Memory supplements have become a multibillion-dollar business in today’s world(1). Many manufacturers of these products have put forward claims that have not stood rigorous scientific scrutiny. Many of these claims have brought about some misconceptions about this class of products.
Besides, as people turn to memory supplements to get super-brains, the number of baseless expectations from this class of products has increased, and these have further lead to more misconceptions about these products.
In this comprehensive article, we have written about ten of these misconceptions. We hope this article enlighten you more about memory supplements.
Below are ten misconceptions about memory supplements.
1. Thinking that memory/brain supplements will change your brain overnight
The plain truth is that memory supplements are not magic bullets, and you can’t change your brain overnight by using them. Besides, many ingredients use in formulating memory supplements have questionable status, so we are not sure you will even get any benefit to your brain in the first place.
Even the supplements that have some tendency to improve your memory can’t do it alone.
Usually, a memory supplement needs to be combined with healthy lifestyle choices like eating a balanced diet, exercising, among others, before you can greatly improve your memory.
But combining a healthy lifestyle with memory supplements creates a conundrum. When you combine a healthy lifestyle with memory supplements, it becomes really difficult to determine if the healthy lifestyle is responsible for giving you the memory boost or the memory supplements.
In any case, memory supplements will probably never improve your memory overnight if it even improves it at all.
2. Thinking that you can get a host of health benefits by consuming memory supplement if you have mental health issues
If you have any mental health issue, simply visit a qualified health professional. It is that simple. Scientists doubt the benefits of memory supplements, and many of them have failed to show any benefits to mental health in well designed clinical trials.
In fact, in one article available on Harvard.edu, among vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folic acid, vitamin E, vitamin C, Conenzyme Q1O, Huperzine A, Ginko Biloba, fish oil, Curcumin, and coconut oil, only vitamin E was said to be able to treat cognitive decline or dementia.(2)
Going by this, you may not get any health benefits consuming any of the memory supplements listed above if you already have a mental health issue unless the supplement is vitamin E.
Besides, even though there is good evidence that vitamin E can treat cognitive decline on dementia, there is no such evidence that it prevents cognitive decline or dementia.
As we have pointed out before, we will recommend you visit a qualified health practitioner if you believe you are having cognitive decline or dementia instead of taken unproven memory supplements.
3. Thinking that memory supplements will cover up your poor attention issue
Many times when people claim that they can’t recall a fact, these people have not put this information in their memory in the first place.
Obviously, attention is needed to store a piece of information in your brain. There appears to be no shortcut to this; you need to put full attention into what you are learning to remember it afterwards.
Memory supplement will not cover up your lack of focus and absent-mindedness. If you are having problem paying attention to what you are learning, we will recommend that you work on the attention by researching the solutions to the problem instead of expecting a wonder to happen by using memory supplements.
In addition, we have already written a comprehensive article on the relationship between attention and memory; you can read it to know the relationship that exists between both and how to improve your attention.
4. Thinking that memory supplements will give you super memory or a genius brain
We have already discussed the misconception about people thinking that they can change their brain overnight by consuming memory supplements. We will now be discussing another misconception that is closely related to that.
Some people think that memory supplements can greatly improve their memory in the long run and give them a genius-like brain. Sadly, this a delusional thinking.
It is delusional because it makes you believe that taking memory supplements will alone turn your memory around in the long-run.
The research works done in this field clearly indicate that this is not the case. Research has shown that many factors are involved in memory development, and to have a great memory, you need a holistic approach.
For example, to have a great memory, you need to eat right, avoid alcohol and smoking, you need to exercise, you need to develop your attention span, and you need to get adequate sleep, among others.
Furthermore, the efficacy of memory supplements are being debated greatly, and many of the ingredients used in the preparation of common memory supplement have failed scientific scrutiny (2).
The best way to develop a genius memory in the long term is to follow an holistic approach. This involves eating a balanced diet, having adequate sleep, exercising, avoiding stress, developing your attention, avoiding alcohol and smoking, and using memory techniques, among others.
5. Thinking that memory supplements will let you remember things after reading them once without doing revisions.
Many people take memory supplements so that they can avoid the stressful path of following what has been proven to work. For example, revising a subject has been proven over and over again to be a great way to make a piece of information stick longer in your brain. However, revision requires time and discipline. It is quite obvious that people will prefer to take a supplement than sit down to revise again and again. Taking a supplement is easier.
Unfortunately, taking a memory supplement will not cover up for your inability to revise.
You still need to revise a piece of information before you can expect it to stick to your memory for a long time. You can read about how to use revision as a memory technique here.
6. Thinking that memory supplements are science-based
Many manufacturers of memory supplements portray their products as if their efficacy is undisputed and backed up with trustworthy evidence from well-designed scientific research works, whereas this not the case.
Although we have few memory supplements like vitamin E that have been proven to work (based on reliable scientific research works), many memory supplements have either failed a rigorous scientific study or have not been subjected to one.
