What is the most powerful brain supplement?

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

I reiterate my point about med students and residents. They are some of the most competitive, single minded people you can meet, and a number have borderline personality disorders.
If it would give them even the slightest edge, there are a good 10% or more who would do just about anything, from cocaine to tree frog venom to chugging horse piss in the morning.
So if they don't do it, it doesn't work.
57% of these people admit they would eat a poop hotdog to get into their first choice school:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=1007

I will be willing to bet money that the percentage of med students that have borderline personality disorder is lower than average compared to America as a whole.

 

[Keyser Söze]

You making an excessively long post about your travails of a year of medical school do not make you the RVF resident science expert.

Just as in professional cycling, where people are insanely competitive and will take anything that actually works, so it goes for med students and residents. Think about this scientifically - across the 140 or so AMA schools, students take a wide variety of different vitamins and jellyfish powders to make their neurons dance faster. However, regardless of the school or student or geographical location, their is a clear and consistent use of a handful of relevant substances: caffeine, prescription amphetamines and amphetamine analogues, and modafinil.

This has nothing to do with the taste, color, labeling, or fashionability of the aforementioned three. It has to do with their consistent and reliable and reproducible results.

I am always open to being wrong. If you can provide any reliable, double blind, randomized studies for a specific supplement for a specific malady/ailment, I would be glad to see them.

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

You making an excessively long post about your travails of a year of medical school do not make you the RVF resident science expert.

Just as in professional cycling, where people are insanely competitive and will take anything that actually works, so it goes for med students and residents. Think about this scientifically - across the 140 or so AMA schools, students take a wide variety of different vitamins and jellyfish powders to make their neurons dance faster. However, regardless of the school or student or geographical location, their is a clear and consistent use of a handful of relevant substances: caffeine, prescription amphetamines and amphetamine analogues, and modafinil.

This has nothing to do with the taste, color, labeling, or fashionability of the aforementioned three. It has to do with their consistent and reliable and reproducible results.

I am always open to being wrong. If you can provide any reliable, double blind, randomized studies for a specific supplement for a specific malady/ailment, I would be glad to see them.

The med school thing was just to illustrate that I've been there and know people that go there, so in that area we are equal. I don't give a shit about my personal experiences, and you actually have none, except hanging out with some students? You have come to a completely erroneous conclusion that all supplements are worthless. It's so extreme and absolute that it's ignorant.

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

You making an excessively long post about your travails of a year of medical school do not make you the RVF resident science expert.

Just as in professional cycling, where people are insanely competitive and will take anything that actually works, so it goes for med students and residents. Think about this scientifically - across the 140 or so AMA schools, students take a wide variety of different vitamins and jellyfish powders to make their neurons dance faster. However, regardless of the school or student or geographical location, their is a clear and consistent use of a handful of relevant substances: caffeine, prescription amphetamines and amphetamine analogues, and modafinil.

This has nothing to do with the taste, color, labeling, or fashionability of the aforementioned three. It has to do with their consistent and reliable and reproducible results.

I am always open to being wrong. If you can provide any reliable, double blind, randomized studies for a specific supplement for a specific malady/ailment, I would be glad to see them.

I will gladly post those studies up.

 

[Keyser Söze]

You making an excessively long post about your travails of a year of medical school do not make you the RVF resident science expert.

Just as in professional cycling, where people are insanely competitive and will take anything that actually works, so it goes for med students and residents. Think about this scientifically - across the 140 or so AMA schools, students take a wide variety of different vitamins and jellyfish powders to make their neurons dance faster. However, regardless of the school or student or geographical location, their is a clear and consistent use of a handful of relevant substances: caffeine, prescription amphetamines and amphetamine analogues, and modafinil.

This has nothing to do with the taste, color, labeling, or fashionability of the aforementioned three. It has to do with their consistent and reliable and reproducible results.

I am always open to being wrong. If you can provide any reliable, double blind, randomized studies for a specific supplement for a specific malady/ailment, I would be glad to see them.

The med school thing was just to illustrate that I've been there and know people that go there, so in that area we are equal. I don't give a shit about my personal experiences, and you actually have none, except hanging out with some students? You have come to a completely erroneous conclusion that all supplements are worthless. It's so extreme and absolute that it's ignorant.

