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Ingredient & advertising guide

This page has two jobs. First, it explains every plant printed on the panel of the bottle we sell, what each one is, and what the research does and does not say about it, including who was in each trial, at what dose and who paid for it. Second, and this is the part most advertising pages leave out, it lists the headlines we run, tells you which ones are exaggerated, and separates the small number of things that are genuinely supported by evidence from the many that are not.

1. Our headlines, and what is actually true

These are the headlines we have run, grouped by the claim they make. The right-hand column is our own plain assessment. We have marked each family of headlines as Exaggerated, Partly true, Withdrawn, Our headline was wrong or Broadly supported.

The headline as you saw it	What is actually behind it
"Mental Decline Begins When Seniors Can't Spell These 3 Words. Test Now""Top Doctors Say Mental Decline Begins When Seniors Can't Pronounce These 3 Phrases. Can You?""Memory Decline Begins When Seniors Say These 3 Phrases (See The List)""Declining Memory Begins When Seniors Say These 7 Phrases. See Which Ones"	Exaggerated There is no set of three words, three phrases or seven phrases whose spelling or pronunciation marks the beginning of anything. Nothing "begins" at a word. Word tasks do appear inside the short memory checks clinicians use, but those checks are given in person and read alongside your history, your medicines and your age. Failing a word online means nothing on its own: plenty of people stumble over a word when they are tired, nervous or being timed. "Top doctors" refers to no specific doctor. See section 4.
"Japan's Oldest Doctors Say Memory Loss Isn't Age: Just Avoid Drinking These 3 Beverages""Japan's Greatest Doctors Say Memory Loss Isn't Age: Just Avoid Eating These 3 Foods""Japan's Oldest Doctors Say Memory Loss Isn't Age: Just Stop Eating These 3 Foods"	Exaggerated No group of Japanese doctors issued this statement. There is no such panel, no such list, and no source we can point you to. Japan appears in the headline because it is widely associated with long life, which makes the claim feel credible. That is a marketing decision, not a citation. The second half is also wrong. Memory changes with age for everyone, and no diet removes that. What is true is narrower: certain long-term drinking and eating patterns travel with faster slippage on thinking tests in large population studies. [1] [2] Association is not proof of cause, and "just avoid these three" is not how any of it works.
"Nobel Prize's Doctors Say Memory Loss Isn't Age: Just Stop Eating These 3 Foods"	Withdrawn We retract this one outright. No Nobel laureate has endorsed this page, this product, or any list of three foods on our behalf. Attaching the Nobel Prize to an advertisement implies an authority that does not exist and we should not have run it.
"The Overlooked Boxed Cereal Now Tied to 8 Out of 10 Memory Cases"	Our headline was wrong There is no such statistic. No study ties any cereal to eight out of ten cases of anything, "memory cases" is not a category any researcher uses, and no cereal has been "overlooked" by anyone: the sugar figure is printed on the side of every box. The number was invented for the headline and we withdraw it. The grain of truth is the same as for the other cereal headlines below: a diet heavy in ultra-processed food, the sweet cereal shelf included, travels in a large Brazilian study with somewhat faster slippage on thinking tests over eight years. [2] That is a modest association across thousands of people, not eight in ten of anyone. See section 3.
"Brain Experts Now Say These 3 Cereals Age the Brain Faster Than Time""Scientists Now Say This 1 Cereal Ages the Brain Faster Than Time"	Exaggerated No food ages the brain "faster than time." That phrase was written for effect and it is not a finding from any study. It is also internally inconsistent: in one version it is three cereals, in another it is one, because the number is something we test for click-through, not something we measured. The grain of truth: diets high in ultra-processed food are associated with somewhat faster slippage on thinking tests over years. [2] That is a modest effect across a population, not a fate sealed by a bowl of cereal. See section 3.
"Doctors Now Say This Popular Evening Drink Is Behind Memory Loss"	Partly true The "evening drink" is alcohol, and of everything our ads point at, this is where the evidence is strongest. In 550 British civil servants followed for thirty years, the more a person drank the faster their word-fluency scores fell, and light drinkers had no advantage over people who did not drink at all. [1] What is overstated is the word "behind." Alcohol is one contributing factor among many, not the cause of memory slips. Cutting back is a genuinely good idea. One thing must be said plainly here, because it cuts the other way: the bottle we sell is itself an extract in cane alcohol at 56 to 66 per cent. A 0.7 millilitre serving carries roughly 0.4 millilitres of alcohol, far less than a sip of wine and diluted into two ounces of water, but it is alcohol, and anyone who avoids it completely should know that before buying.
"Doctors Name 5 Popular Drinks Now Tied To Memory Decline. Coffee Tops The List""Seniors: These 4 Drinks May Be Aging Your Brain Faster""Neurologists Say Cognitive Decline Isn't Age: Just Stop Drinking These 2 Popular Drinks""Doctors: 3 Popular Drinks Now Tied to Memory Loss in Seniors"	Exaggerated Notice that the count changes: two drinks, three, four, five. It changes because it is an advertising variable we rotate, not a number that came out of a study. No neurologist is named in any version, because none was consulted. "Coffee Tops The List" is the clearest thing we have got wrong: none of the studies on this page is about plain coffee. If you drink coffee and enjoy it, this headline gave you a reason to worry that the evidence does not support. See section 2.
