Neutonic Review

The Neutonic Productivity Drink is where the lines between nootropics and energy drinks start to blur. But is it effective? In this Neutonic review, we studied its ingredients and tested it for ourselves. Here’s what we think…

There are plenty of nootropic supplements out there – pills, powders, bars, drinks… the list really does go on. So it’s always a little surprising when somebody brings a new one to the market.

Can you really reinvent the wheel, after all? Because, honestly, the market is replete with some truly fantastic options.

The same is true of energy drinks. Red Bull set the world ablaze some twenty-odd years ago, and we’ve seen lots of imitators flood the market since – some pale imitations, some exemplars, pushing the industry forwards.

Hence we come to Neutonic, an energy drink cum nootropic brought to us by a couple of social media influencers who inhabit the sort of right-leaning political sphere, bleeding into the wellness space – a new breed we’re seeing a fair amount of these days.

Is it any good?

Happily, I recently got the chance to try it out.

What Is Neutonic?

Neutonic is a nootropic drink co-founded by popular YouTubers and social media influencers James Smith and Chris Williamson. They market it as a productivity enhancer, which makes sense when you delve into it a bit – Neutonic claims with solid reason to boost cognitive function and improve focus, whilst also giving you a good energy kick.

Most of us would be more productive after throwing back a can. Just like we would be more productive by drinking strong black coffee and taking a more established nootropic supplement. I digress.

Neutonic is good. Each 8-ounce can give you 120mg of natural caffeine, so around 25-30% of your recommended daily allowance. It should give you a good energy boost, coupled with a pretty well sustained boost in alertness, meaning that you can meet daily challenges far more easily, with greater concentration and productivity.

I drank a can before writing this article and currently feel pretty decent. The words are flowing.

However, this isn’t only down to the caffeine content, though that does play a large role. Neutonic also makes clever use of other typical nootropic ingredients – ingredients known for their ability to bolster cognitive function.

These ingredients all enjoy robust clinical underpinning, with plenty of data testifying to their ability and efficacy in improving mental clarity, concentration, and cognitive function.

As Neutonic is a drink, it also needs to fulfil other criteria – for starters it needs to be nice to drink, which it certainly is.

I really enjoyed my pre-writing drink, a can of ‘Wild Citrus’ that was delightful on the palate. Cleansing, tasty, smooth, and free from any of the over-synthetic flavors all too common in the energy drink world.

Likewise, ‘Orange Sunrise’ and ‘Tropical Ice’. Though I personally prefer citrus notes, all three are delicious. It’s a very enjoyable product to live with.

Neutonic are also pretty transparent. There are few things that raise red flags in the supplement sphere quite so starkly as oblique ingredients lists. Neutonic avoids this pitfall, giving a level of transparency that allows you to fully understand what you are consuming and why. Their website shows you everything that goes into them, and it’s all good stuff.

You might read some hyperbole surrounding it, like you might for any new product in the supplement world. Of course, the manufacturers push this, calling it ‘revolutionary’ and other such things…

It’s not. It’s a nice-tasting energy drink with some added neurotropic compounds. I won’t overdo the praise.

What I will say is that it tastes delicious and does everything it promises. This is more than enough for anybody looking for the results on offer.

The Benefits Of Using Neutonic

Neutonic is a high-quality nootropic, put together to cater to those aiming to optimize their cognitive functions, elevate their mental performance, and maintain peak productivity levels throughout their day.

As such, and with a powerful blend of selected ingredients, including a spectrum of B-Vitamins, natural caffeine, adaptogens like Rhodiola Rosea, cognitive enhancers like Cognizin®, and energy-boosters such as Panax Ginseng, it should give you a very specific, quite potent array of benefits.

The first of these is, of course, its ability to enhance cognitive function. This is quite a broad, sweeping term – it covers functions like memory, attention, and processing speed. So, though it may sound a little broad brush, nootropics do sort of paint in broad strokes. They do a lot within the umbrella grouping of cognitive function.

Ingredients like Cognizin® provide critical support to brain cells, improving signal transmission and brain energy metabolism, which are vital for maintaining cognitive clarity and preventing mental fatigue. Neutonic, and regular nootropic use more generally, may well lead to noticeable improvements in focus, making it easier to tackle complex tasks and absorb new information.

This all comes hand in hand with improved mental clarity, thanks in large part to ingredients like l-theanine, known for its calming effects on the brain. It should help you to leave aside the interference of extraneous thoughts or anxiety, helping you to zero in on what matters.

Add this to stimulants like caffeine (with which l-theanine works very well, smoothing out the jitters we often get with caffeine), and you’ll find yourself in an incredible state of focused alertness.

It should also give you some pretty profound mental health benefits. Neutonic’s carefully curated ingredients profile will go a long way towards helping your overall mental wellbeing. These neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, play essential roles in mood regulation.

Neutonic and its kin can help you to manage stress far more ably, promoting a sense of wellbeing that is crucial for productivity and daily functioning. Improved dopamine regulation, meanwhile, should lead to increased happiness and drive.

