In terms of brain health, this means a supplement manufacturer can claim a product helps with mental alertness or memory loss — but not that it protects against or improves dementia or Alzheimer's disease. This way manufacturers don't have to back up any claim that their product is effective.

Many brain supplements focus on omega-3 fatty acids such as those found in fish oil , vitamin E, various B vitamins, or various combinations. Why these? There's strong evidence that certain diets — like the Mediterranean diet , the DASH diet , and the MIND diet — can help improve cognitive function.

These diets contain foods with large amounts of these vitamins and minerals. But what is not clear is whether it's the combination of nutrients in these diets that's beneficial, or whether it's specific ones or even certain amounts, or some other factors. Researchers have tried to answer these questions by testing how these individual nutrients affect cognitive health.

So far the limited studies have found no evidence they help, with a few rare exceptions. Still, this doesn't mean that the brain supplements may not work. It's just that there is not much, if any, evidence from randomized clinical trials — the gold standard for research — on isolated vitamins or minerals and brain health.

There are three types of omega-3s: eicosapentaenoic acid EPA and docosahexaenoic acid DHA — which are found mostly in fatty fish like salmon and mackerel — and alpha-linolenic acid ALA , which is found in leafy green vegetables Brussels sprouts, spinach , vegetable oils canola, soybean , and nuts and seeds walnuts, flaxseeds.

The body coverts ALA into EPA or DHA, but only in small amounts, so the best way to get high amounts of EPA and DHA is by eating more fish. Omega-3s help build cell membranes in the brain and also may have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects that could protect brain cells.

Fish is a staple in the Mediterranean and MIND diets, among others, and studies have found an association between higher intake of fish and a lower risk of cognitive decline.

However, omega-3 supplements haven't shown the same effect. Any benefit seems to come from a greater intake of fish and not from taking fish oil supplements. The fan-shaped leaves of the ginkgo tree are used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat all kinds of ailments.

In the United States, the extract from the leaves is sold as a supplement commonly called ginkgo biloba. One of its main selling points is as a memory enhancer. However, as with other brain health supplements, the science doesn't support the claims.

One of the largest clinical trials that explored the possible link was the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory GEM study. Everyone was given either milligrams of ginkgo or a placebo twice a day for almost six years.

This amount was chosen based on previous research. The results found that ginkgo biloba did not lower the overall rate of developing dementia. So, the question remains: with no evidence, why do people still buy in to brain health supplements? A major reason, it's easier to take a pill than to make lasting lifestyle changes.

Instead, invest in doing more exercise and following a plant-based diet. These can help with memory and brain health in the long term more than any supplement. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content.

Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. By age 60, more than half of adults have concerns about their memory.

This report, Improving Memory: Understanding age-related memory loss , describes these normal age-related changes and other more serious causes of memory loss — and how to distinguish between them. Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift. The Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness , is yours absolutely FREE when you sign up to receive Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School.

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In fact—and this is where the irony gets mad deep—the one purpose for which nicotine patches have proven futile is the very same one for which they are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, sold by pharmacies over the counter, bought by consumers, and covered by many state Medicaid programs: quitting smoking.

In January , a six-year follow-up study of adults who had recently quit smoking found that those who used nicotine replacement therapy in the form of a patch, gum, inhaler, or nasal spray had the same long-term relapse rate as those who did not use the products.

Heavy smokers who tried to quit without the benefit of counseling were actually twice as likely to relapse if they used a nicotine replacement product. I totally get it. Yet for years Quik has endured the skepticism and downright hostility of many of her fellow neuroscientists as she has published some three dozen studies revealing the actions of nicotine within the mammalian brain.

I met Quik at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience held in Washington, D. Using health-insurance data on , veterans who had served in the U. military between and , he found the kinds of associations between smoking and mortality that even by the mids had become well known.

At any given age, cigarette smokers were eleven times more likely to have died of lung cancer as were nonsmokers and twelve times more likely to have died of emphysema. Cancers of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, larynx—blah, blah, blah. Strangely enough, death due to the neurodegenerative disorder, marked by loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the midbrain, occurred at least three times more often in nonsmokers than in smokers.

What was it about tobacco that ravages the heart, lungs, teeth, and skin but somehow guards against a disease of the brain?

Over the course of the s, neuroscientists like Quik learned that the nicotine molecule fits into receptors for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine like a key into a lock.

And what a family. Nicotinic receptors turn out to have the extraordinary capacity to moderate other families of receptors, quieting or amplifying their functioning.

The primary neurotransmitter that nicotine nudges is dopamine, which plays an important role in modulating attention, reward-seeking behaviors, drug addictions, and movement. After eight weeks, she reported in a landmark paper in the Annals of Neurology , the monkeys had half as many tremors and tics.

Fox Foundation.