nootropics

Limitless evidenceless trend: The growth of nootropic supplements

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The all-too-under­stand­able urge to buy a bet­ter brain (Vox):

“… unfor­tu­nate­ly, Bradley Coop­er is part­ly to blame for the boom of the edi­ble brain-improve­ment industry.

In 2011, he starred in Lim­it­less, a movie about a man who takes a spe­cial pill and becomes smarter and more capa­ble than any­one else on Earth. I’m jok­ing about the cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance of this movie, but I’m also not. It was a wild card and an unex­pect­ed hit, and it main­streamed an idea that had already been tak­ing hold among Sil­i­con Val­ley bio­hack­ers and human opti­miza­tion zealots. [Read more…] about Lim­it­less evi­dence­less trend: The growth of nootrop­ic supplements

Time to update the regulatory framework for cognitive enhancement–especially nootropics?

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smart-drugs-nootropicsSeek­ing an edge, these brain hack­ers mix up risky chem­i­cal cock­tails for break­fast (Stat):

“…A 31-year-old entre­pre­neur, Gutiér­rez has thrown him­self into the emerg­ing move­ment of body hack­ing — or, more pre­cise­ly, brain hack­ing. He’s a con­nois­seur of “nootrop­ics,” a broad cat­e­go­ry that includes phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal drugs, dietary sup­ple­ments, and do-it-your­self con­coc­tions, all of them meant to turn the brain up a notch. [Read more…] about Time to update the reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work for cog­ni­tive enhancement–especially nootropics?

Use and misuse of ADHD drugs and nootropics among teenagers and toddlers

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Human-brain-pillsRital­in may pose brain risks for young peo­ple with­out ADHD, study shows (Fox News):

“Smart” drugs, like Rital­in, also known as nootrop­ics, are known to increase a person’s atten­tion span, mem­o­ry and abil­i­ty to stay alert. As a result, they have become increas­ing­ly abused by stu­dents seek­ing an extra edge in their stud­ies. Accord­ing to a report from The Part­ner­ship at Drugfree.org and the MetLife Foun­da­tion, approx­i­mate­ly 1.3 mil­lion Amer­i­can teenag­er [Read more…] about Use and mis­use of ADHD drugs and nootrop­ics among teenagers and toddlers