An Indian herb that gives you the memory of a yogi master?

Indian gurus have been revitalising their memories for 1000's of years with the secrets of ayurvedic herbal medicine. Brahmi commonly known as Bacopa monniera is one such highly regarded nootropic (mind enhancing) herb found in parts of Asia. Memory enhancing nutrients are ten a penny these days but Bacopa is unique because not only does it strengthen memory, alleviate insomnia and fight fatigue but it gently sedates the mind without stupefying it, prevents seizures and frees up brain power.1

First Aid for the Grey Matter

The government owned Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and its Central Drug Institute (CDRI) laboratories in India began isolating the active ingredients to Bacopa in the 1960's and found it to contain two classes of plant saponins which they aptly christened Bacosides A and B - antioxidant chemicals responsible for its mind-sharpening, anxiety-reducing and neuroprotective effects. Their mechanism of action is not certain but it is known that these bacosides enhance depleted neural transmission, prevent its decay and encourage the protein synthesis that accompanies memory formation. They also bind to cell receptors providing antioxidant protection to the brains memory centres against highly reactive and damaging metabolic end-products known as free radicals.

Since the 60's the CSIR has been conducting pre-clinical animal studies to test its safety and toxicity and the results have been unambiguous. "Our research proved that this standardised extract improves protein activity and protein synthesis, especially in the brain cells," says A R Marshelkar, director general of the CSIR. According to a CSIR technical report it is confident of bacopa's effectiveness in humans 'Brahmi, the crude extract derived from the indigenous plant Bacopa Monniera, has been used for the treatment of cognitive disorders of ageing in Indian medicine since ancient times,' it says. Indeed studies carried out in normal healthy children, elderly subjects with age associated memory impairment and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have shown bacopa to be safe, well tolerated, efficacious and without side effects thus prompting its recent launch under the trade name Memory Plus.

Cash in your worries for better recall with Bacosides

Bacopa belongs to a growing family of "Adaptogens" or nutrients that improve mental function by balancing it. Rats given low doses of bacopin extracts perform significantly better on memory, reaction-time and learning tests when put under stress than do untreated subjects.2 But until recently its effects in humans was inconclusive. However clinical studies performed at the CDRI in India have laid that doubt to rest and confirmed that bacosides can revitalize intellectual functions in children and reduce anxiety in stressed individuals, thereby contributing to improved brain functions, making it the herb of choice for attention deficit disorder in hyperactive children.3, 4

Furthermore double-blind placebo-controlled studies at the Neuropsychological laboratory at the School of Biophysical Science and Electrical engineering in Australia this year tested bacopa herb extracts over 12 weeks in healthy human subjects and concluded that the herb significantly improves information processing, rate of learning and memory consolidation. Indeed bacosides overcome the "law of diminishing returns" which predicts that retention of new information in humans diminishes from 55% in the first hour to 27% in the second to even less in the third so that ordinarily 1 in 2 learned tasks are forgotten. However over a 3 month period students taking bacopa experience a leap to 95% retention which lasts well into 4 hours and means only 1 in 20 learned tasks are forgotten!5

Amazingly research at the Department of Paediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India has shown that extracts of the bacopa herb have even been shown to improve the outlook of mental retardation in children with its tonic action on short and long term memory function.4,5 This is most likely a result of its ability to induce enzyme and protein synthesis at specific sites in the brain like the hippocampus (where memories are created) which is responsible for laying down new memories.

Bacopa then may have a broad spectrum of indications from "study aid" during the stresses of exam time to dementias like Alzheimer's where conventional treatments have failed.6 Indeed for those of us with stress-related memory problems increasing our performance in learning situations with ancient remedies like Bacopa may be a valuable antidote to modern day "techno-stress".