"Brain Doctors: Quit These 4 Drinks Before It's Too Late"	Exaggerated No brain doctor was consulted for this headline, and there is no "too late." The deadline was invented to make you click. The four drinks are the ones in section 2: alcohol, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, energy drinks and sweetened coffee-shop drinks. Cutting back on them is sensible for your rest, your weight and your wallet, and heavy drinking travels with poorer word-fluency scores over years. [1] There is no evidence that quitting them on any particular day changes anything about your memory, and there is no age after which the change stops being worth making. See section 2.
"Memory Slipping? Check These 4 Everyday Drinks First"	Partly true Half right, in the wrong order. If your memory is slipping, the first thing to check is not a drink; it is a conversation with your own clinician about hearing, rest and the medicines you take, none of which is changed by what you pour. The four drinks are the everyday ones in section 2. Reviewing them is a reasonable second step. Not enough plain water belongs on the list too: in more than a thousand adults aged 60 to 89, measured dehydration went with a steeper fall on a processing-speed test. [3]
"America's Top Experts Say Mental Decline Isn't Aging: Just Avoid These 5 Kitchen Drinks"	Exaggerated The same construction as the "Japan's doctors" headline above, with the country changed. No panel of American experts issued this statement, and we cannot point you to one. Memory changes with age, and no drink removes that. The kitchen drinks are alcohol, sugar-sweetened sodas, energy drinks and sweetened coffee-shop drinks, all in section 2, where the honest version of each is written out. "Just avoid" overstates what any of that evidence shows.
"Still Sharp at 90? Seniors Are Rethinking These 3 Everyday Foods"	Partly true The gentlest of our headlines, and still an overstatement. Nobody knows what keeps a particular person sharp at 90, and no single food does it. The three everyday foods are sugary breakfast cereals, processed meats and packaged baked goods, all in section 3. Eating less of them is part of the long, slow habits in section 5, and no food is a promise at any age. See sections 3 and 5.
"5 Old-World Herbs in One Small Bottle. Take Two Drops and Feel the Difference"	Exaggerated The five plants are real and they are on the label: gotu kola, ginkgo, skullcap, sage and rosemary, certified organic. "Feel the difference" is not. Nobody has ever tested this blend, in this liquid, in anyone, and the label's own direction is a squeeze of the bulb in two ounces of water rather than two drops of anything. Of the five plants, only sage has two trials in people behind it, [4] [5] and the doses those trials used are several times more sage than a whole squeeze of this bottle can contain. See section 6.
"Sage Is the One Herb in This Bottle With Two Trials in People."	Broadly supported This one is checkable line by line, and here is the check. Sage is the only one of the five plants on this panel with two human trials that measured memory or attention: 333 milligrams of a standardised sage extract in 20 healthy adults averaging 73, which went with better memory performance across the day and better attention accuracy than placebo, [4] and single 300 and 600 milligram doses of dried sage leaf in 30 healthy young adults, where the 600 milligram dose went with better multitasking scores. [5] Both were small and both were single doses. The headline states a count, not a benefit: it is not a claim that this bottle works. A squeeze of this extract is made from 91 milligrams of dried herb shared by all five plants, which is a fraction of either trial dose, and section 6 below sets that arithmetic out in full.
"The Label Says Two or Three Times a Day. Remembering Is the Hard Part."	Broadly supported The first half is the label, word for word: one squeeze of the rubber bulb in two ounces of water or juice, 2 or 3 times per day, best taken between meals. The second half is our own reading of the maker's review widget, where customers write that they have used the extract "on and off," that it is "noticeable when I forget to take it for a few days," that "one bottle won't do it," and that the time between ordering and delivery left them without it for a week or more. It is a statement about keeping a routine, not a claim that the bottle works. Every plant in it was studied on a schedule of its own (two months daily for gotu kola, [6] twice a day for six years for ginkgo, [7] three times a day for two weeks for skullcap, [8] single doses for sage and rosemary [4] [9]), and no schedule, however faithfully kept, brings a squeeze made from 91 milligrams of dried herb up to any of those doses. See section 6.
"Neurologists Name 5 Popular Prescriptions Now Tied to Memory Decline"	Partly true, and the one not to act on alone No neurologist named a list for us, and we will not print one. What is true is that pharmacists keep lists of everyday medicines, some sold over the counter, that are often a poor fit after 65, and that a yearly look at everything you take is worth having. But an advertisement is the worst possible reason to change a medicine: never stop or change one because of something you read in an ad, including ours. Put everything you take in one bag, this bottle included, and ask your pharmacist. There is one specific thing to name at that counter: this bottle contains ginkgo leaf, and the federal centre for complementary health research notes that ginkgo may raise the risk of bleeding in people taking blood thinners. [10] See the box at the end of section 2.

