Likely false. The ingredients are listed and they are legit. They give Alzheimer some of the ingredients and Ritalin contains some too.

I am going to try going a week without taking them and see what the effects are.

After 3 days still feel zero sensation to the brain during the day, however I'm getting very vivid dreams and possibly lucid. Last night I swear I knew I was in a dream but I don't remember forcing myself to wake up.

So far these seem like a scam (I know, shocker) but we'll see if they start to kick in during the day after ~6 days like I've heard them do from other testimonials.

Edit: btw I'm taking 2 when I wake up and 2 before bed.

took one alpha brain with lunch and i started to feel more awake. felt like a super super mild form of adderal.

such polarized opinions/experiences with it. wish i could just take it unknowingly. i guess even if its placebo, its worth the $35 if its working right?

SleightOfJam, I'm about to blow your mind; put 2 Aspirin and 1 magic brain pill in a bag, reach in and eat one at random. No, $35 is not a good deal. I'm selling pills that stimulate your frontal lobe and improve memory for $30.

Summary;

They're all placebos. You can learn this easily by, for example, looking up their ingredients on wikipedia.

The one that will be best for you is the one that you think will be best for you. It will probably be the most expensive one with the hardest to swallow pill in the fanciest bottle.

I have never heard anyone who's tried Alpha Brain over a long period a time call it a placebo.

-Your head feels different.
-You dreams more and are lucid in them.

Working as intended.

Calling something placebo is the new placebo.

Just to be clear, you guys talking about placebo are taking about this commercial Alpha Brain product (which I know nothing about) - and not something like Oxiracetam which has several double-blind, placebo controlled clinical studies that seem to suggest at least some efficacy?

As I understasnd it, both choline (what appears to be alpha brain's primary selling point) and oxiracetam have demonstrated mild effectiveness in treating people with some forms of dementia but not others. These effects have only been shown in a few studies that were pretty small, only a fraction of which were both double blind and placebo-controlled, and we of course don't know how many studies failed to show any effect and weren't reported (or how many other substances were tested before they found one that met some statistical threshhold).

Even if it is the case that these substances do provide some benefit to people with some forms of dementia, that's a far cry from improving cognition in a healthy person. I didn't look very hard, but I was unable to find any clinical study suggesting that either of these substances is at all useful for a healthy person.

As the Science-Based Medicine article points out about choline, there's some plausibility behind the idea that choline might be helpful for people with some forms of dementia because it's an essential nutrient and the precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. It's plausible that people with some forms of brain damage might be in need of abnormally large amounts of acetylcholine for whatever reason.

It's not particularly plausible that healthy people are typically acetylcholine deficient, since that would represent a pretty massive evolutionary shortsight. Nor is it very plausible that eating more choline would lead to more acetylcholine in your brain, since deficiency in choline leads to physiological effects and not neurological effects.

Unfortunately, what happens to oxiracetam after you ingest it is not known, so I don't have a similarly specific argument there, but I think that this general argument is pretty strong: Some minor evidence suggesting some benefits for some people with some types of dementia is a far cry from far-reaching benefits for healthy people.

There's around 10 ingredients in Alpha Brain, that's its selling point...to mix in all the "good" nootropics into one pill. Choline is one out of many.

anyone want to buy this rock that keeps tigers away?

Thanks for the detailed response Noah. I think I'm on board with all of that.

My question was really: is it fair to label something with at least some proven effect on certain capacities of a group of people (those with dementia), as purely placebo on the anecdotal reports of similar capacities on another group (the healthy)?

It would seem a bit odd to me if there was a discrete response between the two groups, ie. some effect on the one group, none at all on the other. Also the two groups aren't necessarily discrete themselves.

The pseudoscientific health industry works very very hard to convince people that these drugs work. I think erring on the side of skepticism about the claims of an implausible product is pretty damn safe. That's especially true when we're talking about claims that, were they true, would have far-reaching consequences for all of humanity.

