“Brain-Boosting” Supplements: A Neurologist Splits Fact From Fiction

Americans and others around the sector have turned more and more to nutritional supplements, intending to maintain their mental health.

The latest study found that 1 / 4 of adults over age 50 take supplements for mind-related fitness. But that identical look at, complete with the aid of experts convened by the AARP, shows that seniors must spend their money somewhere else. The supplements don’t make paintings. This is not a small issue. Expenditures on non-vitamin brain health supplements,includingf minerals, natural combinations, nutraceuticals, or amino acids, have extended into billions of dollars. This can amount to between $20 and $60 a month for seniors, a sizeable sum that might be placed in the direction of different prices, including fresh vegetables and fruit that certainly does make a difference.
As a neurologist who researches mind fitness and prevention of dementia and has been involved in studies in reminiscence and Alzheimer’s disease for my whole profession, I can help explain what we do and don’t know about dietary supplements, vitamins, and brain health.

So, what is the problem? Aren’t all of those “medicinal drugs” permitted by way of the Food and Drug Administration? Well, no, they’re not. The FDA does not now treat supplements like prescription medications. Supplements aren’t tested for accuracy in their claimed ingredients through unbiased laboratories, and they overwhelmingly do not have the legitimate scientific proof that might demonstrate that they’re effective. The FDA is predicated on manufacturers to test for the protection of dietary supplements, no longer for their efficacy. They aren’t challenged to rigorous scientific trials that follow prescription drugs. The FDA prohibits supplement makers from making precise health claims. However, corporations have observed a way to tout wondrous blessings even though.

They use terms together with “research demonstrated” or “laboratory tested” and other comparable scientific-sounding claims. Some of those claim that the product “maintains appropriate mind fitness.” For example, a label on a bottle of Ginkgo biloba, an especially popular supplement that many seniors take for brain health, claims: “Supports wholesome brain characteristics and mental alertness.” But there’s an asterisk. Turn the bottle around, and you may examine the caveat that follows the asterisk: “The Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated this assertion. This product isn’t supposed to diagnose, prevent, or remedy any disease.” A range of companies that bought other varieties of nutritional dietary supplements have lately received letters from the FDA requiring that they modify their classified ads not to overstate their merchandise’s benefits.

Eager for Help

As infant boomers circulate into later life, they’re attempting to find approaches to maintain good health, especially brain health. A 2012 Marist Poll for Home Instead Senior Care discovered that Americans worry about Alzheimer’s more than any other ailment. Surveys also have proven that older human beings fear the maximum approximate lack of cognition, either everyday memory loss or, worse, dementia. I assume that dissatisfaction or fear approximately the potential of present-day medicine to address mental health in a meaningful way has led human beings to look for other approaches to protect their brains.