it did not make much money. They were also intended to help people find suppliers for these chemicals with an easy click. Ideally the thought was that it would be a win-win. However, since we put up Amazon links about a year ago, Amazon has pulled a number of nootropics off their listings, and are not allowing them for sale. There has been crackdown on most of the racetams, as well as quite a few other supplements. We have been looking for other suppliers and partners to work with. We wanted to make sure that these new partners and links are only to high-quality products that we believe in and also to high-quality, reputable vendors. I have spent the past few months talking with different companies and deciding amount companies and products to support. In the end, we decided to work with the following people:

Alpha Brain

Everyone visiting the site will see in the sidebar an Alpha Brain banner that has replaced the box that used to have the Amazon information. At first Alpha Brain had ingredients like GABA that really did nothing in terms of nootropic benefits, because GABA does not cross the blood-brain barrier. I also was a little bit concerned promoting Joe Rogan’s company, because I didn’t necessarily think that he really knew what he was doing. However, they have reformulated Alpha Brain, and it has been gaining market traction. Not only that, but it’s been introducing the concept of Nootropics to people who previously would not have been aware of them. Personally, I feel that the ingredients list in Alpha Brain is all very legitimate. The cost of the pills may be a little bit pricey, however. It also does not contain any Racetams, which are one of the cornerstones of Nootropics, but they cannot do that legally, so it’s really a well-done job.

JGSupplements.com

For those of you in Europe, you’ll be seeing a banner at the top for JG Supplements. JG Supplements is a company run out of Manchester in the UK. I have become friends with the owner of the company through our mutual love of Nootropics. We sit up late at night on Skype discussing laws, regulations, new nootropic products, what’s currently being banned or allowed, etc. I’ve decided to promote his website for European Union customers because I know that he genuinely cares about his product and has a deep-down passion for Nootropics.

What do you think?

I’m definitely interested in getting your feedback, since these changes affect your user experience. I’d love to hear your opinions about the banners, advertising, company and product selection. Please let me know how you feel in the comments, or by emailing me at info[at]smarternootropics.com

Turns out, there is a technology called transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS), brought to you by the makers of the internet, that a couple of entrepreneurs decided to replicate for the retail market. Traditionally, units are far more expensive and would remain out of reach for the civilian, which is an issue this company hopes to solve, even though an official price hasn’t been posted yet.

Apparently, the US military has used tDCS to train snipers and drone pilots and have recorded 2.5x increases in learning states. If something with these effects was legitimate, one could easily see why the military would want to explore it to the fullest extent, which is a reality that, albeit bittersweet, is something that we can take advantage of from time to time.

The website can be found here. As for us, we are going to be following this development and hope that it brings us one step closer to a planet of geniuses.

After New Year’s Eve, and in the light spirit of the holidays I decided to investigate what Nootropics, if any, can be applied to help hangovers. I’ve done a little bit of research for fun, and come up with some interesting conclusions. This should not be taken as serious science, as it is mostly an interesting hypothesis, and related to the relevant literature and anecdotal evidence I can find. It is in no way a recommendation to take these if you are suffering from a hangover, nor should it be construed as medical advice or anything other than what it is – a fun thought experiment.

What Causes A Hangover?
In order to figure out how to treat hangovers, it’s important to take a look at what the causative factors of hangovers are. Once we can figure out what the root causes of a hangover are, we can look at which Nootropics could potentially work to mitigate these factors. The main causes of a hangover are (please note, not an exhaustive list):

1. Dehydration [1]
2. Buildup of Acetaldehyde [2]
3. Hypoglycemia [3]
4. GABA “rebound” effect [4]

How Can We Treat These Causes With Nootropics?
Let’s look at how to fix the main causes of Hangovers. Causes 1 and 3 (Dehydration and Hypoglycemia) can be treated rather easily. The absolute easiest way to cure dehydration is to drink water. It’s important to drink water while drinking alcohol, and also to drink water after alcohol intake. In order to fix hypoglycemia, the easiest thing to do is to eat.

Pyruvate

What about the more difficult ones? How do we handle the buildup of Acetaldehyde? The liver converts Ethanol to Acetaldehyde through the enzyme Ethanol Dehydrogenase. Acetaldehyde is 10-30 times more toxic than ethanol[2]. It is then converted to Acetic Acid through Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. I was unable to find a better source for this, but Wikipedia states that the these two reactions cause Pyruvate to be diverted from other critical pathways in the body. A lack of Pyruvate can seriously impact gluconeogenesis. And so we come to our first potential Nootropic for handling hangovers, Pyruvate. I have no good studies on taking Pyruvate to alleviate hangovers, but I have some studies that are related to Pyruvate in hangovers. [6][7]. It’d be nice to see if we could get some anecdotal or study evidence regarding the effectiveness of Pyruvate in treating hangovers, but it seems a good potential target.

Cysteine

How else can we help mop up and handle Acetaldehyde? Cysteine is mentioned around the internet quite a bit, and mentioned as a possible treatment in one PubMed study that I found, although it mostly seems to refer to Cysteine as being touted on the internet.[8]
Cysteine is an amino acid that specifically is involved in turning Acetaldehyde into Acetic Acid. By taking more Cysteine, it is absolutely possible that we could speed up the rate at which the liver can transform Acetaldehyde into Acetic Acid, and get rid of that nasty toxin. There was a study in rats where rats were pretreated with cysteine before being exposed to alcohol. Rats with the cysteine treatment were 80% more likely to survive acetaldehyde toxicity than control.[2] So, we reach our second potential chemical, Cysteine.

Phenibut

Reaching our fourth and final cause, the GABA rebound effect. Ethanol directly stimulates GABA receptors.[9] Once the consuming of alcohol is ceased, GABA levels are thrown majorly out of balance.[4] Because ethanol is removed from the body very quickly (at a commonly cited one drink per hour), the body reacts strongly from the sudden removal of ethanol, and the GABA receptors then drop significantly, causing withdrawl symptoms. Around the internet I found quite a bit of anecdotal evidence citing Phenibut as a great way to avoid hangovers when taken AFTER alcohol consumption. The theory for taking Phenibut as a hangover cure is similar to the “hair of the dog that bit you” cure of drinking more alcohol the morning after. Many people cite benzodiazepines as a good cure for hangovers, because they modify the GABA levels on a longer term than ethanol does, allowing the user to maintain sleep and to not deal with as sharp a withdrawl on the GABA receptors. Phenibut’s half-life is 5 hours[10], which if taken after alcohol consumption but before hangover symptoms begin, could theoretically slow the “come-down” so to speak and prevent withdrawl symptoms. Caution should be used here, however, as Phenibut can cause withdrawl symptoms on its own if too much is taken. When combined with Alcohol, it can lead to CNS depression and can be a potentially fatal combination. Please consult with a doctor before attempting this. If you attempt this, please take the proper precautions and be careful about it as you do this AT YOUR OWN RISK. This is simply an interesting theory which could have tragic consequences if done wrong.