2. Every drink our ads point at

Our headlines have referred, in different versions, to "3 beverages", "4 drinks", "5 popular drinks", "2 popular drinks" and "this popular evening drink" without ever naming them. Here is the complete list of what we were pointing at, and what the research actually supports for each one. Where a study is cited, it is observational unless stated otherwise: it can show that two things travel together in a population, not that one causes the other.

3. Every food our ads point at

The food headlines referred to "3 foods" and to "cereals": one cereal in some versions, three in others. Again, the number was ours, not a finding. Here is what was meant, and what stands behind it.

4. The "3 words" and "7 phrases" tests

Several of our headlines invite you to test yourself on words or phrases: spell these three words, pronounce these three phrases, see whether you say these seven phrases. There is no such validated test, and we cannot give you a real one, because a real one does not work that way.

What an actual memory check looks like. Clinicians use short structured checks. They do include word tasks: recalling three unrelated words after a delay, naming animals, repeating a sentence. But three things make them different from an online quiz:

• They are given in person, in a standard way, by someone trained to do it.
• The score is read against your age and education, not against a fixed pass mark.
• A low score is a reason for a longer conversation with your clinician, never a verdict by itself.

These checks also produce false alarms. Poor rest, trouble hearing and simply being nervous all lower scores in people whose memory is fine. This is precisely why an online word quiz is meaningless: it has none of the context that makes the real check useful.

5. Everyday habits worth more than any bottle

If we only had one section to be useful in, this would be it. None of these is a supplement, a bottle, or a list of three foods, and none of them can be sold to you by us.

• Rest enough, at regular hours.
• Get your hearing and your eyesight checked, and use hearing aids or glasses if you need them: straining to hear or see looks a great deal like not remembering.
• Walk, most days. Regular walking counts.
• Drink less alcohol. ^[1]
• Drink more plain water. ^{[3] [11]}
• Eat more like the MIND pattern and less from the ultra-processed shelf. ^{[13] [2]}
• Stay in touch with people. Conversation is exercise for memory.
• Keep learning something: a language, an instrument, a route you have never driven.
• Once a year, take everything you take to the pharmacist.