It is crucial you keep this at the back of your mind when considering taking a memory supplement. We will recommend that if you must take a memory supplement, please never rely alone on the manufacturer’s statement. Do your own research and consult a qualified physician before you start taking a memory supplement.
7. Thinking that memory supplements can’t harm your health
Many people don’t really believe that taking memory supplements can be injurious to their health. Different kinds of plant products and animal products are used as memory supplements, and it will be unthinkable to assume that all these products are safe for everyone.
You really need to be prudent when using memory supplements, especially when you have an underlying health condition, or you are taking other medications.
It is not impossible for plant products or animal products used in the manufacturing of memory supplements to interact with medications or worsen an underlying health condition.
More research work needs to be done to ascertain the safety of many memory supplements sold on the market.
In the meantime, we will recommend you exercise extra care when taking a memory supplement, especially if you have an underlying health condition or you are taking other medications.
8. Taking many brands of supplements together
If you are obsessed with having a great memory with little work, it is very easy to want to take two or more memory supplements together. This is even more likely if you believe you are already getting some form of benefits from one brand of memory supplement. It is easy to think that two brands of memory supplements will even give a better result. Anyway, this assumption is faulty for two reasons:
a. When it comes to drugs or drugs related products, more is not always better. Unless you want to turn yourself to a laboratory rat, you should look for a scientific verdict to know if it is appropriate and safe to combine two types of drug products or supplements.
We believe you want an elegant life, and that is why you want to improve your memory in the first place. If this belief of ours is right, then never you use your body as a laboratory to test unproven products or concepts.
b. Another reason why you should not take two brands of supplements together is that doing this may potentiate the side effects of these supplements.
Besides, taking two brands of memory supplement together may make them more likely to have adverse effects on you if you have an underlying health condition or you are taking other medications.
9. Not consulting a qualified physician before taking memory supplements
If you have been reading this article from the beginning, you will notice we have said it repeatedly that memory supplements have many issues with their efficacy.
Despite all these issues, many people still take memory supplements without first consulting a qualified health professional.
We believe that many people are not choosing to consult qualified physicians because they think that memory supplements are not drugs, and they can decide to use it or not without proper consultation.
Please be informed that a thin line exists between drugs and supplement, and some chemical product has been used as both a supplement and a drug. A good example of this is vitamin C.
If you have not been doing so before, we will recommend that you take your health more seriously and consult a qualified physician before starting or continuing the usage of memory supplements.
Furthermore, you can learn more about the controversies surrounding the use of memory supplements here.
Also note that because the field of memory supplement is developing, what we know today may not be the same as what will be known in one or two years’ time. In other words, we expect things to change as people become more aware of the true nature of memory supplements as more research works are done.
Because of these expected changes, we will recommend that you don’t only continuously ask qualified personnel about where science stands on memory supplements but also try to read latest scientific works about this class of supplements personally and continuously.
10. Thinking that memory supplements can cover up for poor life choices like smoking, drinking, and lack of exercise.
Taking memory supplements will not prevent poor life choices like smoking and alcohol from negatively affecting your memory and your general health.
Memory supplements are meant to help your memory. They are not designed to prevent the damaging effect of poor life choices.
If you must take a memory supplement for one reason or the other, please make sure you still maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Conclusion
If you ever choose to take memory supplements (after doing your research), you should endeavor to make sure you don’t make the mistakes mentioned above.
In addition, please share your experience with memory supplements using the comment box.
Finally, please do share this article with family and friends so that they don’t repeat any of the mistakes mentioned above.
Common Questions about Memory Supplements
Is There an FDA Approved Memory Supplements?
You may not ask this question if you know how FDA deals with supplements. FDA clearly make it known on their website that “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have the authority to review dietary supplement products for safety and effectiveness before they are marketed.” This clearly shows that unless things change, there cannot be an FDA approved memory supplement since they don’t review them for effectiveness or safety.
What is the Best Supplement to Improve Memory?
We wish we have an excellent answer to this question, but the truth appears that we need more research to be able to confidently mention the best supplement to improve the memory. Besides, don’t forget that the efficacy of many memory supplements is doubted.
What are the Best Memory Supplements for Seniors?
Many memory supplements out there may provide little or no benefit to seniors. Instead, we will recommend that senior citizens follow a holistic approach to improving their memory. This includes the following:
1. Avoid smoking and alcohol.
2. Taking a balanced diet.
3. Getting an adequate sleep.
4. Getting adequate exercise.
5. Avoid stress.
6. Working on your attention span.
7. Using memory techniques to store information.
References:
- “Brain Health Supplements Market Size, Share And Growth Factor | 2023”. Allied Market Research, 2020, https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/brain-health-supplements-market. Accessed 10 May 2020.
- Publishing, Harvard. “Mind And Memory Supplement Scorecard – Harvard Health”. Harvard Health, 2020, https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/mind-and-memory-supplement-scorecard. Accessed 5 May 2020.
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