Pyritinol

While not directly related to any of the causes I mentioned before, I have heard quite a few stories of Pyritinol working as a hangover cure. Pyritinol, which is modified Vitamin B6, has been shown in a few trials to help eliminate hangovers[11][8].

Conclusion
It looks like in addition to drinking water and eating, the following Nootropics can help cure hangovers: Pyruvate, Cysteine, Phenibut, and Pyritinol. If I have made any errors in this post, please let me know. Please also comment with any of your hangover cures, or anything that I may have missed. If you try any of these out, or have any anecdotal experience with these, I’d love to read it in the comments as well.

Sources

1. http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/hangover1.htm
2. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01966822
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3220253/
4. http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh22-1/54-60.pdf
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangover
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6779303
7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1178502/
8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1322250/
9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2040048/
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenibut
11. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4588294

This post will be left for open discussion.

Happy Holidays,

Smarternootropics.

Phenibut is most well known for its anxiolytic effects, and from a physiology standpoint, it makes sense since most anxiolytic drugs (benzodiazapines/barbituates/alcohol) exert their effects upon GABA, in this case specifically GABA(B) more than GABA(A) and is most similar in action to baclofen.

Phenibut was developed in russia in the 1960s, where even today most of the research about it is originating from.

Phenibut has been shown to nootropic properties, in one rat study in particular it was shown to accelerate the acquisition of internal inhibition, to decrease and stabilize the time of inter signal reactions, increase heart rate and decrease respiratory rate (Ziablintseva et al). With all this said it becomes pretty obvious that phenibut should not be skipped over when compiling a body of nootropic knowledge and is something we are looking forward to knowing more about, specifically with regards to any potentiating effects it may be discovered to have along side other substances; not to mention seeing some research come out of some countries other than russia.

DMAA, also known as Methylhexanamine or Geranamine, has come under scrutiny due to an incident in which two U.S. soldiers who died when they collapsed during physical training using the drug. These deaths happened in February, 2012. Due to this incident, the military began investigating the compound, which eventually lead to the FDA issuing notices to all manufacturers of the drug in April 2012. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm302133.htm

This means that all of the food products which contained DMAA have now been pulled from the shelves. It’s no doubt still available in bulk powder from sources not labeling it for human consumption, but it is no longer to be found in terms of supplements.

Edit: I was corrected on reddit.com/r/nootropics – JACK3D is still being sold with DMAA in it. All other products seem to have been reformulated or taken off the market and it is very difficult to find DMAA powder.

Sulbutiamine

Thiamine

This simple alteration in molecular structure, results in an increased liphophilicity that allows this molecule to penetrate through the blood brain barrier (BBB), with much greater ease. So, if I haven’t lost you yet I’m sure you’re wondering why this is such a great thing? To help understand better the importance of thiamine on the mind, we should first look and see what is rendered by a deficiency. A condition known as beriberi, is directly caused by a deficiency in vitamin b1. This condition is usually one that is usually common only to alcoholics and people with poor nutrition. Moreover, beriberi is mostly seen in areas that depend heavily on rice as a form of nutrition, in fact the condition was common enough to warrant the discovery of this molecule from a nation that depends on rice. The effects of beriberi are heavily weighted neurologically, and can result in:

• Difficulty in walking
• Tingling or loss of feeling (sensation) in hands and feet (numbness)
• Loss of muscle function or paralysis of the lower legs
• Mental confusion/speech difficulties
• Pain
• Involuntary eye movements (nystagmus)
• Vomiting

Although, this does not imply that boosting your brain B1 will yield positive benefit, the removal or negative effect becomes obvious, thiamine is doing something neurologic.

With that said, sulbutiamine has actually been found to have positive benefits, mainly centered around countering central asthenia (mental fatigue). Sulbutiamine has also been shown to potentiate cholinergic effects in the hyppocampus, which is the center of new memory formation. Furthermore, mice studies have displayed significant results in object recognition and operant conditioning, implying an effect on memory. All of which are properties I, personally, like to see out of my nootropics.

As with any substance, you should consult your doctor before taking them but, particularly, sulbutiamine has been shown to have adverse effects in bipolar patients and has been know to cause some skin reactions. In any case, this compound is something that has entered our radar and will likely stay there.

I spoke with him and asked him if he’d mind me doing a writeup of his method for SmarterNootropics and he told me to go right ahead.

The typical method that people use for tracking down negative side effects would be to take one day off for each supplement they’re taking, and seeing which day the negative side effects go away. This would mean that if you were taking 10 supplements, you would cease taking supplement 1 on day one, then on day 2 you would take supplement 1 again and cease supplment 2. So you would try 10 days with each day being off a supplement. This means that you need as many days as you have supplements to track down which one is causing you problems.

Javastripped came up with a faster way to track down supplements using a search technique from computer science. The CS term for it is a “binary search”. This speeds up the number of days needed to determine which supplement is causing side effects considerably.

Let’s say that you have the same 10 supplements that we were using in the first example. You would split the supplements in half on the first day and take supplements 1-5. On day 2, you would take supplements 6-10. If the supplement causing the issue is supplement #3, you should notice that the negative side effects happen on day 1 but not day 2, which eliminates supplements 6-10 from being the problem.

The next step will be to split supplements 1-5 in half and take supplements 1-2 on the first day and 3-5 on the second day. You’ll notice the side effects go away the first day and come back the second. So you split it again and on day 5 take just supplement 3 and day 6 take 4-5.

Bingo, you’ve narrowed it down to supplement 3 in only 5 days instead of 10 days.

In the comments, a couple of questions were raised and answered by javastripped. Here are the summarized answers for you:
Q: What if the issue is with a supplement that takes several days to leave your system?
A: Repeat the search, but spread out each trial for a couple of days. Instead of just trying 1-5 for one day, try them for multiple days, and spread out each trial.

Q: Won’t this take longer to determine with drug interactions?
A: If there are drug interactions causing this, it will take longer to determine all subsets. However, in my experience it was always a single chemical for me.

I hope that this has helped some of you determine the causes of your headaches or other negative side effects, and once again I’d like to thank javastripped for his excellent idea.

With that said the focus of this article will be on Magnesium:

Magnesium is a phenomenal mineral. As one can easily see it shares a column with Calcium on the periodic table, which means they both readily ionize into their 2+ forms. This similar valence pattern makes magnesium and calcium very much like each other, with respect to their chemical properties with one major exception: size. The overall trend, with respect to size, in the periodic table is that the atoms get larger as you move towards Francium and smaller as you move up and to the right. This is important because almost anywhere in the body where calcium is used it can be replaced with magnesium, albeit different binding properties secondary to size. With that said, magnesium exerts effects on muscle tension, specifically smooth muscles within blood vessels. This is one reason why magnesium is the goto therapy for certain pregnant women in need of tocolysis or lowering blood pressure. In fact, calcium is so widely used in the body for many things from muscle tension to enzyme cofactors even the release of post synaptic neurotransmitters. The importance of magnesium is almost hitched off of the importance of calcium. There is one other thing, about minerals, that should not go unmentioned, that being deficiencies of them are extremely hard to measure, clinically. But Farhood, my electrolyte panel says that everything is normal… yes, although that may be true, young padawon, it is a measure of plasma levels and not intracellular levels (the things that cells actually have direct access to). Intracellular levels will deplete, as sacrifice to maintain blood levels and no one will be the wiser. Your cells could be starving and your blood labs would never tell you anything about it.

