Neuro Optimizer Review
Neuro Optimizer Review Summary
As explained in our full Neuro Optimizer review below, this looks to be a solid nootropic supplement.
It contains a small selection of high quality, all-natural ingredients, provided in excellent, if not ideal dosages.
More comprehensive and complete nootropic stacks are available, but Neuro Optimizer should be capable of doing exactly what it says: delivering key nutrients that support brain health and cognitive performance.
Where To Buy Neuro Optimizer
Lots of reputable online retailers sell Neuro Optimizer. Have a browse around and see who has the best price. It is also sold on Amazon, although I’d always recommend getting this from the manufacturer or a trusted vendor as the price difference seems to be minimal.
Full Neuro Optimizer Review
At first glance, Neuro Optimizer looks like a great natural nootropic supplement. It is another Amazon favourite (apparently).
Jarrow Formulas are a supplement manufacturing company based in Los Angeles. They make a wide range of products, from vitamin tablets and detox pills to sports supplements and digestion aids. They put their name on all of their products, and their entire range seems to have a good market in health food stores and supplement outlets.
But what about Neuro Optimizer?
In line with other Jarrow products, Neuro Optimizer delivers a small selection of effective, natural ingredients to help you perform to the best of your abilities.
More specifically, Neuro Optimizer provides a blend of ingredients that aim to support both brain function and brain health. The idea is that, if your brain has everything it needs to operate effectively, then it will do so.
But will this supplement actually work? Can it enhance mental performance while supporting long-term brain health?
Let’s take a closer look and find out. Here’s our full Neuro Optimizer review.
Neuro Optimizer Ingredients
The Neuro Optimizer formula is incredibly simple. It contains just a handful of ingredients, and they are well-known, widely-used substances.
This is, in my opinion, a much better way to approach supplementation than cramming 30 ingredients into a stack. By concentration on just a few key ingredients, Neuro Optimizer is able to deliver these ingredients in large enough dosages for them to have maximum effect.
Here’s a breakdown of the Neuro Optimizer formula:
Seven, all-natural, thoroughly tested and effective ingredients, and a good amount of each of them. This is exactly what I want to see when I look at a nootropic stack’s label.
Here’s a brief overview of the key ingredients, how they help with cognitive performance and overall brain health, and why these serving sizes are so good:
Cognizin (300mg): This is one of my favourite nootropic compounds. It is the main ingredient in my daily nootropic stack. and it is incredibly effective at improving focus, memory, and general cognitive performance. Cognizin is simply a brand name for CDP-Choline; a compound capable of raising acetylcholine availability in the brain. This is important, as acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter involved in a range of brain functions, notably memory and learning.
As far as dosing goes, 300mg is actually on the high side for CDP-Choline. Top quality, professional nootropic stacks rarely go over 300mg, and most provide 200-250mg, so Neuro Optimizer is really pulling no punches here. This is not surprising, as Jarrow Formulas do not seem like the kind of manufacturers who would under-dose their stack.
Phosphatidylcholine (120mg): Phosphatidylcholine is one of the most important lipids (fats) in the human body. It is practically ubiquitous in human cell membranes, which are composed largely of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine. Structurally, it is choline bound to fatty acids and glycerol. Supplementing with Phosphatidylcholine is thought to contribute to proper maintenance and growth of brain cells, being as it is a key structural component. A good natural source of phosphatidylcholine is soy lecithin, but most people eat very little.
Phosphatidylserine (100mg): PS is found in huge amounts in the brain. In fact, PS accounts for around 15% of your brain’s phospholipid composition. It isn’t difficult, then, to see why scientists first became interested in studying the effects of PS supplementation on cognitive performance. There is now a great deal of interest surrounding this substance’s ability to inhibit or slow down the onset of age-related cognitive decline (although there is no evidence that it can treat later-stage decline or diseases such as Alzheimer’s) (ref /ref ). Obviously, more studies are needed, but this far the results have been encouraging.
Acetly-L-Carnitine (500mg): This stuff is commonly written as ALCAR. It is a hugely beneficial and reliable natural nootropic substance. It has been shown time and again to be effective at assuaging the early signs of cognitive decline, namely forgetfulness, slow recall speed, and lack of mental stamina. Its nootropic mechanisms of action are well-known (increasing mitochondrial capacity), and it has many other properties that make it a great overall health booster.
The main problem that stacks have with ALCAR is under-dosing: 500mg is really the least amount of ALCAR I’d expect to see in a serious stack, and that’s what we get from Neuro Optimizer.
Alpha Lipoic Acid (50mg): ALA is sold around the world as a sort of general health supplement. It has properties that make it excellent at preventing inflammation and oxidative stress, which makes it well placed to combat a range of conditions, including heart disease, liver disease, and age-related cognitive decline. Evidence of nootropic benefits is slim, so it is quite rightly not found here in any large amount.
