HN Explorer

Ask HN: Do vitamins for your brain work?

8 points by _feda_ ↗ HN
I saw an add for something called Neurozan that's billed as vitamins to improve concentration and mental performance. Does anyone have much experience with these kinds of supplements. I'd like some anecdotal evidence that they aren't completely useless.

7 comments

[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 20.7 ms ] thread
tjpick
Eat well, get exercise, sleep properly, drink lots of water.

Vitamin tablets are a symptom not a cure.

[dead] DanBC
People in some areas should be taking vitamin D supplements, because they cannot get enough from sunlight.

Women planning to become pregnant (and up to 12 weeks pregnant) need to take folic acid; they need to take vitamin D throughout the pregnancy. They need to avoid vitamin A supplements and some foods high in vitamin A.

abcd_f
Piracetam works. It has been in use in former Soviet Union countries for a while now (under the name of Nootropil) and it is generally available from the drugstores.

A milder version is Co-Q10, which is available here in North Am over the counter, though it's a pricey bugger.

Do your homework, decide for yourself :)

bartonfink
I use piracetam and can attest to its effects. They're subtle, but I find that I lose my train of thought FAR less frequently than I did without it - it's not uncommon for me to work for multiple hours without having to stop and ask myself "what was I doing now?".
Benares
I went on a Piracetam (Nootropil) phase during high school for about 3 months. I would not qualify the effects as subtle. They were quite dramatic in my case. Razor-like focus and amazing retention of study material. No side-effects that I can remember.

It's been many years, and I would like to self-experiment again. Where can a U.S. citizen get Piracetam from these days?