With that short intro, we have to remember this is SmarterNootropics.com and we are all about the mind which makes our main dragon to slay, our BBB. Generally speaking, it is very difficult to get things across this dragon and with good reason. The dietary forms of magnesium have a difficult time getting past this beast. Thankfully the people at MIT have developed a new molecule that seems to come with just the right stuff to get around this, that being magnesium threonate. According to MIT:

Our findings suggest that an increase in brain magnesium enhances both short-term synaptic facilitation and long-term potentiation and improves learning and memory functions.

So with this I say, thank you MIT and happy Magnesiofication to you all.

When I took a look at the website, the reason became immediately clear – Andrew McMillen is a freelance journalist who did a piece on Nootropics for Rolling Stone Australia, and at the bottom of his post on his site he included the following: “To read more on nootropics, I recommend that you continue your research at Smarter Nootropics. Good luck!”

I read Andrew’s article, which is pretty good for mainstream coverage of Nootropics, talked with him over email and gave him my feedback on the article and thanked him for the link.

So, I’d like to say a bit “Thank You!” to Andrew for taking the time to write about Nootropics and helping bring it a little more mainstream. I’d like to welcome anyone who found this website from Andrew’s link and encourage you to take your time and look around the site. I’d also like to encourage any regular Smarter Nootropics readers who haven’t yet read Andrew’s article but are interested here: http://andrewmcmillen.com/2012/11/06/rolling-stone-story-building-a-better-brain-wired-on-nootropics-november-2012/

We also had a pretty major server crash which corrupted some od the database tables associated with the forum. I received an email this morning from a reader named David about the forum not working.

I spent a few hours today working on the forum and I believe I have just about everything fixed and working again along with a new captcha system – nucaptcha.

So if youre feeling adventurous, theres not a ton of posts there yet but theres a good intro thread. If youd like to ask me anything personally the best places are to post on the forum, as I will be watching it, or using the contact form on the website.

Thanks for all of your patience as we go through these growing pains and make the site better!

I remembered that Farhood had told me that there were issues with Statins and memory loss and recall. I quickly called up Farhood and we spoke with my uncle about talking to his doctor about Statins. Unfortunately, due to his high cholesterol, going off Statins may not be the best thing for him. It did lead me to doing some research on Statins and memory loss, and I discovered some interesting things.

The first is that the FDA has added diabetes and memory loss warnings to all Statin drugs. This happened early this year, in February 2012, according to Reuters (http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE81R1O220120228?irpc=932). These labels are being added to drugs like Lipitor, Crestor, and Zocor. These drugs are good for lowering cholesterol and significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks, but are taken by tens of millions of people. These are one of the biggest sources of money for large pharmaceutical companies, and are hugely popular “wonder drugs”.

Unfortunately, these drugs are reported by large numbers of people to be causative agents in confusion and memory loss. These symptoms typically resolve after people cease using Statins. The FDA has specifically stated that it is labelling this due to huge numbers of people reporting memory loss and confusion anecdotally, and not due to clinical studies that have definitely proven Statins to be the causative agent.

If you have a history of heart disease or are at-risk for a heart attack, and have been prescribed Statins, then please continue taking them. These are drugs that are very important and may save your life. At the same time, if you don’t have a history of heart disease and are able to manage your cholesterol through diet and exercise, then it may be a good idea to talk to your doctor about whether or not Statins are necessary, or if they could be contributing to cognitive decline.

This is not meant to be taken as medical advice, and make sure you talk to a doctor before adjusting or modifying any medications. Statins can definitely be a lifesaving drug.

Doxiderol Ingredients At A Glance
-L-theanine
-CDP-Choline
-Caffeine
-Vinpocetine
-Bacopa
-Acetyl L Carnitine

L-Theanine
We’ve looked at research on L-Theanine in the past. It’s proven to be effective in reducing stress, increasing cognition, and working synergistically with caffeine.
Studies on this ingredient say: Yes, there is positive evidence for this working.

CDP-Choline
We’ve strongly recommended using CDP-Choline with Piracetam in the past, but how does it work in this stack without Piracetam present? A cursory review of the literature seem to indicate that CDP-Choline is an active stimulant, supplements Choline to the brain, increases dopamine receptor density, and may help improve mild memory impairment.
Is there clinical trial-based research that would indicate that CDP-Choline would be effective in aiding cognition in this stack: Yes, there is strong evidence.

Caffeine
Caffeine is probably the most well-known of any of these ingredients. I feel it’s almost unnecessary to cover caffeine. Caffeine is an effective stimulant. It also has proven synergy with L-Theanine as mentioned above. The main danger in the usage of Caffeine is the creation of tolerance and dependence.
Is Caffeine effective here: Yes, although there is a danger of tolerance and dependence to Caffeine.

Vinpocetine
Vinpocetine doesn’t have a particularly long history of usage, nor does it have a lot of professional clinical trials that conclusively prove that Vinpocetine is good for you. It is a proven vasodilator, and there are studies which seem to indicate that it can be useful in cognition, but a number of these studies have had their validity questioned. As a vasodilator, it could be potentially dangerous for an individual with existing heart conditions to take in addition to caffeine, although there are no reported deaths or adverse reactions that I am aware of.
Is Vinpocetine proven effective here: Inconclusive – not enough evidence.

Bacopa
Bacopa has been proven in a number of studies to aid memory retention and even reverse some forms of amnesia. It has strong positive evidence to indicate that it is a memory enhancer. It also has shown reversible changes in spermatogenesis in mice, although this has not been proven in humans.
Is Bacopa effective: It definitely helps improve memory retention.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine
ALCAR has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier and to work as a powerful antioxidant. It’s also been shown to have neuroprotective effects and increase sperm motility.
Is Acetyl-L-Carnitine Effective: Yes

Anecdotal Evidence
The bottle that I received from Mentis has accompanied me for the past month. I’ve been taking it daily without any other nootropics in order to evaluate its efficacy for me. It’s definitely more effective than just caffeine in helping me increase focus, sit down, and get things done. I’m writing this review with the last dosage that was in the bottle. I definitely feel more energized and able to get things done, although as any scientist knows, witness reports are notoriously unreliable, and I must admit that I have not tested myself on dual-n-back or any specifically measurable tests of cognitive ability.

