Memocept Ingredients: The Seven Actives on the Label

Vitamin B3 · Vitamin

One of two micronutrients on the panel, and the one most likely to produce a sensation you can actually feel. Niacin is an essential B vitamin required for the NAD and NADP coenzymes that run energy metabolism in every cell, brain cells included. Evidence: the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements maintains the reference intakes — 16 mg NE a day for adult men, 14 mg for adult women — and sets a tolerable upper intake of 35 mg a day for the supplemental forms, above which flushing becomes common. The caveat that matters: niacin corrects a deficiency. In the United States, frank niacin deficiency is rare. If you already get enough from food, more will not sharpen your memory, and the evidence that supplemental niacin improves cognition in replete adults is not there. The flush is real: two of the reviews on this website mention a warm flush in the first week, one of them solving it by taking the capsule with food. That is the classic nicotinic-acid response — harmless, uncomfortable, and worth expecting.

Sources: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements

Essential mineral · Mineral

The second micronutrient, and the one with the least to do with the product’s marketing. Calcium is structural — bone and teeth hold about 99% of it — and the remainder does real work in nerve signalling, muscle contraction and vascular tone. Evidence: the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements sets the adult recommended intake at 1,000–1,200 mg a day and the upper limit at 2,000–2,500 mg. Say the quiet part: a single capsule cannot carry a meaningful fraction of a 1,000 mg requirement alongside six other actives. Whatever calcium is here is a small contribution to a large daily number, and it is not the reason to buy this product. If you are taking Memocept for calcium, buy calcium.

Sources: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements

Amino acid · Amino acid

The first of four amino acids on the panel that share one mechanism: nitric oxide. Arginine is the direct substrate that nitric oxide synthase converts into NO, the signalling molecule that relaxes blood vessel walls and increases blood flow. Evidence: the pathway itself is textbook physiology and not in dispute. What is disputed is oral arginine’s efficiency — a 2008 pharmacokinetic study showed that oral L-arginine raises plasma arginine less reliably than L-citrulline does, because a large fraction is destroyed by arginase in the gut and liver before it ever reaches circulation. Which is why the panel also carries citrulline. That is a sensible formulation choice, and we will give the manufacturer credit for it.

Sources: Schwedhelm 2008 pharmacokinetic study

Arginine alpha-ketoglutarate · Amino acid

Arginine bound to alpha-ketoglutarate in a 2:1 ratio — a form popularised by pre-workout supplements on the argument that it survives digestion better than free arginine. Evidence, stated plainly: that argument has not been well supported in humans. AAKG has been studied mostly in exercise settings, results are inconsistent, and we could not find controlled human evidence that arginine AKG improves memory, attention or any other cognitive measure. What it is doing here: adding a second arginine source to the same nitric-oxide route. It is a formulation preference, not an independent mechanism.

Sources: Schwedhelm 2008 pharmacokinetic study

Amino acid · Amino acid

The better-evidenced half of the nitric-oxide story. Citrulline bypasses the gut and liver arginase that limits oral arginine, is converted to arginine in the kidney, and therefore raises plasma arginine more effectively than arginine itself. Evidence: a 2008 pharmacokinetic study demonstrated exactly that pharmacokinetic advantage. A 2019 meta-analysis of citrulline trials found reductions in blood pressure, and a 2016 crossover trial reported a 1.5% improvement in cycling time trial performance. The dose problem: those trials used 3 to 9 grams a day. The cycling trial used 2.4 g daily plus 2.4 g before the test. A single capsule holding seven actives cannot approach that — a whole 00-size capsule tops out under a gram. This ingredient is on the label at a fraction of any studied amount.

Sources: Schwedhelm 2008 pharmacokinetic study · 2019 systematic review and meta-analysis · 2016 crossover trial

Amino acid + malic acid · Amino acid

Citrulline paired with malic acid, a Krebs-cycle intermediate. The pairing is standard in sports nutrition, where it is used at 6–8 g a serving for muscular endurance. Evidence: the citrulline half is covered above. The malate half is proposed to support aerobic energy production, with human evidence that is thin and mostly ergogenic rather than cognitive. The pattern by now should be obvious: this is the fourth active on a seven-ingredient panel aimed at the same blood-flow pathway, all of them at amounts far below the doses their research used.

Sources: 2016 crossover trial

Amino acid · Amino acid

The ingredient a few buyers will notice within an hour, for reasons unrelated to cognition. Evidence: the ISSN position stand on beta-alanine is unambiguous — 4 to 6 g a day for at least two to four weeks raises muscle carnosine and improves performance in efforts lasting one to four minutes. On cognition specifically, an exploratory 2015 study looked directly at brain carnosine and cognitive function and did not find the clear effect the marketing of this ingredient class implies. The tingle: paraesthesia — a harmless prickling in the face, neck and hands — typically begins above roughly 0.8 g in a single dose. One reviewer on this website reports exactly that, once, then never again. Read that as information: if you feel a tingle from one capsule, the beta-alanine content is meaningful. If you feel nothing, it is likely well under 0.8 g — and so, by extension, well under the 4–6 g the research uses.

Sources: ISSN position stand · 2015 exploratory study