Cognitive Performance

Nutrients connected to Cognitive Performance

A link means the body needs the nutrient for this, or that low intake is linked to it. It does not mean extra supplements help if your intake is already adequate; each link shows how strong the evidence is.

• L-theaninePreliminary or mixed

  Small trials in healthy adults suggest a quicker response on some attention tests after a single dose; results are not consistent across tests.

• Caffeine supplementsPreliminary or mixed

  Caffeine helps on short attention tasks in healthy adults, but results for memory and other thinking tasks are mixed and the trials are short-term.

• Caffeine plus L-theanine and brain formulasPreliminary or mixed

  Small, short-lived gains on some tests in healthy people; results vary by test and product.

• Bacopa monnieriPreliminary or mixed

  Some trials report faster attention and reaction times, but a review of nine thinking-support ingredients rated certainty low.

• Oat straw (milky oats)Preliminary or mixed

  Small maker-funded trials found gains on some thinking tests; a 12-week trial in older adults found none.

• Multi-Ingredient Brain FormulasPreliminary or mixed

  Caffeine shows short-term attention effects in healthy adults; most other ingredients are mixed or limited, and overall certainty is low.

• TyrosinePreliminary or mixed

  Some trials suggest a short-term benefit to thinking under stress or heavy demand, but evidence is limited and may not apply to everyday life.

• CreatinePreliminary or mixed

  Some studies report less mental fatigue or better memory and processing speed, especially during sleep loss, but results are not uniform.

• Botanical and mushroom nootropicsPreliminary or mixed

  Bacopa meta-analysis reported faster reaction and Trail B times; a low-certainty review of marketed ingredients for healthy adults found inconsistent studies.

• Asian ginsengPreliminary or mixed

  Small research suggests benefits in middle-aged adults, not young adults; memory effect depends on adding ginkgo.

• GuaranaPreliminary or mixed

  A 2023 meta-analysis found a small gain in response time but no change in accuracy or overall cognition.

• Lion's manePreliminary or mixed

  One focus test improved after a single dose in one trial and a larger-dose trial found no overall change; evidence is mixed.

• MaitakePreliminary or mixed

  Same single small trial (n=47) as above; strain-specific and not replicated in the sources read.

• GuayusaPreliminary or mixed

  Some task improvements in two small trials, but no effect on memory, reasoning or attention in one of them.

• Oat Straw TeaPreliminary or mixed

  Extract only: working memory and multitasking improved in one 4-week trial; no effect in older adults at 12 weeks. Tea not tested.

• Creatine NitratePreliminary or mixed

  One 12-person crossover trial found a better thinking-test score only with caffeine added.

• Multivitamins for Adults Over 50Preliminary or mixed

  Pooled COSMOS studies showed small gains in global cognition, but the clinic subcohort result alone was not significant.

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