Conclusion
I’d like to congratulate Mentis on creating a nootropic blend that is almost entirely based on good strong science. Since it is being sold specifically as a health supplement, they are unable to put in anything like modafinil, piracetam, or anything that does not specifically fall under the DSHEA. That being said, they’ve found a number of ingredients that have reputable clinical trials behind them. The only ingredient on the list that I’m not certain about is the Vinpocetine, due to the lack of true studies.
Mentis has offered us a commission for every bottle of doxiderol purchased through our link. I have done my best to provide this review objectively based on the currently available research on a per-ingredient basis and done my best to avoid the obvious conflict of interest and provide only proven information. So if you’re interested in purchasing Doxiderol and helping SmarterNootropics at the same time, feel free to use this link: http://www.doxiderol.com/#oid=1007_1

Health News
Study: Fish oil can aid memory recall-An omega-3 fatty acid found in fish oil may boost
short-term memory in young adults, a small study shows.

An omega-3 fatty acid plentiful in fish oil boots the ability of healthy young adults,
whose brains are already at their peak levels of speed and performance, to hold several
items in memory for a short time, a small study has found.

The latest research add to evidence of fish oil's beneficial neuropsychiatric effects:
Supplementation with the docosahexaenoic acid in fish oil has been shown to improve the
effectiveness of antidepressants, to improve focus in those with an attention deficit,
to delay the development of psychosis in those at risk of schizophrenia and to help
shore up declining memory in healthy older adults.

In the study, published Tuesday in the journal Public Library of Science, 11 healthy
caucasian adults at an average age of 22 underwent a six-month supplementation of
their diet with fish oil.

The University of Pittsburgh researchers measured before and after levels of omega-3
acids in the red-blood-cell membranes of subjects and put them through a battery of
tests to gauge the strength of their short-term memory.  After six months of fish oil,
the subjects did 23 percent better on a key challenge to working memory: the ability
to recall, given a list of several items, which one was mentioned three items back.

Probably the single most frequently asked question I get is “I’m new to Nootropics, can you take a look at my stack and give me some advice?” I’m of course more than happy to help people pick their first stacks, and also more than happy to give advanced people advice on how they can tweak their stacks for optimum effectiveness. I do see a lot of people who are starting off with Nootropics asking pretty similar stacks, so I figured it may be a useful primer to help people decide on what to take.

Know What You Want To Achieve

Many people hear about Nootropics and are enamored with the possibilities and attempt to improve everything at once. People look at the different Nootropics available and pick a list of ones that sound cool. Different Nootropics have different purposes, however. Some Nootropics will give you intense focus for a short period of time. Others will improve your memory. Still others will help you to grow new neurons in your brain. The first question you really need to ask yourself is “What do I most want to improve?” and then pick Nootropics that are specifically tailored to that purpose. Don’t attempt to improve everything at once. Pick one thing and stick with it.

Keep It Simple
I’ve created a Stack Discussion area on the forums on this website, and I’m also the main moderator on reddit of /r/StackAdvice. People who are just beginning tend to get overexcited and ask me “Can you rate my stack?” while posting a list of experimental chemicals a mile long. I tell these people to cut it way down to a few key ingredients. Here are some reasons for starting off small:

1. If you’re taking a dozen substances every day, how do you know which ones are working and which ones aren’t? Start with one or two, and judge the effectiveness. It’s always easier to test one supplement and compare to baseline and determine if it’s working or not, than to try to guess at which one in a large list is the correct one.
2. If you develop headaches or an adverse reaction, it could be due to one single ingredient, or it could be due to multiple ingredients interacting. It’s much more difficult to pinpoint the cause of headaches, fogginess, fatigue, etc if you don’t know what specifically is causing it.
3. These drugs do not have a large history of testing and acceptance. Drugs also have complex interactions that can require years of study to determine how they interact. By starting small and adding one-at-a-time, you can determine on a per-ingredient basis how things will interact. Better to start small. Some drugs work well together (Caffeine+L-Theanine), and some drugs can cause poor interactions.
4. These chemicals are not particularly cheap, and it is time consuming to fill capsules with just one ingredient, let alone a mixture of a number of different ones.

A Few Words On Racetams
One of the odd things I see is that people will list multiple racetams in their stacks. Racetams are all in the same drug family and have similar modes of action. By taking multiple racetams, you’re not getting a number of unique effects, you’re just taking a whole hell of a lot more racetams. If you’ve never taken a racetam before, I’d suggest starting with Piracetam as it is the most studied, and there are a lot of people with Piracetam experience who can help you through different issues (choline headaches, etc). I’d advise you only to move on to some of the more complex or newer racetams once you’ve tried out Piracetam by itself and gotten a feel for what it does.

Parting Words

I’d like to leave you today by just recapping my main points.

1. Choose your Nootropics based on what you want to improve
2. Start with one or two Nootropics and then slowly add once you’ve become accustomed to the effects
3. Don’t take a whole bunch of different racetams thinking it’s going to help unless you’re familiar with each of their effects on their own and you’ve studied them.

I hope that I haven’t scared any of you off of Nootropics, and I hope I haven’t discouraged any of you. You can get amazing effects from just one or two chemicals. Start small and grow! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to post in the forums, direct message me, or respond to this post in the comments section below.

Help SmarterNootropics by Purchasing Caffeine+L-Theanine At the Places Below:

Caffeine – Health Supplement Wholesalers

Caffeine – Amazon.com

L-Theanine – Health Supplement Wholesalers

L-Theanine – Amazon.com

One of the most common issues, with respect to disinformation surrounding nootropics, is the immediacy of effects or expected psychoactivity of the substances. This is entirely the wrong way to approach this field and will leave one jaded to the truly monumental potential that comes with the proper usage of such devices. To my knowledge, hardly any nootropics possess psychoactive potential, and the ones that do have been deemed illegal long ago. In approaching a field with as much promise and potential as Nootropics, it is important to maintain a mentality that is not overly expecting but rather subtly perceiving. It is always important to remember that the changes that come with Nootropics are subtle, can take a long time albeit may be incredibly dramatic.

A very important consideration lie in our modern diets, which lend ultimately to our physiologic reservoirs, and are possibly the worst they have ever been in the history of man. These things result in an environment of poor metabolism and nutrition for our minds and bodies. What the goal of nootropic therapy should be, is to make plentiful the building blocks for neurons: the absolute foundation of neurology, where our normal diets fall short. In a sense, it is economically speaking, designing a very favorable environment for maximal brain development and maintenance by making plentiful the things that the brain needs, that it wouldn’t receive otherwise.

One of the most important factors to keep in mind, is the sheer complexity that is the neurology of all beings. Even single portions of bodies common to all people, such as digestion, have vast arrays of neurons that have yet to be studied or known by anyone. With so much unknown regarding the positions and placement of neurons within the body, the potential positive effects of nootropics are impossible to predict ranging from digestion to memory, sleep cycles to acid reflux. Is it possible to fix your digestive issues by adopting a very balanced diet, with careful consideration towards nootropics? I don’t know, the important thing to realize is that no one does and that anyone that claims to know, is likely a contemporary version of a snake oil salesman. Rather what is important to realize is that the uncertainty will always exist around our neurology as science spends the rest of eternity cataloging and naming every aspect of it, however, the certainty of the neuron’s role, will never be removed. Thus, the balance of neuronal catabolism/anabolism may be heavily weighted upon the ingredients necessary to produce neurons; aligning nootropic ingestion and neuronal anabolism with Le Chatelier’s principal in such a way that would have him singing songs in his grave. With this understanding and the knowledge of the vastness of the role of the neuron, one is equipped with enough knowledge to separate one from the mainstream of common thought, and begin doing what works best for you–through tailoring your diet and experiencing different states of your physiology as a result. This study of oneself is a task whose timeline is nothing short of a lifetime but some would argue, is one of the only tasks truly worth undertaking.

