7 Natural Nootropics For Better Brain Performance: Which Is Best?
In today’s highly competitive world, popping a pill for extra brain power can be a tempting solution for those needing a quick boost in productivity, or hoping to get the creative juices flowing.
Recent years have seen an enormous spike in demand for neuroenhancers known as nootropics or “smart drugs,” especially among university students during exam time, but also among working professionals with looming deadlines and older folks worried about cognitive decline in advanced age.
In response to this demand, a whole black-market industry has sprung up around prescription medications such as Adderall, Ritalin, and modafinil — powerful, mind-altering drugs intended to treat psychiatric and neurological conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (
Bacopa Monnieri
Bacopa monnieri, also known as waterhyssop or brahmi, is a perennial herb native to the wetlands of India and Australia. Used in Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) for centuries, Bacopa contains a number of chemical compounds, known collectively as bacosides, which can cross the blood-brain barrier and provide significant neuroprotective and neuroenhancement benefits.[1]
A 2013 neuropharmacological review of Bacopa monnieri at the Pitzer (Claremont) College Department of Neuroscience found that “unlike the potentially addictive and forceful action of widely used psychostimulants,” such as modafinil, long-term moderate use of Bacopa “appears to nourish rather than deplete neurons.”[2] Despite the herb’s slower, gentler influence on the brain than pharmaceutical nootropics, a 2013 meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology has shown chronic Bacopa administration to have an overall greater positive impact on cognitive processes than modafinil, especially in the domain of memory.[3]
“Bacopa could potentially be clinically prescribed as a memory enhancer,” according to a 2012 systematic review carried out at the Swinburne University of Technology’s Center for Human Psychopharmacology in Australia, which analyzed the results of six high-quality, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human trials.[4] More recently, in 2022, an article in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Pharmacology noted that, in addition to memory enhancement, “several therapeutic and laboratory researches have demonstrated the usefulness of Bacopa monnieri in improving intellect and concentration,” and that Bacopa extract “has already been shown to help cognitive performance in adolescents with ADHD.”[1]
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginkgo biloba, often simply called ginkgo, is a species of tree native to China and a staple of traditional Chinese medicine. Extracts from its leaves contain many bioactive compounds, including ginkgolides and bilobalide, which are considered to exert memory-enhancing,[5] neuroprotective, and neuroregenerative effects[6] by improving blood circulation and assisting the distribution of nutrients and oxygen to the brain.[7]
A systematic review of seven randomized controlled trials by an international team of scientists from India, Israel, and Poland in 2012 reported that despite only “limited evidence” for Ginkgo as a treatment for ADHD (unlike Bacopa monnieri), the plant was nevertheless “found to provide cognitive benefits in patients with 7 Natural Nootropics For Better Brain Performance: Which Is Best?