Prevagen Review

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…

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.

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 mine take it for a spin. He’s in his mid-fifties, so not old at all – however, let me enjoy my moment in which, for once, I’m deemed ‘too young’ for something.

To give you a little bit of background about this fine gentleman – he’s a freelance writer, with a wife and two fully grown children who are both at college away from home. He has mentioned to me in the past about how he sometimes struggles with his memory from time to time.

Nothing severe, he just takes a little longer to recall statistics or key information compared to when he was as youthful and as spritely as me. (OK, I’ll let it go now.)

So he made for a good case study for Prevagen. He trialed it for a month, and this is what he reported back to me:

“I have never taken a nootropic supplement before. In fact, I had never heard of them until you got in touch with me, so I was excited to give it a go. I wouldn’t say I struggle with my memory, but I sometimes find myself struggling to find the correct words when I write, or that I have to stop and look things up. It is very frustrating when you’re clearly becoming less productive during the working day – I don’t seem to get as much done as I used to.

I started taking the recommended dose of one capsule every morning with my breakfast. I am not on any medication, but I do take a couple of other vitamin supplements to keep me healthy!

To be honest, I didn’t notice any difference at all for at least two weeks. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t starting to question the whole endeavor, but I had promised to take them for 30 days, so I carried on regardless of my impulse that this was a waste of time.

Something happened, though, in the third week. It wasn’t a big ‘EUREKA’ moment, but it was rather significant. I suddenly realized that I was starting to get through more work, more easily. Articles that had been taking me a full day to complete were now being done within a few hours. By Friday, I only had enough work for half a day, so I took my wife out for a meal.

It is difficult to explain, because I’m not sure I would have even noticed the difference if I hadn’t been writing it down for you – the best way I can describe it is marginal gains. I was working for longer without having to stop to look something up, or think of the right word.

That sort of regular mental disruption can completely sidetrack you, and halt any momentum that you build up. The physical difference I felt was pretty minor, but it had a big effect.

I have continued to take Prevagen for the full 30 days, and may go beyond that. I think the impact has plateaued, but it has been significant enough for me to want to continue this level of cognitive productivity I got from Prevagen.

I am trying to work on a few projects to help me prepare for retirement, and I feel much more capable of doing that since I started taking this rather incredible supplement.”

Does Prevagen Work?

This is the ultimate question, right? Regardless of all the theories and our anecdotal evidence, what we all want to know is whether it will help improve our cognitive function, and it it can really help reverse age-related memory loss.

The somewhat unsatisfactory answer to that question is: maybe.

I know, probably not what you came here for, but we can’t give you a definitive answer, I’m afraid. The very nature of nootropics means that they will all have a slightly different impact on different people, and as it is a relatively new industry, there just isn’t enough independent research here to verify the claims made.

However, in our trial, Prevagen did have an impact. It wasn’t a clinical test, but anecdotally, we have a somewhat positive review here. Of course, one of the benefits of Prevagen is supposed to be long-term brain health, and we aren’t going to find that out in a 30-day trial.

It seems a fine nootropic, but one that requires a lot more research.

Alternatives To Prevagen

The market that Prevagen is aimed at is one that is often overlooked in the nootropic industry. There are very few products targeting people over 40 in their marketing, it tends to be towards a much younger crowd.

But this does not mean that these other products are unsuitable for people who are a bit older.

In fact, most of the ingredients you’ll find in nootropics limit the effects of age–related brain decline – it’s just not what sells. What 20-year-old student is worried about Alzheimer’s Disease?

One of our favorite nootropics is Mind Vitality Focus, a top-tier nootropic that has one of the most comprehensive formulae of all nootropics we’ve tested – it has fared extremely well in our testing.

With the exception of NooCube, it’s probably the most effective all-round nootropics around, and will help boost your memory as well as much more.

Verdict

Prevagen is a nootropic that is based on one key ingredient – apoaequorin – and supported with some Vitamin D. How well Prevagen works for you will be based on how you respond to that one ingredient, and to be honest, there needs to be a lot more scientific proof before we can draw any conclusions on its effectiveness.

However, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that Prevagen does help to improve your cognitive function, so it could be worth trying, just to see if it works for you.

Failing that, give Mind Vitality a go. It does what Prevagen claims to do and a bit more in our experience, with a lot more scientific backing behind it.