Talk:Nootropics

Percy brings sauce

Great idea for a page! As a geek on the topic, here's a tiny annotated source dump for future reference in our article! First off, two starting point articles;

• http://lifehacker.com/how-effective-are-nootropics-and-smart-drugs-1784648058
• https://examine.com/supplements/nootropic/
• https://trackmystack.com/nootropic-supplements

Secondly, scientific source compilations on the most notable (alleged) nootropics today;

"Nutraceuticals"/Nutritional supplements/Herbs

Unproven (lack of studies on nootropic potential, or effect found lacking)

• Creatine — Incredibly healthy, notably neurologically so, but highly speculative (a.k.a. unproven) specifically as any form of stand-alone nootropic.
• D-serine — "There may be minor improvements in cognition when otherwise healthy adults subjects are given D-serine supplementation."
• Glycine — No nootropic features proven whatsoever.
• Theanine — While psychoactive and useful for anxiety, completely unproven as a straight-up nootropic. Appears to lack the machanisms for that as well.
• Phosphatidylserine — "Contributes to cognitive functioning", "may improve memory in the elderly" and proven to help ADHD sufferers. That being said, no inherent nootropic effect has been studied in otherwise healthy adults.
• L-Carnitine (specifically ALCAR) — One the one hand, "ALCAR is often used as a brain booster, due to its ability to increase alertness and mitochondrial capacity while providing support for the neurons. ALCAR has been shown to be very effective at alleviating the side effects of aging, like neurological decline and chronic fatigue." On the other hand, "Its usage in otherwise healthy people has not been well studied."
• Caffeine — While a stimulant, unproven for nootropic purposes, and is "a relatively unreliable agent to increasing memory, as reports on its memory increasing abilities vary widely in the literature."
• Fish Oil — Super healthy, notably neurologically, but ultimately unproven as a nootropic. "There is human evidence to support an increase in memory (working and episodic) associated with DHA supplementation. Although it cannot be ruled out, it is plausible that this will only occur in people with low dietary DHA intake."
• Ginko Biloba — "While it can boost cognition, this effect is not very reliable." and "In otherwise healthy youth, supplementation of ginkgo biloba has at times showed promise [...] but it is quite unreliable. Reviews on the topic suggest that it is not a good nor reliable cognitive enhancer in this population."
• Uridine — Neurologically active and healthy. While "It appears to have potentially cognitive enhancing properties", no such effects have been studied yet.

"Proven" (often inconclusively so, and never proving Ray Kurzweil right, but: "so far so good")

• Sarcosine — "Secondary to increasing synaptic levels of D-serine and glycine, sarcosine is thought to possess cognitive promoting effects in otherwise healthy and young rodents and humans."
• CDP-choline — "In otherwise healthy and youthful rodents, CDP-Choline appears to have some potential as a Nootropic compound and memory enhancer but is not 100% reliable. When it does enhance memory formation, it does so at a potency comparable to Piracetam."
• Alpha-GPC — "Oral supplementation of alpha-GPC is of interest for nootropic purposes, as it appears to have cognitive-enhancing properties (no human evidence exists to support this in otherwise-healthy youth, but it does have support in rodents)"
• Bacopa Monnieri — Has actual nootropic studies performed on it, which show some minor benefit. In its favour, "these effects do not appear to require cognitive decline or the elderly to work, and thus suggest Bacopa can benefit all ages."

Racetams/AMPAkines/Stimulants

Unproven (lack of studies on nootropic potential, or effect found lacking)

• Sunifiram — "Holds promise as a cognitive enhancer but is relatively understudied currently."
• Phenylpiracetam — "There are currently no studies conducted in otherwise healthy youth for the purpose of cognitive enhancement."
• Pramiracetam — "There is currently no evidence in otherwise healthy use for nootropic purposes."
• Coluracetam — "Currently there is no evidence for inherent nootropic effects."
• Oxiracetam — "There is currently no evidence to support cognitive enhancement of oxiracetam in young humans with no cognitive impairment looking to increase memory formation."
• Noopept — "There is, however, no evidence to suggest Noopept provides benefits for people with no cognitive ailments."
• Huperzine-A — An alzheimer's drug, completely unproven for nootropic purposes.
• Aniracetam — "Human studies are lacking."

"Proven" (often inconclusively so, and never proving Ray Kurzweil right, but: "so far so good")

• Adrafinil — Modafinil precursor. A nootropic that works, because it's a prodrug for an actual stimulant drug. *User Experiences
• Nefiracetam — "Long term usage appears to be both neuroprotective and Nootropic in research animals (similar trends in human studies)."
• Nicotine — Addictive stimulant drug. "It works on the acetylcholine system, and is implicated in cognitive enhancement."
• Modafinil — Prescription-only stimulant drug. "Increases alertness and prevents sleep. It just so happens to also increase cognition and memory, and is a potent and highly regarded supplement in the category of nootropics."
• Piracetam — "When supplemented, it provides a mild boost to brain function."

Discussion here

I'm doing my part! All the best, Reverend Black Percy (talk) 00:03, 18 August 2016 (UTC)

Yeah you have a lot of info. Will take a while to digest it all. CorruptUser (talk) 22:48, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

Yep! That's also why I made the sorting between "works"/unproven beforehand, and also why I cited from the sources next to it, so we know what the current scientific view is. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 00:27, 20 August 2016 (UTC)

Citing sources

Don't forget to source all health claims in the article, including stuff like the claims on flax seed oil! We're not woomeisters, are we? :3 Reverend Black Percy (talk) 07:37, 27 August 2016 (UTC)

That cite is going to be just links to wikipedia though. CorruptUser (talk) 12:35, 27 August 2016 (UTC)

As long as you can link people to the source of your claim so they can judge for themselves, you've sourced the claim. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 13:37, 27 August 2016 (UTC)

Ritalin

Ritalin should have a mention, at least. So should LSD & hallucinogens. People in SIlicon valley are microdosing, maan Kauri0.o (talk) 20:46, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

Feel free to add them, with cites. Cortex (chat) 20:47, 2 February 2021 (UTC)