Avantera Elevate Review

Our PT and Nutritionist James Dixon examines the efficacy behind Avantera Elevate. He also assesses the ingredients and how effective their doses are for full impact in this Avantera Elevate review.

Nootropics represent a fast-growing section of the supplement market. We all want to run at 100%, with enhanced cognitive health and capacity, improved mood, and heightened ability to create and learn.

So-called brain pills or smart drugs, nootropics do an admirable job of enabling all of this.

However, there are too many nootropics to get your head round out there – ironic, of course. There are good ones, there are fantastic ones, and then there are the ones that do very little – as you get in every corner of the supplements market.

Avantera Elevate falls towards the top of this range. It is good – very good, in fact. However, there are some better ones out there. It’s hard to compete when you’re up against some of the market-leading brands, though they do a decent enough job of holding their own.

Avantera Elevate Explained

Made by Avantera, a well-respected company with a good track record of bringing high-quality, highly workable supplements to the market, Elevate should do what all good nootropics do.

Namely, it gives your brain a bit of a boost. It should help you to stay more alert and energized, with greater memory, learning ability, and creativity.

You should also find your long-term brain health taken care of with regular, long-term nootropic use.

A good nootropic like Elevate should pretty much optimize cognition and brain function across a wide spectrum.

It does this by combining a range of commonly used, high-quality herbs and botanicals, including a bunch of usual suspects like l-theanine, turmeric, and Bacopa Monnieri.

The ingredients included are ones that any self-respecting nootropic developer takes seriously. Together, they should do everything you need them to in order to enhance your brain’s daily functioning.

Benefits Of Avantera Elevate 

Elevate’s name speaks for itself – it is intended to elevate your performance through every day you take it. It should deliver more energy, greater focus, heightened mood, and greater drive.

It may also give you benefits for your gut health, creating a healthy microbiome, which will further improve your energy levels.

The energy and focus come from an increased level of key neurotransmitters involved in each. These include key elements such as heightened levels of acetylcholine and dopamine, brought about by ingredients such as green tea, Bacopa Monnieri, CDP choline and, especially, l-theanine.

These should all improve the flow of blood to your brain, which will always mean more energy and better cognitive function.

Many of these ingredients also contribute towards improved memory, especially short-term memory and overall working memory. The spike in dopamine, paired with increased GABA and serotonin output, means a boost to your mood and feelings of wellbeing.

Some of the herbal, plant-based ingredients are well-known for their ability to support the health and function of your gut. In particular, turmeric and Lion’s Mane mushroom should help in improving the microbiome in your gut. 

So far, so good. These benefits do indeed sound fantastic, and Elevate seems to be no bad thing. But is it the best out there?

Avantera Elevate Ingredients

We’ve mentioned a few of the ingredients already. Of course, as a dietary supplement, all of the benefits we are looking for come directly from the ingredients list. However, it’s worth going into it all in more detail, here.

Avantera recommends you take two Elevate capsules as a single dose. This will give you 355 mg of their Mood and Gut Health Blend, 300 mg of their Bacopa Herb Extract, and 295mg of their Focus and Energy Blend.

Mood & Gut Health

The Mood and Gut Health Blend contains turmeric powder, organic Lion’s Mane Mycelium Powder, and Bioperine black pepper fruit extract.

This last is a great inclusion. Bioperine improves the bioavailability of all the other ingredients, making the whole lot far more useable and efficient.

It has been linked with improved mood with reduced depression and anxiety, thought to stem from decreased neuro-inflammation and increased brain-derived neurotrophic factors.

It is thought to be one of the best neuroprotective compounds going. It has also been linked to improved gut function, largely by improving gut flora composition whilst also reducing inflammation.

Lion’s Mane mushroom is a common ingredient in this kind of supplement. It includes several bioactive compounds, the same as turmeric. These are anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

It has also been linked to healthy neuron maintenance and growth, alongside increased serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine production.

Lion’s Mane is also understood to be capable of reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, whilst aiding cognitive function and bringing neuroprotective benefits.

As we have seen, Bioperine can make the other ingredients included in Elevate far more bioavailable. For instance, it can increase the absorption of turmeric by 2000%.

Bacopa Monnieri

Then we come to Bacopa, or Bacopa Monnieri. It is a herb which includes several valuable bioactive compounds. Its bacoside content is most crucial, however.

Bacosides bring potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. They can significantly reduce oxidation stress within the neurons, thus keeping them healthy long term whilst improving their effectiveness.

This can also help in improving memory function, backed up in a large way by bacopa’s ability to boost acetylcholine levels.

Perhaps most importantly, bacosides are showing evidence of being able to kill aggressive brain tumour cells, and prevent cancerous cells from growing, notably breast, colon, and the brain, in test tube studies. The world is keen to see much more evidence on this.

Bacopa has been linked with reduced symptoms of depression, stress, and anxiety, largely through increasing serotonin and GABA levels.