I never posted the full extent of my experience, and generally shy away from being too autobiographical/identifiable here.
I also don't think that all supplements are worthless, just the vast majority.
In the specific case of "brain supplements," my conclusion is that if there really were anything significantly effective beyond the 3 I identified, you would see it rapidly adopted and consistently used among hypercompetitive groups like med students/residents and others.

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

You making an excessively long post about your travails of a year of medical school do not make you the RVF resident science expert.

Just as in professional cycling, where people are insanely competitive and will take anything that actually works, so it goes for med students and residents. Think about this scientifically - across the 140 or so AMA schools, students take a wide variety of different vitamins and jellyfish powders to make their neurons dance faster. However, regardless of the school or student or geographical location, their is a clear and consistent use of a handful of relevant substances: caffeine, prescription amphetamines and amphetamine analogues, and modafinil.

This has nothing to do with the taste, color, labeling, or fashionability of the aforementioned three. It has to do with their consistent and reliable and reproducible results.

I am always open to being wrong. If you can provide any reliable, double blind, randomized studies for a specific supplement for a specific malady/ailment, I would be glad to see them.

I will gladly post those studies up.

It does not make me the RVF science expert. Who is by the way anyways? I can tell just by looking at what you wrote that I do know more about this specific topic. Stimulants are not counted along with brain supplements/nootropics by the way. In order to be a supplement or nootropic, side effects need to be almost non existent. Caffeine and Amphetamines are stimulants. Modafinil is a stimulant but also partially considered a nootropic,

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

You making an excessively long post about your travails of a year of medical school do not make you the RVF resident science expert.

Just as in professional cycling, where people are insanely competitive and will take anything that actually works, so it goes for med students and residents. Think about this scientifically - across the 140 or so AMA schools, students take a wide variety of different vitamins and jellyfish powders to make their neurons dance faster. However, regardless of the school or student or geographical location, their is a clear and consistent use of a handful of relevant substances: caffeine, prescription amphetamines and amphetamine analogues, and modafinil.

This has nothing to do with the taste, color, labeling, or fashionability of the aforementioned three. It has to do with their consistent and reliable and reproducible results.

I am always open to being wrong. If you can provide any reliable, double blind, randomized studies for a specific supplement for a specific malady/ailment, I would be glad to see them.

The med school thing was just to illustrate that I've been there and know people that go there, so in that area we are equal. I don't give a shit about my personal experiences, and you actually have none, except hanging out with some students? You have come to a completely erroneous conclusion that all supplements are worthless. It's so extreme and absolute that it's ignorant.

I never posted the full extent of my experience, and generally shy away from being too autobiographical/identifiable here.
I also don't think that all supplements are worthless, just the vast majority.
In the specific case of "brain supplements," my conclusion is that if there really were anything significantly effective beyond the 3 I identified, you would see it rapidly adopted and consistently used among hypercompetitive groups like med students/residents and others.

The combo of high dose EPA/DHA n-3 fatty acids, Uridine, and Choline is relatively brand new. The fish oil and choline have been around but the uridine only recently became available in bulk for...I will get you some links asap here.

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

You making an excessively long post about your travails of a year of medical school do not make you the RVF resident science expert.

Just as in professional cycling, where people are insanely competitive and will take anything that actually works, so it goes for med students and residents. Think about this scientifically - across the 140 or so AMA schools, students take a wide variety of different vitamins and jellyfish powders to make their neurons dance faster. However, regardless of the school or student or geographical location, their is a clear and consistent use of a handful of relevant substances: caffeine, prescription amphetamines and amphetamine analogues, and modafinil.

This has nothing to do with the taste, color, labeling, or fashionability of the aforementioned three. It has to do with their consistent and reliable and reproducible results.

I am always open to being wrong. If you can provide any reliable, double blind, randomized studies for a specific supplement for a specific malady/ailment, I would be glad to see them.

The med school thing was just to illustrate that I've been there and know people that go there, so in that area we are equal. I don't give a shit about my personal experiences, and you actually have none, except hanging out with some students? You have come to a completely erroneous conclusion that all supplements are worthless. It's so extreme and absolute that it's ignorant.

I never posted the full extent of my experience, and generally shy away from being too autobiographical/identifiable here.
I also don't think that all supplements are worthless, just the vast majority.
In the specific case of "brain supplements," my conclusion is that if there really were anything significantly effective beyond the 3 I identified, you would see it rapidly adopted and consistently used among hypercompetitive groups like med students/residents and others.