If this article is the first time you’ve ever heard the word nootropic, yet you are interested in starting your own nootropic therapy checkout our newbies guide. If you are already somewhat knowledgeable on the subject, you should check out our nootropics explorer where you can find a wealth of information, cited with primary literature, on a constantly updated list of individual nootropics. And if you find yourself wanting to come talk to any of the SmarterNootropics staff about nootropics, have any articles you want to share, claims you want debunked or even chat with us about the weather, you are welcome to checkout our brand new forum.

Rapamycin is the product produced in the mysterious bacteria (Streptomyces hygroscopic us) from Easter Island, which is traditionally deployed in transplant patients as an antifungal in attempt to help stop rejection. It is named after the Indonesian name for Easter Island, Rapa Nui. When researchers began adding this to the diet of both young and old mice, they noticed interesting results. In their pre-existing habitats, both young and old mice began demonstrating subjective symptoms of decreased anxiety and depression as well as objectively, increased levels of dopamine, norepinepherine and serotonin!! Moreover, mice classified with the human equivalent of Alzheimer’s were shown to increase in learning and memory. The investigators, have postulated that these changes are directly related to the increased quantity of available neurotransmitters, seemingly as a result of dosing with rapamycin.

Rapamycin acts, in transplant rejection, by inhibiting interleukin 2 (IL-2) response in t-cell and b-cells of the immune system. This immunological effect makes me wonder if the real reason why Rapamycin is so effective in the brain is the result of mitigating inflammation? In either case, we find this research to be extremely promising and look forward to the day when these medicines are refined enough to take for purposes of cognition enhancement.

To refresh, in diabetes, pathology of sugar utilization that leads to metabolic imbalance, the peripheral nerves begin to die off as the systemic impairment in glucose metabolism begins to intensify. Since insulin is needed to take glucose into the majority of cells, insulin resistance represents resistance to the uptake of sugar on a continuum that is at one point labeled diabetes. Since neurons are constantly being used to send sensory information and conduct back motor information, they generally tend to have a high metabolic demand. For this reason, in diabetics, the general trend is to begin losing sensory input from the most distal (furthest from heart) aspect to the most proximal (closest to heart). In fact, sugar is of such importance to neurons, that the body has developed a system of sugar balance, involving glycogen, within the brain that is sequestered from use from the rest of the body.

In Alzheimer’s disease ceramide accumulation, leading to increased inflammation and stress, has been a well established fact; the rationale that has been brought forth by this study is that dysfunctional lipid metabolism, secondary to insulin resistance, promotes ceramide accumulation and thus increases inflammation and stress. They achieved this by elucidating the correlation between AD stage and activation of pro-ceramide genes, ceramide levels and molecular indices of endoplasmic reticular stress in postmortem human brain tissue. The correlation was established when considering brain insulin/Insulin growth factor (IGF) resistance. To add insult to injury, the study also noted that insulin/IGF resistance was further propagated by the dysregulation of ceramide, implying a positive feedback loop once some resistance has already been established.

To date, I have never heard or even considered the linkages between brain dysfunction and insulin resistance albeit a very intuitive phenomenon. What this tells me is that a state of metabolic syndrome or prediabetes, which afflict so many people today, could actually cause neurodegeneration and dysfunction, a lot earlier on than we’ve thought. Could the high prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease today, that was once written off as caused by the prolongation of life that is so common to contemporary living, can be actually caused by our poor diet and exercise habits, once again? At first glance, many younger people may not care vary much about Alzheimer’s disease, as it is a disease, typically, of older age, however once one considers the fact that AD is a continuum of disease and not a pathology that produces itself spontaneously, a more prudent outlook may render necessary. What may be found later on, is that if losing proper sugar metabolism harms your brain, would keeping your blood sugar tight make your smarter/keep you smart?

The idea is to always keep flowing, they believe that flowing water never goes stale.

When I first heard him say that, I thought it to be semi-profound; then, I came across an article claiming that elderly people practicing Tai Chi a minimum of three times a weak showed increased cognition and brain size when compared to control, which convinced me that I understated Bruce’s words.

The study was done in Shanghai, China where they took 120 elderly people and split them into groups that did Tai Chi, walking, social interaction and nothing over 40 weeks. MRIs taken at 20 and 40 weeks showed that compared to no intervention, the group that did Tai Chi had a significant increase in brain volume as well as several neurophysiologic measures (Mattis Dementia Rating scale, Trailmaking test and Auditory Verbal Learning test), the group that only participated in social interaction also displayed significant brain size increase but showed fewer improvements on neurophysiologic measures and finally, the walking group showed no change. I found this conclusion to be counter to the contemporary ideology surrounding aerobic activity as it regards brain function. This paper indicates that their may be a greater significance in the ability of non-aerobic activity to influence cognition and brain capacity compared to aerobic.

In trying to understand the findings better, I can’t help but contemplate Bruce Lee’s words. If a person that participates in Tai Chi is able to “keep flowing” and subsequently increase flow, I could see why the brain mass would increase. The only flow I could imagine the ancients referring to would be blood flow. With that said, increasing cerebral blood flow, within normal physiologic range, should trend towards utilizing the most of one’s capacity of mind. Thus, if Tai Chi is directly correlated to increasing brain size, is it safe to consider it a kinesthetic nootropic?

I received this email this morning from the DEA:

The substances added to Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act also include 9 different 2C chemicals, and 15 different synthetic cannabanoids…
…In addition to explicitly naming 26 substances, the legislation creates a new definition for “cannabamimetic agents,” creating criteria by which similar chemical compounds are controlled.

The legislation in question is S. 3187, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. The amendment in question I believe is amendment 2146 , which was sponsored by Senator Rob Portman of Ohio. The specific list of controlled substances is available here. (EDIT: Library of Congress isn’t letting me link specifically to it, so I am posting it below this article). It is important for all of us to promote safe and responsible drug use, and to help people who have issues with drug abuse seek help. ProjectKnow.com is a good resource if you or someone you know is struggling with drug addiction. With SmarterNootropics, our mission is to promote safe responsible usage of Nootropics for the positive benefit of all.

With all these new legislations, we at smarternootropics thought it prudent to inform all our fellow nootropic enthusiasts. Specifically, one of the chemicals affected, 2C-D, is one which has been considered by many in the nootropic field to be a prime candidate for cognitive enhancement in low dosages. We are quite saddened to learn about this today, as action such as this limits one’s ability to harness the power of these substances for self betterment. With that said, we look onward with hopes of one day bringing you all a news report about drug laws based in research and facts, and better, more powerful nootropics.