Focus & Energy

The focus and energy comes from a mixture of caffeine, CDP choline, and l-theanine.

CDP choline is one of the better forms of choline you can find. This is important, as choline works as a precursor to acetylcholine, a vital neurotransmitter.

Acetylcholine plays a role in various cognitive functions, so increasing levels should benefit overall cognition – hence, choline should help your brain to stay at the top of its game.

CDP choline also increases phosphatidylcholine levels. Phosphatidylcholine is a key element in cell membranes, increased amounts of which should help to keep your brain healthy in the long run.

L-theanine mostly comes from green tea, and boasts a few positive effects.

Firstly, it increases alpha waves within the brain. Alpha waves are linked to alertness through relaxation. It also increases GABA, dopamine, and serotonin levels, whilst aiding in healthy sleep and reduced rates of stress and anxiety.

Finally, l-theanine has been shown to offer neuroprotective effects whilst improving several cognitive functions, including attention.

And that green tea is the gift that keeps on giving. It also delivers caffeine. This increases the efficacy of l-theanine whilst also giving you an energy boost. Green tea itself has been linked to a reduction in anxiety and improvements in attention, short-term memory, and working memory.

Using Avantera Elevate

Avantera’s Elevate does pretty much what you would expect it to. It is a very good nootropic and, as such, should give a great boost to your brain power.

Everything included is incredibly well supported by high quality scientific research and data. However, the doses are very low. We can’t see specifics, as many of the ingredients’ doses are hidden in proprietary blends.

What we can see from the total amounts of each blend is that everything is underdosed.

In fact, only the bacopa looks to be dosed effectively. There will not be anything like enough Lion’s Mane or turmeric. Your body requires at least 500mg of both for them to work, but the blend is only 355mg in total.

There is likely also nowhere near enough CDP choline, l-theanine, or green tea extract to be effective. Taking it, I felt very little benefit until I went quite far above and beyond Avantera’s recommended dosage, which I mustn’t recommend to you readers – always stick to the manufacturer’s guidelines.

Realistically though, you would have to pretty much triple the amount of capsules you are taking to reach optimal benefits.

This makes what might look like a reasonably priced supplement actually really quite expensive. Rather than lasting you a full month, if you want an effective dose than each pot will last you just ten days! That’s three pots per month, which is ridiculous.

It’s good stuff, but far too weak.

Compare this to something high in quality and more appropriately dosed like Mind Vitality Focus. Both supplements share many ingredients, though Mind Vitality has some added extras in a much better, much more intelligent blend.

It looks expensive, until you take all of the above into consideration. A month’s supply really is a month’s supply, as everything is dosed optimally. You will end up paying far less for a much better product.

There should be few ill effects from taking Elevate, at least. There is nothing too troubling in its list of potential side effects.

You may experience some nausea, upset stomach, diarrhea and stomach cramps, excessive bloating, or acid reflux, though really this is rare. I didn’t experience any of these.

Similarly, you may experience headaches, dizziness, and/or blurred vision. However, I’m prone to headaches, and even triple dosing didn’t affect me. 

Finally, you might see a rise in anxiety, fatigue, irritability, and insomnia, and possible fluctuations in blood pressure. Again though, this is extremely rare. On the whole, Elevate should alleviate – not cause – these symptoms.

Elevate is made in the USA and is non-GMO. It is completely vegan, is free from gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, and nuts, and is perfectly suitable for those following ketogenic diets and lifestyles.

How To Take Avantera Elevate

As above, you are meant to take a couple of capsules per serving. These should be taken on an empty stomach and preferably within an hour of waking up. Throw them back with a large glass of water.

However, this dosage seems way too low to be in any way effective. To even begin to get your money’s worth (which you won’t, ultimately), you will need to take double or probably even triple doses, which not only isn’t recommended, it makes it very pricey and unwieldy.

I would go for Mind Vitality Focus, with a recommended dose that will have a very positive effect, which is what we’re ultimately looking for when parting with cash for a supplement.

The Pros & Cons

Avantera Elevate Pros	Avantera Elevate Cons
Affordable (initially)	Dosage is way too low to be effective
A mix of very good ingredients	Works out pricey and unwieldy
Well-backed by science and data
GMO, dairy, soya, nut, and sugar free
Easy to take
Few side effects, all of which are very rare

Verdict

The only thing really wrong with Avantera’s Elevate is its dosing. It would be priced competitively if it gave you useable amounts of everything in each serving.

The ingredients included are sound – in fact, they are industry-leading, fantastic compounds that really should benefit your cognitive health when dosed effectively.

However, using Elevate in the amounts Avantera recommends will do next to nothing for you.

You simply won’t be getting enough of any single ingredient to make any impact on your brain or body at all.

Look for a better supplement. Pay a bit more but get a better deal. Go with something like Mind Vitality Focus. You’ll be far better off for doing so.