I took that crap down on my signature, we can work this out like gentleman. I think you will give me at least some credit. This is still somewhat experimental but the evidences points strongly. Links coming, give me 5-10 minutes.

 

[Keyser Söze]

If you know the specific mechanism of action of Modafinil, please PM it to me, as I forsee a first authorship in NJEM in my near future.



As for omega 3 oils and brain function (please note that even if the study were accurate, it in no way proves that taking Omega 3 supplements will reduce the risk of brain disorders) :

"
Nutrition: Brainpower Tied to Omega-3 Levels

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Published: February 27, 2012

Low blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids are associated with smaller brain volume and poorer performance on tests of mental acuity, even in people without apparent dementia, according to a new study.

In the analysis, published online Monday in the journal Neurology, scientists examined 1,575 dementia-free men and women whose average age was 67. The researchers analyzed the fatty acids of the subjects’ red blood cells, a more reliable measurement than a plasma blood test or an estimate based on diet. They used an M.R.I. scan to measure brain volume and white matter hyperintensities, a radiological finding indicative of vascular damage.

People in the lowest one-quarter for omega-3 levels had significantly lower total cerebral brain volume than those in the highest one-quarter, even after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking and other factors. They also performed significantly worse on tests of visual memory, executive function and abstract memory than those in the highest one-quarter. There was no significant association with white matter hyperintensity volume.

“We feel that omega-3’s reduce vascular pathology and thus reduce the rate of brain aging,” said Dr. Zaldy S. Tan, the lead author and associate professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Few in the study were taking omega-3 supplements, Dr. Tan said. The main reason that some had higher blood levels of omega-3’s was that they ate more fatty fish.

Several of the authors have financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies. "


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/h...-acid-levels-linked-to-brain-performance.html

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

You making an excessively long post about your travails of a year of medical school do not make you the RVF resident science expert.

Just as in professional cycling, where people are insanely competitive and will take anything that actually works, so it goes for med students and residents. Think about this scientifically - across the 140 or so AMA schools, students take a wide variety of different vitamins and jellyfish powders to make their neurons dance faster. However, regardless of the school or student or geographical location, their is a clear and consistent use of a handful of relevant substances: caffeine, prescription amphetamines and amphetamine analogues, and modafinil.

This has nothing to do with the taste, color, labeling, or fashionability of the aforementioned three. It has to do with their consistent and reliable and reproducible results.

I am always open to being wrong. If you can provide any reliable, double blind, randomized studies for a specific supplement for a specific malady/ailment, I would be glad to see them.

They aren't going to be for a specific ailment. One of the possible targets of the is alzheimer's disease, which is tricky to do Like you said, if all these late stage clinicals were out your med school buddies would have heard of them. Heck ask them about it, see what they say. They are testing whether this combo can increase synaptogenesis, brain cell membrane phosphatide (PC, PS, PE, etc.) content. Nevertheless there are some decent ones for it being in an early stage. Linking them right now.

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

If you know the specific mechanism of action of Modafinil, please PM it to me, as I forsee a first authorship in NJEM in my near future.



As for omega 3 oils and brain function (please note that even if the study were accurate, it in no way proves that taking Omega 3 supplements will reduce the risk of brain disorders) :

"
Nutrition: Brainpower Tied to Omega-3 Levels

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Published: February 27, 2012

Low blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids are associated with smaller brain volume and poorer performance on tests of mental acuity, even in people without apparent dementia, according to a new study.

In the analysis, published online Monday in the journal Neurology, scientists examined 1,575 dementia-free men and women whose average age was 67. The researchers analyzed the fatty acids of the subjects’ red blood cells, a more reliable measurement than a plasma blood test or an estimate based on diet. They used an M.R.I. scan to measure brain volume and white matter hyperintensities, a radiological finding indicative of vascular damage.

People in the lowest one-quarter for omega-3 levels had significantly lower total cerebral brain volume than those in the highest one-quarter, even after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking and other factors. They also performed significantly worse on tests of visual memory, executive function and abstract memory than those in the highest one-quarter. There was no significant association with white matter hyperintensity volume.