Sedation without Amnesia

Bacopa also protects epileptic patients from seizures and combats the drug-induced cognitive impairment resulting from treatment. Open trials in India testing bacopa extracts on 13 epileptics over 3-16 month terms demonstrated a significant reduction in seizures in most patients and a complete remission in 5 cases. Furthermore researchers at the University of New Delhi, India have shown that it significantly reverses drug-induced deterioration in mental function like memory acquisition and retention without affecting the drugs' anticonvulsant activity.7 As a sedative with anti-seizure activity Bacopin may well be the first in a class of "clean" anti-epileptic agents which are free from the mind-numbing side effects of conventional drugs. Indeed it is this ability to sedate without dulling the faculties like memory and concentration common to many epilepsy treatments and actually increasing mental alacrity that has lead to its widespread use as a smart, non-addictive anti-anxiety agent.

Invest in protecting your memories

Bacopa has also been touted as a natural antioxidant which may explain its neuroprotective role seen in the memory centres of the brain. Just 100mg of the extract has a stronger antioxidant action than 5 times the recommended daily dose of vitamin E.8 Indeed animal studies at the Institute of Medical Sciences in India show that bacosides increase local reserves of powerful antioxidant enzymes like glutathione, catalase and super oxide dismutase which mop up free radicals. This beneficial surge in free-radical scavengers spares sensitive memory-critical sites in the brain like the frontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus (where memories are created) from oxidative damage common in Parkinson's, dementia, depression and even aging.9 In particular the hippocampus dubbed "the seat of memory" appears to be selectively protected at its synapses (nerve junctions) by bacosides which is very exciting because this is where conventional neuroprotective drugs like Deprenyl and Centrophenoxine fail to act.10

How is it taken?

Bacopa capsules contain herbal extract standardised for 20% active bacosides. It has no known contraindications or side effects even at 25 times the recommended intake. The recommended dosage is 1-2 capsules a day and you can expect to see improvements within 4 weeks.

Where to find it

Bacopa has just recently been introduced to the UK under the trade name of Memory Plus and is available from Life Essence Ltd.

Life Essence Limited
The Gatehouse
Bridle Way
Shirley
Surrey
CR0 5AH

Tel: 020 8776 1070
Fax: 020 8776 1856
Email: mail@lifeessence.co.uk

References

1. Ayurvedic Medicine: Ancient Roots, Modern Branches, Barnett and Barone (Concorp Management, 1996).
2. J Ethnopharmacol 1982 Mar; 5(2):205-14 Effect of Bacopa monniera Linn. (Brahmi) extract on avoidance responses in rat. Singh HK, Dhawan BN.
3. J Res Edu Ind Med 1987;1-10 Sharma R, et al:
4. J Res Ayur Siddha 1980;1:133-48 Singh RH, Singh LJ:
5. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2001 Aug; 156(4):481-4 The chronic affects of an extract of Bacopa monniera (Brahmi) on cognitive function in healthy human subjects. Stough C, Lloyd J, Clarke J, Downey LA, Hutchison CW, Rodgers T, Nathan PJ.
6. Ann Acad Med Singapore 2000 Jan;29(1):37-41. Traditional Indian systems of medicine.Lodha R, Bagga A.
7. Altern Med Rev 1999 Jun;4(3):144-61.A review of nutrients and botanicals in the integrative management of cognitive dysfunction.Kidd PM.
8. J Ethnopharmacol 2000 Aug;71(3):383-90 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut Protection from phenytoin-induced cognitive deficit by Bacopa monniera, a reputed Indian nootropic plant.Vohora D, Pal SN, Pillai KK.
9. .Phytother Res 2000 May;14(3):174-9 Antioxidant activity of Bacopa monniera in rat frontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus.Bhattacharya SK, Bhattacharya A, Kumar A, Ghosal S
10. J Exp Biol 1996 Jun;34(6):523-6 Bacopa monniera Linn. as an antioxidant: mechanism of action.Tripathi YB, Chaurasia S, Tripathi E, Upadhyay A, Dubey GP.