These are unglamorous. They cannot be delivered in a headline, they take years, and they are, by a wide margin, the most useful things on this entire page.

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6. Ingredient guide: what is actually in the bottle we sell

What each plant printed on the panel of the Herb Pharm Brain & Memory extract is, what it is traditionally used for, and what the cited research says, including who was in each trial, at what dose and who paid for it. One thing has to be said before the list, because it is the single most misread fact about this product: the panel prints one amount for the whole blend, 646 milligrams per 0.7 millilitre serving, and one line of equivalence beneath it, "extraction rate 173 mg fresh herb & 91 mg dry herb per 0.7 ml". Those two figures belong to all five plants together. They are not the amount of gotu kola, although the store's listing prints them on the gotu kola line, where they look exactly like it. No amount is printed for any individual plant, anywhere, and the order of the five names on the panel is the only clue to how the blend is divided.

Gotu kola (Centella asiatica), aerial parts

A small, creeping perennial with fan-shaped leaves, native to wetlands from the tropical Old World to eastern Australia. It is eaten as a vegetable and in salads across South and Southeast Asia.

Traditional and everyday use. Used for centuries in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese practice, and eaten fresh as a salad green.

What the research says. In a small 2-month placebo-controlled trial of 28 healthy older adults, the highest dose (750 mg/day) of a gotu kola extract was associated with improved working-memory performance and higher self-rated alertness.^[6] A 2017 review that pooled the randomized trials found no significant effect on cognitive test scores overall, though it did find higher self-rated alertness.^[15]

Amount per serving in Brain & Memory™ Liquid Herbal Extract. — (part of a 646 mg five-herb blend) (first on the label; certified organic)

Good to know. Skin rash has been reported. Rare reports of harm to the organ that processes what you swallow have been linked to gotu kola products: stop and talk to your doctor if you notice unusual tiredness, dark urine, or yellowing of the skin or eyes. Laboratory studies suggest it may interact with some products processed by that same organ; talk to your doctor before use if you take anything daily.

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), leaf, in a liquid herbal extract

The fan-shaped leaf of the ginkgo tree, a species so ancient it is called a living fossil, planted along city streets across the world. Here it is the certified-organic leaf in a liquid extract as one of five herbs in a blend (cane alcohol and water in the Herb Pharm blend; vegetable glycerin and water in TinnaRex): a different thing from the standardized leaf extract (120 mg tablets and the like) used in the large trials, and from the homeopathic dilution found in some sprays.

Traditional and everyday use. Ginkgo leaf extract has been sold as a "memory herb" for decades.

What the research says. In the largest trial to date, 3,069 adults aged 72 to 96 took 120 mg of a standardized extract twice a day for a median of 6.1 years and declined at the same rate as the placebo group in memory, attention, language and every other domain measured.^[7] The National Institutes of Health states there is no conclusive evidence that ginkgo is helpful for any health condition.^[10] This product gives no ginkgo amount; the whole five-herb blend is 646 mg per 0.7 ml serving, and that figure is for the liquid extract, not for standardized leaf extract. On the ears: the largest trial of a standardized ginkgo extract in people with ringing in their ears (1,121 people, 12 weeks, 50 mg three times a day) found no difference from placebo, ^[16] a Cochrane review of four trials found no evidence it helps when the ringing is the main complaint, ^[17] the NIH says research suggests it is not helpful for that ringing, ^[18] and the 2014 guideline of the American ear, nose and throat academy recommends against ginkgo and other supplements for it. ^[19] TinnaRex prints no amount of ginkgo at all.

Amount per serving in Brain & Memory™ Liquid Herbal Extract. — (part of a 646 mg five-herb blend) (certified organic; the leaf in a liquid extract, not a standardized extract)

Good to know. Ginkgo may increase the risk of bleeding in people who take anything that thins the blood; fresh ginkgo seeds are toxic. Talk to your doctor before use if you take anything daily or are due for an operation.

Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), flowering aerial parts (American skullcap)

A slender perennial of the mint family native to wet meadows and streambanks across North America, with small blue-violet flowers set along one side of the stem; also called blue skullcap or mad-dog skullcap. It is not the same plant as Chinese skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis), whose root is used differently. In this product the fresh (undried) flowering tops are extracted in alcohol and water.

Traditional and everyday use. Used for centuries by Native Americans, and later in Western herbalism, as a calming herb for nervousness and restlessness; today it is most often found in over-the-counter relaxation and sleep blends alongside other herbs.

What the research says. In a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study of 43 healthy adults, 350 mg of American skullcap three times a day for two weeks was associated with a lower total mood-disturbance score than baseline, without any reduction in self-rated energy or cognition; the anxiety score did not differ significantly from placebo.^[8] That is a study of mood, not of memory. No trial has tested skullcap for memory or attention.

Amount per serving in Brain & Memory™ Liquid Herbal Extract. — (part of a 646 mg five-herb blend) (certified organic; fresh (undried))

Good to know. Rare cases of harm to the organ that processes what you swallow have been reported with products containing skullcap, typically within 1 to 12 weeks of starting; in some of those cases the product turned out to be adulterated with germander or mislabeled. Stop and call your doctor if you notice unusual tiredness, dark urine, or yellowing of the skin or eyes. It has a reputation as a calming herb, so be careful combining it with anything that makes you drowsy. Talk to your doctor before use if you take anything daily.

Sage (Salvia officinalis), aerial parts

A small evergreen shrub of the mint family with gray-green, velvety leaves, native to the Mediterranean and grown in kitchen gardens across the world; one of the most familiar cooking herbs. The FDA lists sage among spices generally recognized as safe for their intended use in food.

Traditional and everyday use. In European herbal tradition sage leaf has been used for a sore mouth or throat, mild digestive complaints and excessive sweating; the European Medicines Agency's herbal monograph accepts those uses on the basis of long-standing use, not clinical proof, and does not list memory among them. In the kitchen it flavors stuffing, sausages, beans and brown butter.

What the research says. In a placebo-controlled five-way crossover trial of 20 healthy adults over 65 (average age 73), a single 333 mg dose of a standardized sage leaf extract was associated with better secondary-memory performance across the day and better accuracy of attention compared with placebo; other doses helped less.^[4] In 30 healthy young adults, single doses of 300 mg and 600 mg of dried sage leaf were associated with better self-rated mood, and the 600 mg dose with better performance on a multitasking battery.^[5] Both were single doses on a single day; nobody has tested sage taken for months, and nobody has tested it in a five-herb liquid blend or in a spray that delivers a fraction of a milligram of its compounds.

Amount per serving in Brain & Memory™ Liquid Herbal Extract. — (part of a 646 mg five-herb blend) (certified organic)

Good to know. Culinary amounts are widely used. Sage leaf contains thujone; the European Medicines Agency's monograph reports that sage oil equivalent to more than 15 g of leaf can cause a sensation of heat, rapid heartbeat, dizziness and serious nervous-system effects, and states that safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding has not been established. The product's own label says to seek medical advice before taking it during pregnancy. Talk to your doctor before use if you take anything daily.

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus, formerly Rosmarinus officinalis), leaf

A small evergreen shrub of the mint family, native to the dry, rocky Mediterranean coast, whose needle-like leaves are one of the world's most familiar cooking herbs. The FDA lists rosemary among spices generally recognized as safe for their intended use in food.

Traditional and everyday use. In ancient Greece and Rome rosemary was associated with memory, and in folklore it has long been an emblem of remembrance. In the kitchen it flavors roasts, breads and oils.

What the research says. In a small crossover trial of 28 adults with an average age of 75, a single 750 mg dose of dried rosemary leaf, close to a culinary amount, was associated with faster speed of memory compared with placebo, while a much larger dose (6,000 mg) had the opposite effect.^[9] More was not better.