There are plenty of natural sources of ALA, including flax seed oil, pumpkin seeds and tofu, although very few people get anywhere near enough in my opinion. A daily 50mg serving might have some good overall health benefits.
The remaining two ingredients, taurine and glutamine, are simply amino acids that have a range of uses. Taurine in particular may have some interesting potential as an anxiolytic, helping you to retain focus and motivation during times of acute environmental stress.
Glutamine is a much more ‘generalist’ supplement, contributing to everything from muscle mass maintenance to proper immune system functioning.
While these ingredients both have some nootropic benefits, these are not direct or substantial enough to delve into here in any real detail. The other ingredients listed above obviously do most of the ‘heavy lifting’ in this formula; they will be what delivers cognitive enhancements.
Our Thoughts On The Formula
After reviewing the Neuro Optimizer formula, it seems that this supplement would not be a bad choice at all for someone looking for a cognition-supporting stack to add to their daily supplementation regimen.
It provides a few key substances, i.e CDP-Choline and Phosphatidylserine, which together can deliver real cognitive improvements, as well as providing support for long-term brain health.
That said, there are a few small problems with this supplement that are worth bearing in mind before you purchase.
#1 No Bacopa monnieri
Bacopa is a bit of a ‘must-have’ ingredient these days. It is just so effective, so safe, and such good value that it really doesn’t make any sense to not have this stuff in your daily nootropic stack.
Unlike a lot of other common nootropic supplements, such as caffeine or ALCAR, the benefits of Bacopa monnieri are really incremental, and they take a long time to properly take effect. It is therefore better to have Bacopa monnieri in your regular, daily stack, and to save other ingredients for a one-time boost.
I’ve written extensively about Bacopa in this article. It should give you a good idea as to why we’re so keen to see this stuff in natural nootropic stacks.
#2 No Theanine
Theanine is another substance that I expect to see in a serious, professional-quality nootropic supplement.
If you’re interested enough in enhancing your mental performance that you’re reading this site, then chances are, you are already well and truly dependent on caffeine. That’s just the way it is nowadays; we’re expected to work longer hours for less money, and the way our work and social lives are constructed, we need caffeine to counter-balance our awful sleeping patterns.
Well, if that’s the case, then you should really consider introducing some theanine to your daily supplement regimen.
L-Theanine works synergistically with caffeine to help alleviate some of the worst symptoms of consuming too much caffeine (the shakes, lack of real focus, foggy head, etc). Most importantly, it does this without hindering the good things we get from caffeine – it is not a sedative.
What you get from taking caffeine and theanine together is a nice, clear-headed, focused “buzz” which is a lot more conducive to getting a good day of work done than 4 or 5 espressos.
#3 No NGF Targeting
Not all stacks need to include something to stimulate Nerve Growth Factor synthesis, but we feel that since other professional-quality stacks do provide this, we should point it out when other stacks do not.
To put it simply, Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) is a protein that drives the expression of genes, which in turn stimulate neuron growth.
Perhaps a little more accurately, NGF is central to managing the life cycle of neurons. It is responsible for the maintenance and proliferation of neurons, and in its absence, key sympathetic and sensory neurons are thought to undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death).
Apoptosis is a crucial process, but we certainly do not want it getting out of control where neurons are concerned.
By encouraging NGF synthesis, certain nootropic compounds are able to stimulate genuine neuron growth (or more specifically, dendrite branching). This allows for better, more efficient communication, rapid memory recall, and improved focus.
Substances that promote NGF synthesis are particularly effective when combined with substances that deliver more immediate improvements in mental energy and focus, as the neuronal growth that results from the elevated NGF production could really “lock in” those short term improvements, making them lasting improvements.
Should I Buy Neuro Optimizer?
Neuro Optimizer looks like a good supplement, composed of high quality, 100% natural ingredients, some of which have proven to be incredibly effective nootropics.
It has just a few key ingredients, and that’s a good thing. Many second-rate supplements contain lots of useless ingredients, which means that any useful ingredients they do contain will only be present in very small amounts.
Neuro Optimizer is instead a much more focused stack, which allows it to provide a whopping 300mg of CDP-Choline, and plenty of PS and PC.
It does however, have several negatives outlined above.
These problems are all basically part of one central problem: while Neuro Optimizer’s minimalist approach to stacking is commendable, they could have included a few more “big hitters” and really made this a superb supplement.
I would have liked to have seen less glutamine and taurine, and in their place, some Bacopa monnieri, a little theanine, and perhaps some Lion’s Mane.
These ingredients aren’t pre-requisites for a good supplement, but there is over 1g of serving size in Neuro Optimizer dedicated to two very ubiquitous amino acids (taurine and gluatmine). Putting this much attention elsewhere would have made this one of the best supplements around.
Neuro Optimizer looks like a good supplement, but there are certainly better, more comprehensive nootropic stacks available.
Neuro Optimizer Review
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