Alex Whybrow brings us his Prevagen review after a 30-day testing phase with someone in their mid-50s. Find out just how effective it is at combating memory loss below…
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Written by Alex Whybrow – fact checked by Jason M & the editorial team
Alex is a full time writer. He is a creative soul who loves to express himself through his written word. When focus or concentration becomes an issue he turns to nootropics. Aside from the world of nootropic supplementation and writing, Alex is a huge fan of coffee and can regularly be found consuming it and writing about it.
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Prevagen is a little different to most of the nootropic supplements that we review here at SOMA. Generally, a lot of nootropics are marketed towards students and professionals who want advanced cognitive skills.
A quick look on the Prevagen homepage, and you’ll see that this one is designed with the older customer in mind. As we get older, our memory is more likely to weaken, and memory loss becomes a huge area of concern given the surge in cases of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia over the last couple of decades.
While our bodies are lasting longer, our minds need to be able to keep pace – and that’s where Prevagen aims to be effective.
In this Prevagen review, we are going to be taking an in-depth look at Prevagen – including all things Prevagen, and whether it’s a worthy investment for your brain health.
Quick Verdict On Prevagen
Prevagen performed well in our trial, but there just is not enough clinical data to support it – or more so to support its core ingredient apoaequorin.
Any nootropic that relies so heavily on one ingredient needs to be solidly validated through clinical data – and this seems lacking when it comes to apoaequorin.
Instead, we prefer a more well-rounded, reliable formula such as that found with Mind Vitality Focus – a well balanced, comprehensive natural nootropic that many of our writers use.
What Is Prevagen?
Prevagen is completely different to any of the nootropics I’ve tested for SOMA Analytics, and here we have tested the vast majority of them.
What makes it different is the core ingredient it uses – apoaequorin. In fact, it only has two ingredients, with Vitamin D being the second.
That is a stark difference to the complex formulae we often find ourselves studying. While the best nootropics we’ve tested have around 11+ ingredients, and some even hitting 30+, Prevagen puts all its faith into the efficacy of apoaequorin and its memory supporting properties. Wise, or a total waste?
The Prevagen Range
The bulk of the Prevagen range can be split into three categories:
Prevagen Regular Strength
This, unsurprisingly, is the standard offering from Prevagen, in boxes of 30 or 60. Our recommendation would be that you should start with the Regular Strength first, especially if you’re new to nootropics.
Prevagen Extra Strength
These are double the strength of the regular (20mg, as opposed to the 10mg serving that the regular offers), so it is aimed at people who want that extra boost.
We would recommend that you only move up to the Extra Strength after you have been taking the regular for at least a month.
Prevagen Professional Formula
This has a whopping 40 mg per capsule, so double the strength of the Extra Strength, and four times that of the regular formula.
If you think that you would like to try this one, having already tried the other two, we would suggest that you see a medical professional to discuss the matter first.
As you can see, the products only vary in their strength, so they all have the same benefits, the same ingredients and would generate a similar result.
Prevagen Benefits
The main claims on the box of Prevagen is that it “Supports Healthy Brain Function, Sharper Mind, Clearer Thinking”.
Basically, as we stated above, the main focus is on memory. They claim on their website that “Prevagen has been clinically shown to safely and effectively improve memory”, qualifying that this is “based on a clinical study of subgroups of individuals who were cognitively normal or mildly impaired”.
Unfortunately, we have to take their word for this as there is little more about the studies – something that we experience a lot when we look into various nootropics. Also, their study says nothing about having a ‘sharper mind’ or ‘clearer thinking’, so there is a lot to be taken at face value with Prevagen.
In their favor, they have an award from Pharmacy Times – Prevagen won their ‘#1 Pharmacist Recommended Memory Support Brand in 2022‘, but, again, it is difficult to read too much into this.
Having said this, the aim of improving memory will appeal to a lot of people, particularly of a certain age. Even if it does little else, that would be enough to make it a very attractive nootropic to a large audience.
Let’s find out more about the ingredients and how they are designed to help you.
Prevagen Ingredients
There are two main ingredients in Prevagen, one of which is pretty unique. We’ll go into them both in more detail below, but one other thing to note is that Prevagen includes added sugar, milk and soy.
Vitamin D (as D3 cholecalciferol)
Many clinical studies have shown a correlation between cognitive impairment and low levels of vitamin D. This is as close to scientific fact as we can reasonably expect – it’s been clinically proven.
So it makes perfect sense for vitamin D to be one of the main ingredients of Prevagen. It’s there to ensure that your levels of vitamin D remain at the required level to help prevent the decline of your brain function.
Vitamin D has links to more than just helping your memory. It’s also been found to help you maintain healthy bones and muscles as well as offering support to the nervous system.
Where the research is a bit lacking is how effective vitamin D is in preventing cognitive decline, as it will probably vary from person to person, and how high your levels are will depend on your diet. It’s only really beneficial if you’re deficient.
Regardless, the logic behind its inclusion in Prevagen is flawless.
Apoaequorin
The most intriguing of the two main ingredients of Prevagen is apoaequorin. This is a calcium-binding protein that is usually found in jellyfish – it’s what causes them to glow in the dark. Research has suggested that apoaequorin is strongly linked to memory and general brain health.
There isn’t any conclusive evidence that proves this, and it has been the subject of a number of court cases.
The theory is that as a calcium binding agent, the apoaequorin will help to ‘tidy up’ any calcium deposits in your brain, which if left, could contribute towards dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. If you have more apoaequorin, the less likely you are to develop dementia. At least, that’s what’s believed so far.
The problem is that there just isn’t enough evidence to back this up yet. The Madison Memory Study from 2016 is often cited as proof that it works, but even though many people did feel an improvement, researchers themselves said that these improvements were not “statistically relevant”.
Thus, the jury is still out on apoaequorin.
There are other, more minor ingredients in Prevagen all serving their own purpose, but these are generally just involved in the formation of the capsules themselves, rather than to improve your cognitive function.
Taking Prevagen
I would usually take a supplement myself when writing a review, but for this review we thought we’d let our slightly older friend of