——————————————–
LIST OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES
SEC. 1142. ADDITION OF SYNTHETIC DRUGS TO SCHEDULE I OF THE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT.

(a) Cannabimimetic Agents.–Schedule I, as set forth in section 202(c) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(d)(1) Unless specifically exempted or unless listed in another schedule, any material, compound, mixture, or preparation which contains any quantity of cannabimimetic agents, or which contains their salts, isomers, and salts of isomers whenever the existence of such salts, isomers, and salts of isomers is possible within the specific chemical designation.

“(2) In paragraph (1):

“(A) The term `cannabimimetic agents’ means any substance that is a cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1 receptor) agonist as demonstrated by binding studies and functional assays within any of the following structural classes:

“(i) 2-(3-hydroxycyclohexyl)phenol with substitution at the 5-position of the phenolic ring by alkyl or alkenyl, whether or not substituted on the cyclohexyl ring to any extent.

“(ii) 3-(1-naphthoyl)indole or 3-(1-naphthylmethane)indole by substitution at the nitrogen atom of the indole ring, whether or not further substituted on the indole ring to any extent, whether or not substituted on the naphthoyl or naphthyl ring to any extent.

“(iii) 3-(1-naphthoyl)pyrrole by substitution at the nitrogen atom of the pyrrole ring, whether or not further substituted in the pyrrole ring to any extent, whether or not substituted on the naphthoyl ring to any extent.

“(iv) 1-(1-naphthylmethylene)indene by substitution of the 3-position of the indene ring, whether or not further substituted in the indene ring to any extent, whether or not substituted on the naphthyl ring to any extent.

“(v) 3-phenylacetylindole or 3-benzoylindole by substitution at the nitrogen atom of the indole ring, whether or not further substituted in the indole ring to any extent, whether or not substituted on the phenyl ring to any extent.

“(B) Such term includes–

“(i) 5-(1,1-dimethylheptyl)-2-[(1R,3S)-3-hydroxycyclohexyl]-phenol (CP 47,497);

“(ii) 5-(1,1-dimethyloctyl)-2-[(1R,3S)-3-hydroxycyclohexyl]-phenol (cannabicyclohexanol or CP 47,497 C8-homolog);

“(iii) 1-pentyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole (JWH 018 and AM678);

“(iv) 1-butyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole (JWH 073);

“(v) 1-hexyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole (JWH 019);

“(vi) 1-[2-(4-morpholinyl)ethyl]-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole (JWH 200);

“(vii) 1-pentyl-3-(2-methoxyphenylacetyl)indole (JWH 250);

“(viii) 1-pentyl-3-[1-(4-methoxynaphthoyl)]indole (JWH 081);

“(ix) 1-pentyl-3-(4-methyl-1-naphthoyl)indole (JWH 122);

“(x) 1-pentyl-3-(4-chloro-1-naphthoyl)indole (JWH 398);

“(xi) 1-(5-fluoropentyl)-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole (AM2201);

“(xii) 1-(5-fluoropentyl)-3-(2-iodobenzoyl)indole (AM694);

“(xiii) 1-pentyl-3-[(4-methoxy)-benzoyl]indole (SR 19 and RCS 4);

“(xiv) 1-cyclohexylethyl-3-(2-methoxyphenylacetyl)indole (SR 18 and RCS 8); and

“(xv) 1-pentyl-3-(2-chlorophenylacetyl)indole (JWH 203).”.

(b) Other Drugs.–Schedule I of section 202(c) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) is amended in subsection (c) by adding at the end the following:

“(18) 4-methylmethcathinone (Mephedrone).

“(19) 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV).

“(20) 2-(2,5-Dimethoxy-4-ethylphenyl)ethanamine (2C E).

“(21) 2-(2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylphenyl)ethanamine (2C D).

“(22) 2-(4-Chloro-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)ethanamine (2C C).

“(23) 2-(4-Iodo-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)ethanamine (2C I).

“(24) 2-[4-(Ethylthio)-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl]ethanamine (2C T 2).

“(25) 2-[4-(Isopropylthio)-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl]ethanamine (2C T 4).

“(26) 2-(2,5-Dimethoxyphenyl)ethanamine (2C H).

“(27) 2-(2,5-Dimethoxy-4-nitro-phenyl)ethanamine (2C N).

“(28) 2-(2,5-Dimethoxy-4-(n)-propylphenyl)ethanamine (2C P).”.

This is evolutionarily an advantage because, even though it isn’t always the
correct answer, it’s accurate enough that we’re able to save a lot of precious
time, and aren’t consistently bogged down with information overload attempting
to figure out everything the hard way. It’s a pretty good solution to the
amount of complex information processing that our brains do.

Unfortunately, it also can lead to a lot of errors, and smart people typically
are able to be smart because they’re able to quickly sort though, analyze information,
and come up with a good estimate of an answer. Able to see patterns in things and
quickly identify them. This can frequently be bad though, because we learn to
instinctively trust our answers without analyzing them, which can then be difficult
to admit we’re wrong due to ego.

My advice to everyone is that sometimes when someone tells us that we are wrong,
instead of immediately becoming defensive, to spend the time to analyze it and
to doublecheck our work.

I previously reported about CerebralHealth, when they had some regulatory issues with the FDA. I received a comment this morning that turned into a short e-mail conversation with Douglas Phillips (Director of R&D at Cerebral Health), where he informed me that CH recently went through their second FDA inspection with zero violations.

So, this is good news. It’s hard enough finding good providers of Nootropics, and the regulatory pressures that they are under are massive. It’s a difficult field to compete in without breaking any rules, and many other companies have folded in the past under similar pressures.

I received this email this afternoon regarding “Operation Adam Bomb,” a drug bust by the DEA as well as other international agencies against an online drug market called “The Farmer’s Market”. I am posting it here for your consideration:

CREATORS AND OPERATORS OF ONLINE NARCOTICS MARKETPLACE ON THE TOR NETWORK ARRESTED ON FIRST OF ITS KIND FEDERAL INDICTMENT CHARGING DRUG TRAFFICKING IN 50 STATES AND 24 COUNTRIES


LOS ANGELES - Federal, state, and international law enforcement authorities have arrested eight people who all face federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges stemming from their creation and operation of a secret online narcotics market place – known as the  “The Farmer's Market” – which sold a variety of controlled substances to approximately 3,000 customers in 50 states and 24 countries.

This morning, law enforcement authorities in Lelystad, Netherlands, this morning arrested the lead defendant, Marc Willems, at his home.  Yesterday, law enforcement officials in Bogota, Colombia, arrested the second defendant, Michael Evron, a U.S. citizen who lives in Argentina, as he was attempting to leave Colombia.  The remaining defendants, Jonathan Colbeck, Brian Colbeck, Ryan Rawls, Jonathan Dugan, George Matzek and Charles Bigras were arrested at their respective homes in Iowa, Michigan, Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Florida.

