Some “brain boosting” supplements contain unapproved drugs

Researchers have found that “smart pills” and other dietary supplements sold to boost brain function contain potentially dangerous combinations and doses of drugs that are not FDA-approved. discovered.

Five of these drugs were found in 10 so-called “intelligent” or “cognitive enhancer” supplements tested, Dr. Peter Cohen of the Cambridge Health Alliance, Massachusetts, and Neurology: Clinical practice..

All 10 supplements include omberacetam (Noopept), a piracetam analog used in Russia to treat traumatic brain injury, mood disorders, cerebrovascular disease and other indications, but approved in the United States. Not.

The typical pharmacological dose of onveracetam is 10 mg. The serving size dose of the recommended supplement was as high as 40.6 mg.

“Americans spend more than $ 600 million on over-the-counter smart pills each year, but they know very little about what these products actually contain,” Cohen said.

In a previous study, Cohen et al. Detected individual drugs that were not approved in the United States for supplements. “But in our new study, we found a complex combination of foreign drugs that contained up to four different drugs in a single product.”

“It’s alarming to find new combinations of drugs that haven’t been tested in humans with over-the-counter brain-enhancing supplements,” Cohen said. MedPage Today. “We need to advise patients to avoid over-the-counter smart pills until the safety and efficacy of these products are guaranteed.”

In the United States, the FDA does not approve the safety or efficacy of dietary supplements before they are sold, Can take action If the product is incorrectly labeled or contains counterfeit products, after the product is on the market

Dr. Joshua Sherstein of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and a former FDA vice chairman who was not involved in the study pointed out that this may not be enough.

“We need to strengthen our dietary supplement legislation to require a list of products before marketing, allowing the FDA to stop selling products that are clearly illegal,” Sharfstein said. MedPage Today.

last year, Cohen and colleagues showed piracetamDrugs that were approved in Europe for the treatment of cognitive deficits but rejected by the FDA were readily available in the United States as part of a growing wave of nootropics or nootropics.

This time they NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database And that Natural medicine database Products labeled to contain piracetam analogs-omberacetam, aniracetam, phenylpiracetam, or oxyracetam. They found 10 products in the database. One product was explicitly sold to enhance mental function, one was “long-lasting, enduring, and overcome” and the other was a “workout explosive.”

They purchased the supplements online in September 2019 and analyzed them using non-target liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Onveracetam and aniracetam were detected in 10 products tested, along with three additional unapproved drugs, phenibuto, picamilon, and vinpocetine.

Phenibut is a prescription drug available in Russia for the treatment of anxiety, insomnia, alcohol withdrawal and other indications. Picamilon is a gamma-aminobutyric acid agonist used in Russia for the treatment of cerebrovascular ischemia, mood disorders and alcohol withdrawal. Vinpocetine is used in Germany, Russia and China for stroke and cognitive impairment. In June 2019, the FDA Childbirth age women Do not use vinpocetine.

In addition to high levels of onveracetam, researchers have found that 502 mg of anilacetam (usual pharmacological dose 200-750 mg), 15.4 mg of phenibuto (conventional pharmacological dose 250-500 mg), 4.3 mg of vinposetin (conventional pharmacological dose 250-500 mg). The usual pharmacological dose 5-40 mg) was found), and picamilon 90.1 mg in the serving size of the supplement (general pharmacological dose 50-200 mg).

Some supplements contained multiple unapproved drugs. Combined four unapproved drugs in one product. Of the supplements labeled with the amount of drug, 75% (9 of 12) of the declared amount was inaccurate.

According to the researchers, the drugs found in this study are associated with side effects such as increased or decreased blood pressure, insomnia, agitation, dependence, sedation, hospitalization, and intubation, but the risk of using certain products is It is unknown.

Saenne appeals to people of all ages, Cohen said. “Young people-sometimes working in technology and interested in’brain hacking’, but also gamers and many others-are using these types of drugs to increase their productivity. , He said. “We are very worried that many older people who try memory-enhancing products may begin to wrestle with premature cognitive decline or normal age-related changes.”

This study has some limitations. The product is tested at only one point and the results cannot be generalized to all supplements labeled as containing piracetam analogs.

“It’s important to look at how we chose the supplement for this study,” Cohen said.

“Did not search for smart pills on Google. These products were found on NIH’s own website and high quality supplement database. When NIH publishes foreign drug supplements, with consumers It can be confusing among clinicians. We know that these products are not legally sold in the United States. “