“We feel that omega-3’s reduce vascular pathology and thus reduce the rate of brain aging,” said Dr. Zaldy S. Tan, the lead author and associate professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Few in the study were taking omega-3 supplements, Dr. Tan said. The main reason that some had higher blood levels of omega-3’s was that they ate more fatty fish.

Several of the authors have financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies. "


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/h...-acid-levels-linked-to-brain-performance.html

I've never read that. I don't go to the NYT. All my stuff comes from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

Here's just one, finding more.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3062998/?tool=pmcentrez
another
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2048660/?tool=pmcentrez

Human brain enzymes are similarly unsaturated and normal dietary intakes of epa/dha and uridine

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3080753/?tool=pmcentrez\

there's more coming

a bit better here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3020593/?tool=pmcentrez

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2140951/?tool=pmcentrez

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2344157/?tool=pmcentrez

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

If you know the specific mechanism of action of Modafinil, please PM it to me, as I forsee a first authorship in NJEM in my near future.



As for omega 3 oils and brain function (please note that even if the study were accurate, it in no way proves that taking Omega 3 supplements will reduce the risk of brain disorders) :

"
Nutrition: Brainpower Tied to Omega-3 Levels

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Published: February 27, 2012

Low blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids are associated with smaller brain volume and poorer performance on tests of mental acuity, even in people without apparent dementia, according to a new study.

In the analysis, published online Monday in the journal Neurology, scientists examined 1,575 dementia-free men and women whose average age was 67. The researchers analyzed the fatty acids of the subjects’ red blood cells, a more reliable measurement than a plasma blood test or an estimate based on diet. They used an M.R.I. scan to measure brain volume and white matter hyperintensities, a radiological finding indicative of vascular damage.

People in the lowest one-quarter for omega-3 levels had significantly lower total cerebral brain volume than those in the highest one-quarter, even after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking and other factors. They also performed significantly worse on tests of visual memory, executive function and abstract memory than those in the highest one-quarter. There was no significant association with white matter hyperintensity volume.

“We feel that omega-3’s reduce vascular pathology and thus reduce the rate of brain aging,” said Dr. Zaldy S. Tan, the lead author and associate professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Few in the study were taking omega-3 supplements, Dr. Tan said. The main reason that some had higher blood levels of omega-3’s was that they ate more fatty fish.

Several of the authors have financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies. "


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/h...-acid-levels-linked-to-brain-performance.html

I don't read that NYT shit for science news. Any mainstream science reporting makes me want to barffffff.

Modafinil has no one specific mode of action as far as science can tell so far. It's a moderate DRI as it's main action with a bunch of other jazz thrown in. I'm on that shit right now so maybe I'll have a stroke of genius and figure it out.

 

[Keyser Söze]

Those are some links worth checking out. I will get to them later on today.
Progress on drugs that would really impact neural degeneration or indeed even encourage and promote regeneration has been really slow/non existent. Alzheimers drugs, and there have been many attempts by some determined, well funded, and bright people, haven't had significant palliative, preventive, or curative effects for extended periods.
Good news is that I'm 32, and new classes of drugs to treat alz and similar will likely be invented, tested on human gineau pigs and early users, and available by the time I start crapping myself. It would also be nice to have a depression treatment based on my portable miniature MRI wand, but SNRIs are suitable for now.

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

Those are some links worth checking out. I will get to them later on today.
Progress on drugs that would really impact neural degeneration or indeed even encourage and promote regeneration has been really slow/non existent. Alzheimers drugs, and there have been many attempts by some determined, well funded, and bright people, haven't had significant palliative, preventive, or curative effects for extended periods.
Good news is that I'm 32, and new classes of drugs to treat alz and similar will likely be invented, tested on human gineau pigs and early users, and available by the time I start crapping myself. It would also be nice to have a depression treatment based on my portable miniature MRI wand, but SNRIs are suitable for now.

I think this has huge promise for preventing cognitive decline of all kinds, and enhancement for those not in decline. They key is to start early.
You need very large amounts of EPA/DHA but shit, your brain is your most valuable asset.
Here's one more
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2592845/?tool=pmcentrez

You should be able to find more but I gave you 6-7 get started, those all link around, a lot of them have been replicated. We need a strict regimen like this, some ProVigil, and we will be rollin like Bradley Cooper in limitless.

