A clinical trial on Bacopa monnieri extract, published in February this year, revealed significant enhancements in emotional and cognitive well-being among healthy adults. The Indian researchers claimed this is the most comprehensive study ever done on bacopa with extensive measures on memory, cognitive skills, anxiety, sleep, biomarkers and acute effects. They concluded that “our battery of cognitive functions test results shows that [bacopa] improves cognitive health, promotes concentration as early as three hours post dose on day one, increases overall memory, mental alertness, reasoning skills, mental flexibility, [brain-derived neurotrophic factor] BDNF [a key molecule involved in plastic changes related to learning and memory] levels, sleep quality and reduces anxiety and serum cortisol.”
Age-related cognitive decline substantially affects quality of life and freedom during old age. Cognitive functions such as memory, attention, language and executive functions are essential for day-to-day activities. They start declining gradually in the late 20s and this is further accelerated in the case of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Early interventions have been shown to help maintain normal and healthy cognitive aging. Cognitive enhancers, also known as nootropics, are prescribed to improve cognitive performance in elderly individuals and those with dementia. However, nootropics are increasingly being used by healthy people seeking to improve their attention, memory, focus, concentration and alertness. Students use nootropics to boost attention, increase alertness and to stay awake for an extended period. Bacopa, also known as brahmi, is a brain tonic and adaptogen known for its memory-enhancing properties and is widely used to improve cognitive functions.
In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study 38 people took bacopa and 36 people were in the placebo group. They consumed either 300mg of a commercial bacopa extract or placebo every morning after breakfast for 12 weeks. The bacopa group showed significant improvements in both memory (verbal short-term memory, spatial short-term memory, working memory, visuospatial working memory and episodic memory) and cognition skills (concentration, alertness, reasoning and mental flexibility) over placebo from baseline to day 84, with effects on cognitive skills as early as day 14 and day 28 for memory. A significant acute effect on concentration was observed as early as three hours post single dose consumption of bacopa. Anxiety scores and sleep quality were also significantly improved for the bacopa group on days 28, 56 and 84 as compared to placebo. Serum cortisol levels were significantly reduced from baseline to day 56 and 84, whereas serum BDNF was significantly increased on day 84 for the bacopa group compared to placebo.
References
Eraiah MM, Shekhar HC, Joshua L, Thomas JV. Effect of Bacopa monnieri Extract on Memory and Cognitive Skills in Adult Humans: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study. J Psychiatry Cogn Behav. 2024;8:168. https://doi.org/10.29011/2574-7762.000068
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