The 66-page indictment, which was unsealed today, was the result of “Operation Adam Bomb,” a two-year investigation led by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Los Angeles Field Division, with significant assistance by the Netherlands Regional Police Force Flevoland, prosecutors from the International Legal Assistance Center North East Netherlands, U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the DEA’s country office in Hague, and the U.S. Postal Service.  The arrests of the defendants took place due to the cooperation and assistance of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, the Colombian Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence, Migracion Colombia, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and federal/state/local authorities in New York, Iowa, Georgia, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey.

“The drug trafficking organization targeted in Operation Adam Bomb was distributing dangerous and addictive drugs to every corner of the world, and trying to hide their activities through the use of advanced anonymizing on-line technology,” said Briane M. Grey, DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge.  “Today’s action should send a clear message to organizations that are using technology to conduct criminal activity that the DEA and our law enforcement partners will track them down and bring them to justice.”

“Illegal narcotics trafficking now reaches every corner of our world, including our home computers,” said U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California André Birotte Jr., whose office is handling the prosecution of the case.  “But the reach of the law is just as long, and the Department of Justice will work with its partners, both nationally and internationally, to bring narcotics traffickers to justice, wherever they may hide.  Working together, we want to make the Internet a safe and secure marketplace by rooting out and prosecuting thosepersons who seek to illegally pervert and exploit that market.”

The 12-count indictment charges that each of the defendants was a member of a conspiracy to distribute a variety of controlled substances worldwide through the use of online marketplaces that allowed independent sources of supply to anonymously advertise illegal drugs for sale to the public.  According to the indictment, the operators of the online marketplaces provided a controlled substances storefront, order forms, online forums, customer service, and payment methods for the different sources of supply.  For customers, the operators screened all sources of supply and guaranteed delivery of the illegal drugs.  The online marketplaces handled all communications between the sources of supply and customers.  For these services, the operators charged a commission based upon the value of the order.  Customers of the on-line marketplaces have been identified in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia and in approximately 34 other countries.  There were thousands of registered users of the online marketplaces.  The on-line marketplaces have multiple sources of supply offering various controlled substances, including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), MDMA (ecstasy), fentanyl, mescaline, ketamine, DMT and high-end marijuana.  Between January 2007 and October 2009 alone, defendants Willems and Evron processed approximately 5,256 online orders for controlled substances valued at approximately $1,041,244 via the online controlled substances marketplaces.

As alleged in the indictment, the “Farmers Market”, previously known as “Adamflowers”, operated on the TOR network.  According to the indictment, TOR is a circuit of encrypted connections through relays on the TOR network that can be downloaded on home computers. TOR allows websites and electronic mail communications to mask IP address information by spreading communications over a series of computers, or relays, located throughout the world.  The online marketplaces have accepted Western Union, Pecunix, PayPal, I-Golder, and cash as payment for illegal drug sales.

According to investigators, this drug trafficking organization (DTO) attempted to operate online in secrecy, utilizing the TOR network, IP anonymizers, and covert currency transactions; but investigators were able to infiltrate the DTO and its technology during the course of the investigation.

Those arrested were:

-Marc Willems, 42, a Dutch citizen living in Lelystad, Netherlands
-Michael Evron, 42, a U.S. citizen living in Buenos Aires, Argentina
-Jonathan Colbeck, 51, of Urbana, Iowa
-Brian Colbeck, 47, of Coldwater, Mich.
-Ryan Rawls, 31, of Alpharetta, Ga.
-Jonathan Dugan, 27, of North Babylon, N.Y.
-George Matzek, 20, of Secaucus, N.J.
-Charles Bigras, 37, of Melbourne, Fla.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.

Each of the defendants is charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, which carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life, and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment.  Defendants Willems, Evron, Jonathan Colbeck, Brian Colbeck, and Rawls are also charged with the distribution of LSD, which carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life.  Finally, defendants Willems and Evron are charged with participating in a continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life and a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

In addition to those named in the indictment, authorities arrested seven other people this morning (two in the Netherlands, one in Atlanta, two in New Hampshire, one in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey).  During the course of the arrests made in this case, federal agents and local law enforcement officers also seized substances identified as hashish, LSD and MDMA, as well as an indoor psychotropic mushroom grow, and three indoor marijuana grows.

Adderall and Ritalin are everywhere on college campuses. People take it to give themselves an edge in studying. These are high-powered stimulant drugs. Adderall is chemically very similar to Methamphetamine (simply the addition of a methyl group). Jack Kerouac wrote “On The Road” in two weeks while taking Benzedrine, which is a mixture of amphetamine salts, and the same thing as Adderall. Unfortunately these drugs can have long-term negative effects like high blood pressure, as well as short-term side effects like headache, constipation, dehydration, comedowns, and insomnia. Many students suffer from burnout and other negative side effects as a result of adderall abuse. Help for Adderall abuse is available at treatment centers. However, this sort of treatment is for students who are already using. Is there perhaps a better alternative to Adderall and Ritalin to prevent people from getting to that point?

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have the positive learning benefits and focus that Adderall or Ritalin deliver without most of the side-effects? Wouldn’t it also be wonderful if you could have those benefits daily without wearing yourself out? Enter Nootropics, a loosely-connected family of drugs and supplements that help you maintain peak mental performance and drive. Nootropics come in many different shapes and sizes. Many people take Fish Oil for its Omega-3 Fatty Acids or B-Vitamins for its mind-sharpening effects. Also, almost everyone drinks caffeine in some form or another – coffee, energy drinks, tea.

Nootropics are drugs that are categorized by their effects. They all have to improve subjective and objective cognitive performance. Some, like caffeine, do this through a stimulant action. Others, like Lion’s Mane stimulate the growth of nerve cells in your brain. The ideal nootropic is one that helps you focus, increase your retention, and increase the accuracy of your decision-making and recall, without any negative short or long-term side-effects.

Where do I start? Well, you can start by checking out the Newbie’s Guide, or you can start very simply with a very simple stack. If you’re already taking Caffeine, order an L-Theanine supplement. This is a natural extract of Green Tea, and works synergistically with Caffeine to increase memory, recall, and performance. L-Theanine also helps to reduce some of the more negative side-effects of caffeine such as the jitters. Once you’ve tried L-Theanine with your Caffeine, I would suggest researching other Nootropics and finding out which ones work best for you.

Research shows that there were a few clinical trials in which volunteers were administered either a placebo or L-Theanine and Caffeine. The amounts in different trials were different, but they were all in the 100-200mg range for L-Theanine and the 50-100mg range for Caffeine. Test subjects were then given different tasks to perform and their performance was measured at multiple points throughout the tests.

In one test administered at the Nathan S Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, the test subjects also had electrodes placed on their scalp and were measured for brainwave activity, with a specific emphasis on tracking alpha-band activity.

The test subjects were measured for two performance criteria, Hit Rate and Discriminability. The test subjects on a combination of L-Theanine and Caffeine showed an increase in both Hit Rate and Discriminability over placebo. The test subjects showed an increase in Hit Rate but not Discriminability when administered Caffeine only. They showed no effects vs placebo for L-Theanine alone.

This is one example of a study which showed a positive synergistic correlation with Caffeine and L-Theanine combined. There are others which I will link at the bottom of this page.