We’ve mentioned stimulants. They are no joke – the energy boost you’ll get from using Neutonic is decent. It’s got me writing far faster than usual right now! The ingredients will ensure you’ll have more than enough energy to get through complex, demanding tasks.

These benefits are all very immediate. They should begin to occur within minutes of drinking Neutonic.

However, nootropics aren’t simply about the moment. They should also help to ringfence longer-term brain health. Neutonic is no exception.

Ingredients like Cognizin® and panax ginseng offer neuroprotective benefits, potentially reducing the risk of cognitive decline. By promoting neuron health and combating oxidative stress, regular, long-term use of products like Neutonic should pave the way optimal brain health and cognitive functions well into old age.

You should also see enhanced memory and learning ability, making Neutonic a good ally for anybody studying. It manages this with key ingredients that support neurotransmitter functions and enhance brain cell communication.

These benefits all dovetail very nicely. You should see improved cognitive function, with all that it entails – improved functions like memory, attention, and processing speed, as well as heightened energy levels, less stress, more focus, and long-term improvements to brain health and learning ability. None too shabby.

It’s why nootropics are quite rightfully so incredibly popular.

Ingredients

These benefits obviously come from the ingredients that make up Neutonic, a clever blend of high-quality nootropic elements known to work both in isolation and together to give you the improved brain health and cognitive function/wellbeing that you’re after.

It starts with Cognizin®, which I’d actually not come across before. Or, rather, I hadn’t come across it as Cognizin®. It is essentially a patented form of citicoline, which you see in most major, serious-minded nootropic supplements, for very good reason.

Citicoline helps to enhance phosphatidylcholine synthesis, an essential component of brain cell membranes. This is crucial for maintaining cognitive function, particularly memory and learning capabilities.

Citicoline also aids brain energy metabolism (so it’s not all caffeine doing the heavy lifting for our energy levels) and offers neuroprotective benefits, helping to shield the brain from harmful oxidative stress and going a long way to achieving the benefits to healthy cognitive aging.

It is a solid foundation on which to build a nootropic formula.

Citicoline’s energy boost is, of course, backed up by caffeine. Or, rather, caffeine is backed up by citicoline, as little else (legally) can give you the kind of energy boost offered by it.

Caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain, which prevents the onset of drowsiness and increases alertness. It also stimulates the fight or flight response, giving you that immediate energy spike. I didn’t experience a crash after this – it was nicely leveled out with the inclusion of other ingredients.

Adaptogenic benefits are a bit of a hallmark of nootropic formulas – they help the body adapt to physical, emotional, and environmental stressors, which in turn can enhance cognitive functions, particularly when you’re stressed and/or fatigued.

Happily, you get one of the best adaptogenic ingredients going in Neutonic, in the form of rhodiola rosea. It’s a fantastic adaptogenic herb that hails from the cold, mountainous regions of Europe and Asia and has been used traditionally to combat fatigue and stress. It is one of the better stress relievers going.

It’s also not the only herb included. You also get a solid dose of panax ginseng, also known as Korean ginseng. I love to see this quality ingredient in a nootropic – it has a long history of use in traditional medicine forms for its ability to improve mental performance and immune system support.

Panax ginseng is chock full of ginsenosides, powerful compounds thought to be responsible for its cognitive-enhancing effects. Regular intake can lead to better mental clarity, improved memory, and increased endurance to mental fatigue.

I also love the inclusion of l-theanine, an amino acid primarily found in green tea leaves. It enhances focus and attention whilst promoting relaxation without drowsiness.

L-theanine combines particularly well with caffeine, enhancing the positive effects (improved energy and concentration) whilst mitigating the unwanted side effects (heightened anxiety, jitters, energy crashes). It balances really nicely in this formula, giving you smooth, sustained alertness.

Finally, you get a decent B-vitamin spectrum in Neutonic. This includes vitamins B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic Acid), B6 (Pyridoxine), B7 (Biotin), B9 (Folate), and B12 (Cobalamin) – which is all pretty extensive. All told, these lead to an array of benefits like enhanced mental performance and overall wellbeing.

B vitamins like these are vital for converting food into energy, fueling our bodies’ metabolic processes, including those vital for brain function. B vitamins also support your nervous system’s health, contribute towards the synthesis of neurotransmitters, and aid in blood cell formation.

All of these ingredients are heavy hitters, no doubt about it. However, it’s all very far from comprehensive. Half a dozen ingredients is fine… but only fine.

Some of the better nootropic supplements out there have at least twice this, without suffering any notable amount of diminishing returns. You get more both in the formula and in the results promised. I enjoyed taking Neutonic. Honestly, it’s delicious. But it’s more like a clever energy drink than a first-rate nootropic.

There’s nothing wrong with this, just buyer beware. Know what you’re getting if you go in for it.

Alternatives

So, then, what if you want something a little juicier in nootropic content? Something with more teeth to it, that can give you something like a true nootropic kick, really giving you the level, the profundity, of results you really need and want?

Well, there are plenty of options out there. Plenty.

Two in particular spring to mind, mostly because I want to give you options. Both have a distinct edge over Neutonic in most regards.

Kaged Mindset

Kaged Mindset is a very lovely tasting drink, first and foremost. I’ve had their Orange Mango flavor in the past and really enjoyed it.