Amount per serving in Brain & Memory™ Liquid Herbal Extract. — (part of a 646 mg five-herb blend) (certified organic; fresh (undried))

Good to know. Culinary amounts are widely used. In the trial above, a very large single dose (6,000 mg) slowed memory measures, so more is not better. Talk to your doctor before use if you have a health condition or take anything daily.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This information does not constitute medical advice and it should not be relied upon as such. This product is not a substitute for medication or other treatment prescribed by a physician or health care provider. Consult your doctor before starting any dietary supplement.

7. What we can and cannot promise

Set against the headlines that brought you here, this is the complete and honest position.

Things we cannot promise, and that nobody selling you a supplement can:

• That this bottle will improve your memory, your attention or your concentration.
• That it will stop memory from changing with age.
• That it offsets alcohol, sugar, processed food, or any drink or food named on this page.
• That it can replace anything a clinician gave you, or make a yearly look at your medicines unnecessary.
• That any doctor in Japan, any Nobel laureate, any neurologist or any "brain expert" recommends it. None has.
• That a word or phrase quiz can tell you anything about your brain.
• That any plant in it reaches the dose of its own trial. Sage was tested at 333 milligrams of standardised extract in adults averaging 73, ^[4] gotu kola moved something only at 750 milligrams a day in 28 people, ^[6] skullcap's study used 1,050 milligrams a day and measured how people felt rather than how they scored, ^[8] and rosemary worked at a cooking pinch of 750 milligrams and not at 6,000. ^[9] One serving of this extract is made from 91 milligrams of dried herb, shared by all five.
• That ginkgo does anything here. Its largest trial gave 3,069 adults aged 72 to 96 a standardised extract at 240 milligrams a day for a median of six years, and it did no better than placebo on memory, attention, visuospatial ability, language or executive function. ^[7] A smaller twelve-week study of 93 adults aged 55 to 79 at 120 milligrams a day found a moderate result on one associational learning task and nothing else. ^[20] The federal centre for complementary health research states there is no conclusive evidence that ginkgo is helpful for any health condition. ^[10]
• That the phrases on the listing describe a proven benefit. The listing uses a category word for this formula that our own advertising rules do not let us print, and the printed label does not use it either.

Things we can say honestly:

• It is a one-fluid-ounce amber glass bottle of a certified-organic liquid extract of five plants, made and sold by Herb Pharm, LLC of Central Point, Oregon, which publishes a street address, two telephone numbers and an email address. Every plant printed on the panel is listed above.
• One serving is 0.7 millilitres, carrying 646 milligrams of extract blend made from 91 milligrams of dried herb, and the bottle holds up to 42 servings. At three servings a day that is fourteen days; at two, twenty-one.
• The other ingredients are certified organic cane alcohol at 56 to 66 per cent, distilled water and certified organic vegetable glycerin. Roughly 0.4 millilitres of a serving is alcohol.
• The label's direction is to shake well and add one squeeze of the rubber bulb to two ounces of water or juice, two or three times a day, best taken between meals. Its printed cautions are to seek expert medical advice before taking during pregnancy, and to keep it out of the reach of children.
• The price is the one on the maker's listing on the day you look; we print none. Shipping costs nothing above forty-nine dollars by ground inside the continental United States, which one bottle of this size will not reach on its own, and the written returns policy offers an exchange or a full credit if you notify the company within thirty days and obtain a return authorisation number.
• Its own review widget shows 23 reviews averaging 4.8 out of 5, with 21 of them carrying its purchase mark. Individual experiences are not evidence.
• We earn a commission if you buy. That is our interest in this, stated plainly.
• Nothing here is medical advice, and none of it replaces your own clinician.

8. Questions people ask us

Did a Japanese doctor, a Nobel laureate or a neurologist really say this?

No. Those attributions are advertising language. No named or identifiable expert made those statements, and none has endorsed this product.

So is coffee bad for my memory or not?

None of the studies on this page is about plain coffee, and our "Coffee Tops The List" headline overstated it. What is worth watching is added sugar in coffee drinks, and caffeine late enough in the day to cost you a good night. The bottle we sell contains no caffeine.

