As I’ve grown older and experienced the vagaries of my ageing memory, I’ve often reflected on the possibility of a miracle cure that would rejuvenate it.
As if in answer to my wishful thinking, not one but several reports recently appeared simultaneously in the scientific news, highlighting a trending solution of which I was blissfully unaware.
A welter of articles – The Times of India, MSN, New York Post and others – spoke of an Indian herb called bacopa, or to give it its full botanical name, Bacopa monnieri, an aquatic flower. This wave of publicity resulted in a massive spike in interest: 2,000 monthly searches on Google and a weekly average of 13,000 views on TikTok.
The reason for its global popularity? A new study which concluded that ingesting bacopa brought significant improvements in both memory and cognition skills (concentration, alertness, reasoning and mental flexibility).
All types of memory were improved – short-term memory (verbal and spatial), working memory and episodic memory (memory of everyday events).
The researchers also reported other brain health-related benefits. Anxiety and cortisol levels in the blood were significantly reduced, and sleep quality and serum BDNF were increased by taking a bacopa supplement (BDNF is a naturally produced protein in the brain that stimulates the production of new brain cells in every decade of our life). If I had wanted a miracle, perhaps I had found it.
But one swallow doesn’t make a summer. And neither should a single study set a law in stone.
So, curious as to the weight of evidence, I delved deeper. My search led me to a surprising source – Ayurvedic medicine.
Over many thousands of years, this traditional Indian medical system has expounded the benefits of bacopa. Bacopa is a medhya rasayana, meaning a class of herbs believed to improve mental health, memory and intellect, and promote rejuvenation and longevity.
It would be true to say that millions of people over the centuries have relied on this supplement for health and mental health benefits. However, history and tradition teach us many things, but not all of them are true. And, therefore, I asked myself: what of the scientific evidence?
One of the earliest papers on the effects of taking bacopa was in 2008. And though, over the years, it stimulated several more studies favourable to the use of bacopa, the picture of its effectiveness is mixed.
It’s true to say that most of the papers – many of them using the gold standard method of a randomised controlled trial – find that bacopa is positive for improved memory and reduced anxiety. And there is a biological explanation.
Bacopa extract contains many potent substances called “bacosides” that have, among other effects, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing) properties.
But by no means do all studies show that bacopa improves memory and anxiety. In fact, in 2021 a review of bacopa research stated that there are only limited studies (six to date) to establish the memory-enhancing and brain-protecting effects of bacopa.
Safety
Then I asked myself, is it safe? I turned to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If there is an issue with safety and side-effects, the FDA would know.
The FDA has not approved bacopa as a drug and therefore has not made any statements as to its safety or efficacy.
However, the way in which a supplement is marketed can lead to the FDA categorising it as a drug. For example, in 2024, a US company selling veterinary products was censured because their marketing of one of them intended it to be used in the cure of chronic seizures and epilepsy in dogs.
The FDA can investigate, censor or fine – without limit – any company which says that its supplement acts like a drug by implying it can be used to prevent, mitigate, treat or cure any illness.
There is a very fine line here. For example, marketing such as, “the control of blood pressure” may lead to a US federal investigation. A company in Houston, Texas, making medical claims for bacopa was given 15 days in a warning letter by the FDA to correct their marketing or face sanctions including fines.
The FDA states: “Dietary supplements are regulated by the FDA as food, not as drugs. However, many dietary supplements contain ingredients that have strong biological effects which may conflict with a medicine you are taking or a medical condition you may have.”
Such effects are known in bacopa because it inhibits an important brain chemical called acetylcholine and therefore could counteract cholinergic drugs for conditions such as dementia, glaucoma and urinary retention.
It is generally safe for most people, but is inadvisable where there are thyroid conditions, asthma, COPD, genital problems, stomach ulcers or if pregnant.
What are we to make of all this? All that glisters is not gold. And the wisdom of the ages is not irrevocable. There may be a frenzy of popularity in the media but that makes bacopa neither effective nor safe.
The moral here is that before spending your hard-earned money on a promising product that has been seized upon by millions, you should pause, read, research, think and then, based on real evidence, commit – one way or the other. After all, since the days of Newton, science has served us pretty well.
James Goodwin, Professor in the Physiology of Ageing, Loughborough University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