After reading this, I performed my own test with L-Theanine and Caffeine. I took the two at the same time and noticed after about 15 minutes a definite increase in alertness. During the following couple of hours, I finished a number of tasks quickly and accurately. I had higher focus than I typically do with Caffeine alone. One of the tasks I completed while taking the combination of L-Theanine and Caffeine was writing the L-Theanine article for this website.

I will state that L-Theanine and Caffeine subjectively seems to cut down on some of the less pleasant side-effects of Caffeine itself. There was less twitchiness and nervous energy than usual. It felt very clean and I was able to stay focused on work longer than usual with fewer breaks.

In conclusion, both the research supports a synergistic effect when L-Theanine and Caffeine are taken together. In my own personal experimentation I have found that subjectively it feels cleaner than either taken alone, and is definitely a nootropic combination worth pursuing.

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/8/1572S.full.pdf

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00981955

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18641209

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18254874

Help SmarterNootropics by Purchasing Caffeine+L-Theanine At the Places Below:

Caffeine – Health Supplement Wholesalers

Caffeine – Amazon.com

L-Theanine – Health Supplement Wholesalers

L-Theanine – Amazon.com

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You can read the article in its entirety here: The Future Of Cognition by Devin Van Dyke

About a month ago, a number of distributors and online retailers of Adrafinil abruptly stopped stocking and selling Adrafinil. There was little information to be had other than the fact that all online retailers stocking Adrafinil were now stocking “SOLD OUT” signs.

I looked into this and contacted a number of retailers. I asked specifically what information they had about the discontinuation. Nubrain responded with a simple email reply of “no more info”. Butch at AwakeBrain wrote back with more information

“Very little info anywhere. Cephalon was bought out and as part of their consolidation stopped production of Olmifon with very little notice. I only found out when I placed my monthly order from my French supplier. Not that it was being discontinued, but that [it] was discontinued. Sorry, that’s all I know.”

The information that Teva Pharmaceuticals acquired Cephalon led me to inquire at both Teva and Cephalon. Unfortunately, nobody at the US branches of either Teva or Cephalon seemed to know what Olmifon was, other than that it was not a drug that they were currently or had ever marketed in the United States.

Breaking out our basic French skills, we found this document posted by France’s FDA equivalent, AFSSAPS. An english translation of the relevant portion of the document reads as follows:

Reassessment of Adrafinil’s benefits and risks

Olmifon ® tablets, 300 mg (adrafinil) by Cephalon laboratories is a drug that has been approved since July 10, 1981. It has been marketed in France since September 19, 1985.
The drug, classified as a non-amphetamine stimulant, is indicated for the treatment of disorders of vigilance, attention, and ideo-motor slowing in the elderly.
In April 2011, Afssaps [Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des produits de santé] informed the MAH [Marketing Authorization Holder] that they were reassessing the benefits / risks of adrafinil and asked Cephalon to provide all data available regarding the security and efficiency of Olmifon.
Examination of the results of clinical studies made ​​by the laboratory can not conclude on the benefit of adrafinil in disorders of arousal and alertness in the elderly.
Furthermore, given the known adverse effects of this drug, the Board of AMM [Cephalon's Board of Advisors] considers that the benefit / risk ratio of adrafinil is unfavorable and therefore proposes a withdrawal of market authorization.
Cephalon laboratories has informed Afssaps of its decision to stop marketing the drug, which is no longer available in hospital pharmacies as of late September 2011.

In short, the French Government decided to reassess the benefits/risks of Adrafinil and informed Cephalon of their intent. Reviewing clinical studies, the board of AMM decided that they could not conclude that the benefits of Adrafinil outweigh the known adverse effects. The AFSSAPS informed Cephalon of their findings and that they were withdrawing marketing permission of Adrafinil. Cephalon announced their intent to stop marketing the drug, and has discontinued production and marketing of Olmifon in September 2011.

So that’s it, bad news for any of you interested in purchasing Cephalon-brand Adrafinil. Adrafinil is still available through Chinese and Indian manufacturers, but depending on the supplier, purity may be a game of chance.

The text of the complaint is here: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm257770.htm

The gist of the complaints that the FDA levvies against Cerebral Health are the following:

• Failed to provide a master manufacturing record for each batch
• Failed to establish product specifications for identity, purity, strength, and composition of finished batches
• Failed to conduct any tests about the identity of products sourced
• Failed to write written procedures for quality control of products
• Failed to make production records

According to the FDA, Cerebral Health is guilty basically of not creating or following standards and procedures specifically regarding the quality of product. They also didn’t keep records on each batch that was created. These are both somewhat bureaucratic requirements, but they are requirements by law. Hopefully CH has been able to establish and follow these guidelines. These probably shouldn’t be particularly worrisome.

The thing that caught my eye however was that they failed to conduct a single test about the identity or purity of their sourced products. It seems upon reading the complaint, that they order different chemicals from different suppliers and then combine them to create their formulas. However, they never did any purity tests to specifically make sure that what was coming was actually what was coming. There were no GC/MS tests done to make sure that what they were purchasing was, say, Huperzine A, as opposed to some other chemical.

I also did some digging and noticed that this is not the first time that Cerebral Health has had a run in with the FDA. There was another complaint filed by the FDA that was published on January 7, 2010 and found here: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2010/ucm198452.htm

This letter is more specifically related to the way CH was marketing their products. The important quote is here: “The therapeutic claims on your web site establish that the products are drugs because they are intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease”

Whatever has happened since, Cerebral Health does appear to still be in business, thankfully. I certainly hope that they’re able to come into compliance with FDA guidelines, because Cerebral Health is a very important supplier in our little Nootropic pond. I have emailed Cerebral Health letting them know that we’re rooting for them and asked for an update. If I receive one, I’ll update all of you.

Update 5/1/2012: Cerebral Health has passed its second FDA inspection with flying colors.

Scientists working for Group Lafon, a French pharmaceutical company, first discovered Adrafinil in the late 1970s.  The drug became available in France in 1986 as an experimental treatment for narcolepsy. The same company later made Modafinil. Adrafinil is now currently marketed as Olmifon in France and Europe.

Reactions to Adrafinil vary, though often it works very efficiently and could even be considered an effective substitute for caffeine. Positive reports describe a rise in energy and alertness, although it is described as mild compared to other more “aggressive” stimulants. The reason behind this is in Adrafinil’s ability to selectively stimulate adrenergic receptors in the brain. These receptors normally respond to norepinephrine (noradrenaline), a neurotransmitter linked to alertness, learning, and memory.

Adrafinil is considered safe, but despite this caution must be taken, as it occasionally displays negative side effects. These effects incude stomach pain, skin irritations, feelings of tension, and increases in liver enzyme levels. If you take doses of Adrafinil frequently it is suggested to monitor liver functions every few months, and watch out for abnormalities.

Adrafinil is not regulated in the United States, and has not been approved for clinical uses by the FDA. Unlike Modafinil it is not classified as a controlled substance, and can be imported privately by citizens.