AARP: A majority of Americans believe dietary supplements improve brain health, despite the lack of evidence

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New Report Dis­cour­ages Adults From Using Brain Health Sup­ple­ments (Pre­ven­tion):

“This morn­ing, the Glob­al Coun­sel on Brain Health released a report con­clud­ing that dietary sup­ple­ments do not improve brain health or pre­vent cog­ni­tive decline, demen­tia, or Alzheimer’s dis­ease. The report, released by the AARP, flat­ly rec­om­mends that most con­sumers do not take sup­ple­ments for this purpose.

“The GCBH reviewed the sci­en­tif­ic evi­dence on var­i­ous sup­ple­ments and deter­mined it could not endorse any ingre­di­ent, pro­duc­tion, or for­mu­la­tion designed for brain health,” the AARP said in a press release.

This year alone, the FDA sent warn­ing labels to mul­ti­ple sup­ple­ment com­pa­nies specif­i­cal­ly claim­ing to treat Alzheimer’s dis­ease, accord­ing to the GCBH report. All of the claims below were cit­ed by the GCBH as misleading:

  • A dietary sup­ple­ment that has been clin­i­cal­ly shown to help with mild mem­o­ry prob­lems asso­ci­at­ed with aging
  • Clin­i­cal­ly shown to be safe and sup­port mem­o­ry and brain function
  • Clin­i­cal­ly proven nat­ur­al ingredients
  • Sup­ports neu­ro­trans­mit­ter devel­op­ment to pro­mote a feel­ing of men­tal sharpness
  • Helps your brain main­tain healthy neu­rons to sup­port learn­ing and recall
  • 13 sci­en­tif­i­cal­ly proven nutri­ents for a health­i­er brain
  • Keeps your mind sharp and mem­o­ry strong with an ingre­di­ent that’s clin­i­cal­ly shown to improve mem­o­ry and recall in healthy adults. It’s pow­ered by the #1 most clin­i­cal­ly stud­ied ingre­di­ent for mem­o­ry among lead­ing brain health supplements
  • Has shown sta­tis­ti­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant improve­ments in mem­o­ry and recall in as lit­tle as 4 weeks when tak­en as directed
  • To Improve and Boost Brain Pow­er, Mind, Con­cen­tra­tion & Ener­gy For Health Brain Func­tion & Support
  • Enhance mem­o­ry, con­cen­tra­tion, focus, men­tal clar­i­ty, and learn­ing abilities
  • Designed to help improve mem­o­ry while increas­ing focus and concentration
  • Com­pre­hen­sive blend of vit­a­mins, amino acids, and herbal extracts that sup­port the brain’s struc­ture and func­tion to deliv­er amaz­ing improve­ments in mem­o­ry and concentration!
  • Give your brain the com­pounds it needs to help keep your mind bright, clever and strong
  • Help lessen the fre­quen­cy of episodes of for­get­ful­ness and brain fog
  • Improve your abil­i­ty to retain and recall var­i­ous kinds of information
  • For Cog­ni­tive Health, Mem­o­ry Improve­ment, Mem­o­ry Enhancement
  • These key nutri­ents have a pow­er­ful effect at reduc­ing the inflam­ma­to­ry fires that destroy our brain tissue.
  • It aids in improv­ing con­nec­tiv­i­ty between neu­rons and brain cells. It’s shown pos­i­tive effects for improv­ing mem­o­ry, reac­tion times, and clar­i­ty of thought.
  • A high­ly esteemed Ayurvedic herb with a his­to­ry of use that goes back over 3,000 years. Leg­end has it that it was used by ancient schol­ars to mem­o­rize length hymns and scriptures.
  • It’s need­ed for over 300 meta­bol­ic func­tions and has pro­found effects on brain and men­tal health.

The Report:

2019 AARP Brain Health and Supplements Survey

Sum­ma­ry: Evi­dence is lack­ing con­cern­ing the effec­tive­ness of vit­a­mins and dietary sup­ple­ments in boost­ing brain health, but that doesn’t stop peo­ple from using them, accord­ing to new AARP research.

The major­i­ty of adults sur­veyed view vit­a­mins and dietary sup­ple­ments pos­i­tive­ly, with 78% say­ing they are extreme­ly or some­what impor­tant to health, but sup­ple­ments are more pop­u­lar among old­er adults.

The Report in Context