About Smart Pills and Brain Food
The process of converting snippets of information from short term memories into the long term memories that any student would love to have for their final exam has, with ample study, become a process scientists understand much better than they used to. And when a process becomes easier to understand, it can be altered.
The growth in the science of memory has led the development of numerous options that are giving birth to medical options to memory retention. These “smart pills” are not only a developing science in the chemical enhancement of memory, they’re a step forward in the billion dollar industry that purports itself capable of doing so already. Supplements fly off the shelves as people attempt to find artificial means of memory enhancement with B12, Gingko Biloba, and cocktails that claim brain boosting effects.
Of course, like any advancing medical science, the initial use and purpose of the “smart pill” is to effectively assist in the treatment of diseases like Alzheimer’s, a disease that affects nearly 37 million people worldwide. However, drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s, a disease, which the medical community has not been able to fully find the source of yet, do not necessarily provide positive results for the average adult.
Another important thing to remember is the hit or miss approach that a lot of this research has. Not only have the results of so many of these drugs not been adequately tested, the results vary from subject to subject. Some herbs, like the Chinese Ma-huang for example, are purported to enhance brain function. As an herbal supplement, its effects are largely unknown except that when suddenly stopped, it might become dangerous, adversely affecting brain function.
There are generally four categories of cognitive enhancers, with varying degrees of testing and recommendation for use.