I think I answered most of your question in my preceding post. Basically, it's not clear at all that these drugs actually help anyone (because of the inherent flaws in statistical testing that get magnified when charlatans put as much effort as possible into deceiving the public). And, if it does work to some extent for some forms of dementia, that's much less surprising than it working at all for people who are healthy.

We evolved to function on some baseline levels of various essential nutrients and basically to piss out anything above that; it would be very surprising if there were some evolutionary accident that caused our brains to function much better by simply adding more of one of those things. We did not evolve to think well with dementia (obviously), and it stands to reason that many different simple interventions might alleviate dementia to some degree or another, although unfortunately none has been found that's particularly effective for the most common forms of dementia.

Incidentally, I'm not just posting about this crap to win an internet argument. The *******s who sell this kind of crap make money by lying, and they kill people.

Choline is definitely a good source but can be obtained through your generic b-complex vitamins at the local pharmacies. Also most of the vitamin B sources stimulate the neurotransmitter acetyl-choline. It has a lot to do with the nervous system, memory, and focus.

I actually did some research just now about choline. It is actually best being synergistic with a substance called piracetam. The piracetam+choline stack is used for mental clarity, focus, and stimulation. I even see here fact that it stimulates the production adenosine triphosphate, giving energy to the brain and as well to every muscle in the body. These two nootropics seem to be at the top of the line with as little as no side effects.

You can also get choline(roughly 250mg per serving) in your normal B-complex supplements at your local pharmacy.

I actually use Piracetam daily (~3200-4800mg) and I have noticed a great increase in my cognitive functions and memory. I started taking it about 8 months ago when I was going back to college (Robotics Engineering Major here) and I didn't notice a change until about 2 weeks in (I was taking the recommended daily dosage).

So far I can say it has definitely helped me remember lectures and my taken notes for when I have to take an exam or writing an essay. Other odd things I've noticed after taking it is my Acute Tinnitus (due to shooting rifles with my family in my youth) has severely cut back and the ringing noise in my ears rarely visits me like it used to.

I play online poker (not actually gambling with real money) and I noticed that when I was not on my regiment with Piracetam I was not necessarily playing as well as I do when I am on my regiment. I've pretty much become a beast on Zynga and while I can't say it's completely due to the Piracetam I can say it has definitely helped with it.

I don't know too much about this Alpha Brain, or Choline and all these other drugs, but I do know that my Grandmother (the person who gave me my first bottle, for a belated birthday present) definitely knew what she was giving me. She takes it as well, but that's beside the point.

Don't be overly skeptical when it comes to these things, if you have doubts look for CLINICAL/MEDICAL studies and research. You have to think with a scientific mind when dealing with things like this.

Noah, just wanted to stop in and say thanks for all the info you've done on these products. I've been researching them a little and the summery you posted made my process much more streamlined. I think I'll be holding off on any nootropics for the time being.

So does piracetam have similar effects as oxiracetam as noahSD mentioned in the other post?

I've heard about Oxiracetam I've done limited research on it, but my grandmother told me about it and filled me in. It's similar to Piracetam in that they're both in the Racetam family. However Oxiracetam has a few side effects (insomnia, stomach aches, and can cause excitotoxicity) and honestly if I'm going to be taking anything that is supposed to boost mental focus I don't want side effects distracting me. Otherwise I would have kept my script for Adderall and just dealt with the insomnia, irritability, and loss of appetite.

Piracetam was synthesized in the 1970's. It was the first of the Racetam family to be developed and introduced to the world. It unlike most of the other Racetams doesn't have side effects (I take over twice the recommended dosage and I've seen people literally take 12-20 capsules in one day with out experiencing any negative effects). I honestly recommend it over the others simply for the fact that it doesn't produce negative side effects. What's the purpose of taking something beneficial if it's going to hinder you at the same time?

All these Jan 12 registrations touting the products have me convinced! Where do I send my monies?

Surprisingly few exclamation marks in Zealot's posts.

These jan 2012 registrations are cracking me up

What are the chances of google and zealot not being the same person?