Of course, as it comes as a powder, you will need to mix it. However, it mixes easily enough, giving you a pretty decent drink that’s almost as nice as Neutonic.

Or, at least, it’s nice enough that, along with its superior nootropic blend, it makes a good alternative.

Its formula rests on two main ingredients, though there are plenty more active compounds at work. These are Alpha-GPC (AlphaSize®) and Cereboost®, two patented blends that should go a long way towards giving you the benefits you’re after.

AlphaSize® Alpha-Glyceryl Phosphoryl Choline (Alpha-GPC) is a precursor to acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter critical for cognitive function. It supports mental agility and concentration very ably, giving plenty more focus, clarity, and energy.

It’s a fantastic catalyst in mentally preparing for intense work sessions or creative endeavors, ensuring you’re fully dialed in and ready to perform.

Cereboost® compliments this all very well. It’s a patent, specialized American ginseng extract, which gives a great many benefits to users.

It significantly enhances alertness and working memory, and promotes a state of calm. This unique blend of effects positions Cereboost® as a stellar ingredient in nootropics for anyone needing to remain vigilant yet composed, especially in high-pressure situations.

These are the big two on which all else is built, but there is plenty more at work in Kaged Mindset. Its formula also includes L-tyrosine, SunPS phosphatidylserine, Ioniplex mineral complex, huperzine A, acetyl l-carnitine HCL, vitamin C, and a B vitamin complex.

Each synergizes with everything else to support healthy cognitive function, contributing to overall brain health and resilience against mental fatigue.

It’s a far more comprehensive, more solid effort than Neutonic. Though the drink isn’t quite as nice or, arguably, easy to live with, this ingredients list should more than make up for it.

Mind Vitality Focus

If, however, you want one of the best nootropics going without messing around with a drink, Mind Vitality Focus might be your best bet.

Throw a serving of pills back with a nice soda and you’ll get all the utility and pleasantness of Neutonic with far greater benefits.

It uses a bit of a revolutionary approach to cognitive enhancement – it’s built using an ‘Ignition Tri-Factor’, a comprehensive three-part system designed to maximally boost brain function.

Firstly, we have the Stress Kill Switch, designed, as you might imagine, to combat the largely cognitive effects of stress.

It does this with a blend of adaptogenic herbs and specialist nutrients aimed at lowering cortisol levels, thereby fostering a state of calm and relaxation.

The blend includes ashwagandha, a potent adaptogen that helps bolster resistance to stress, allowing for enhanced productivity and improved sleep quality; rhodiola rosea, which can help with boosting mental stamina by reducing fatigue and combating burnout; Korean ginseng, known throughout various traditional forms of medicine to counteract fatigue and enhance energy; and, finally, phosphatidylserine, which has been shown to lower cortisol post-exercise, thus supporting rapid recovery and maintaining peak cognitive performance.

This paves the way for the Brain Focus Matrix, which boosts brain function by enhancing blood flow, thereby improving oxygen and nutrient delivery.

Again, we’re looking at a potent blend of herbs and extracts, with the likes of bacopa monnieri, an Ayurvedic herb associated with enhanced memory and learning capabilities; mucuna extract, which has been linked with increased dopamine levels, elevating mood and motivation; and pine extract, which can encourage increased blood circulation to the brain, reducing brain fog and sharpening focus.

Finally, with these in place, we’re ready for the final part of Mind Vitality Focus’ trifactor, the Cognitive Accelerator.

This uses three of my favorite nootropic ingredients: huperzia serrate, which bolsters cognition by sustaining acetylcholine levels, crucial for memory and learning; lion’s mane mushroom, which boosts mood and memory, fostering an environment conducive to focused achievements; and N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine, which supports you as you execute complex cognitive tasks, especially under stress.

It’s a tough list to beat, and there’s no way that something as lightly made as Neutonic can stand up to it.

Verdict

So where does this leave us?

Neutonic is a good product, no doubt about it. It’s a delicious drink, whichever flavor you go for (though I would particularly recommend the Wild Citrus). It’s refreshing and nice to drink, so you’ll be pretty happy with a fridge full of cans.

However, it’s not the best straight nootropic going. It’s perhaps a top-tier energy drink, but it leaves a lot wanting in the nootropic sphere. The ingredients list is just too lean – you don’t get anywhere near as much as other nootropic supplements give you.

If you want a decent enough drink that gives you a fantastic nootropic boost, I would point you towards Kaged Mindset. It’s not as good a drink as Neutonic, but it’s a far better nootropic.

Or, if you want to just go straight for a top-tier nootropic, regardless of medium, something like Mind Vitality Focus will work wonders for you with the convenience of a tablet.

Nootropics are their most useful when used for the long term. So my advice is to go with whichever option you can sustain more easily. If you love energy drinks with fancy flavors, Neutonic is a fantastic option that steps in as a replacement and transports you into the world of nootropics.

No, it doesn’t offer as much as other nootropics, such as Kaged Mindset or Mind Vitality Focus. But if it means you stick to consuming it by grabbing a can from the refrigerator, then you’re onto a winner.