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

Those are some links worth checking out. I will get to them later on today.
Progress on drugs that would really impact neural degeneration or indeed even encourage and promote regeneration has been really slow/non existent. Alzheimers drugs, and there have been many attempts by some determined, well funded, and bright people, haven't had significant palliative, preventive, or curative effects for extended periods.
Good news is that I'm 32, and new classes of drugs to treat alz and similar will likely be invented, tested on human gineau pigs and early users, and available by the time I start crapping myself. It would also be nice to have a depression treatment based on my portable miniature MRI wand, but SNRIs are suitable for now.

Keep in mind that aerobic exercise is synergistic with EPA/DHA. So it should stack on even more if you have the EPA/DHA Uridine and Choline combo.

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

Ok guys the pissing contest is over. We resolved it like gentleman. Thread is now open for business.
Personally I blame Neil Skywalker for making me roofie myself.

 

[Moma]

I am gonna buy geranium now (just woke up from clubbing last night). I usually test out new supps very tentatively.

Unfortunately, I can't do the EFA in any form (they react very negatively with my body - long story).

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

I am gonna buy geranium now (just woke up from clubbing last night). I usually test out new supps very tentatively.

Unfortunately, I can't do the EFA in any form (they react very negatively with my body - long story).

It may be a specific kind of EFA doing the damage. You mean essential fatty acids, correct?

Since apparently I'm not expert you should disregard. From now on you need to have pictures of your PhD in pharmacology to contribute, so that counts me out. The only people that count as experts these days have terminal degrees in their fields. It's like tupac said, that's just the way it is, somethings will never change.

 

[I'mWaitingForTheMan]

Those are some links worth checking out. I will get to them later on today.
Progress on drugs that would really impact neural degeneration or indeed even encourage and promote regeneration has been really slow/non existent. Alzheimers drugs, and there have been many attempts by some determined, well funded, and bright people, haven't had significant palliative, preventive, or curative effects for extended periods.
Good news is that I'm 32, and new classes of drugs to treat alz and similar will likely be invented, tested on human gineau pigs and early users, and available by the time I start crapping myself. It would also be nice to have a depression treatment based on my portable miniature MRI wand, but SNRIs are suitable for now.

Progress has been slow/non existent in the large dose nutraceutical approach because...Big Fuckin Drumroll please....Big Pharma and the rest of the drug companies have no way to secure patent protection over Uridine, a nucleoside abundant in foods. Sure they are trying to patent tri-acetyl uridine, which is way more expensive under patent protection and marketed as the more bioavailable form of Uridine. Why would anyone buy that at an outrageous brand named drug price, when you can get good old Uridine-5-monophospate at cut rate prices. Choline (which has been around for ever)is sold dirt cheap in supplements, and cheaply soy lecithin.

One pharma company has been marketing a pure form of EPA as the ethyl ester because they were able to obtain patent protection by adding the ethyl group to EPA, essentially turning e-EPA into nothing more than a pro-drug for EPA. What wonderful patent laws we have.

Despite the fact that these combinations are showing extremely promising results in early stage trials, they are not being moved onward toward later stage human testing for one reason, absolutely regardless of the extreme promise they show, versus other drugs in the alzheimers pipeline and it is absolutely child's play to figure out why. Those hucksters do not give a shit if they can stop suffering, I mean they only make medicines to heal us. Sure they will, as long as CRAZY profit margins are in it for them.

Sure the people in that absolutely shitty article you linked in the NYT have financial links to the companies that make these supplements. I never read about brain science in mainstream media as they give you a sensationalist view of

Who the hell do you think is funding the science that downplays this remedy or shows it to be less effective than SSRIs(also one of the biggest clinical trial shams in history. Since we rely of private drug companies to run clinical trials, there is absolutely now reason for them to test a combination like this in the time period

They can't do this with things they didn't invent, so when things that have been around for a while turn out to have great new uses, the drug companies barely profit. Novel combinations such as the EPA/DHA,Uridine, choline combination, are given trials against proven drugs that work in shorter time frames than the the UMP/DHA/Choline would be expected to work.

Basically those companies throw their financial muscle around to quash competition where there is no money to be made off of it.

Keyser I would like see the studies showing evidence that serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are benefical in Alzheimers. Do they just mask symptoms or actually slow progression, which is the treatment we really want to aim for. This almost sounds like the not quite so recent trend of giving anti-psychotics to the elderly and those suffering dementa.