Should I stop a medicine because of your "5 prescriptions" headline?

No. Not on your own, and not because of an advertisement. Take everything you take to your pharmacist and ask whether anything is a poor fit for your age, and whether anything argues with a ginkgo leaf extract. ^[10]

How much gotu kola is in a serving?

Nobody outside the company knows, and this is the most important thing on this page. The panel prints one figure, 646 milligrams, for the whole five-plant blend, and one equivalence beneath it: 173 milligrams of fresh herb or 91 milligrams of dried herb per 0.7 millilitres. Those figures are the extraction rate of the whole blend. The store's listing prints them beside the gotu kola line, which makes them look like the amount of a single plant. They are not. The five plants are listed in order, which by convention puts gotu kola largest and rosemary smallest, and that is the only clue there is.

Which of the five plants has the best evidence?

Sage, and it is not close. Twenty healthy adults averaging 73 took 333 milligrams of a standardised sage extract and did better on memory tasks across the day and on attention accuracy than on placebo; ^[4] thirty healthy young adults did better on a multitasking battery after 600 milligrams of dried sage leaf. ^[5] Both were small trials of single doses, and both used several times more sage than a whole serving of this extract is made from. Gotu kola's pooled trials found no significant effect on cognitive test scores, ^[15] and ginkgo's largest trial came out even over six years. ^[7]

Does it contain alcohol?

Yes. Certified organic cane alcohol at 56 to 66 per cent, with distilled water and vegetable glycerin. A 0.7 millilitre serving carries roughly 0.4 millilitres of alcohol, diluted into two ounces of water. That is far less than a sip of wine. It is still alcohol, and if you avoid it completely, this is not the bottle for you.

How long does one bottle last?

Up to 42 servings. At three servings a day that is fourteen days; at two a day, twenty-one. One of the maker's own pictures calls a one-ounce bottle a three-week supply while another says to take it up to three times a day; both cannot be true at once.

When should I take it, and what if I forget?

The label says between meals, which on an ordinary day means about half past ten and about three, with a third glass after supper if you use three. If you miss one, take the next at its usual time; nothing on the label says to double up.

When should I order the next bottle?

At three squeezes a day a bottle lasts fourteen days, and the maker's shipping page allows up to three business days to prepare an order and three to eight days in total to deliver it. Ordering around day seven avoids a gap.

What if it arrives and I don't like it?

Notify Herb Pharm within thirty days of purchase and obtain a return authorisation number, and the policy offers an exchange or a full credit. It does not describe money coming back, and anyone who starts three or more returns is dropped from the points programme. Read the policy on the company's own site before you buy.

Why does the label say Williams, Oregon and the contact page say Central Point?

Both are real. Williams is the farm the label prints; Central Point is the address the contact page gives for mail and returns. They are about forty miles apart in southern Oregon.

If your own headlines are exaggerated, why should I believe this page?

A fair question. Do not take our word for it. The references below are real, published sources you can look up yourself, and nothing in sections 4 and 5 requires you to buy anything or trust us. If this page and our headlines disagree, believe this page.

Does this page cost anything?

No. There is nothing to sign up for, and you are welcome to read it, close the tab and never come back.

Can I check these claims myself?

Yes, and you should. Every numbered reference below can be found by searching its authors and journal. For general information, the National Institute on Aging (nia.nih.gov) publishes plain-language material and sells nothing.

References

These are the sources behind the claims marked with a number above. Several are observational studies, which can show association but not cause. The sage, gotu kola, skullcap and rosemary trials were small and mostly used single doses of standardised extracts or dried leaf, not this liquid; the ginkgo trials used a standardised extract at doses this bottle cannot reach; the fact sheets and food tables are the governments' own. None of them tested this blend. We have deliberately not cited anything for the claims we describe as exaggerated, because there is nothing to cite.

1. Topiwala A. et al. (2017). BMJ 357:j2353 doi.org
2. Gonçalves N.G. et al. (2023). JAMA Neurology 80(2):142-150 doi.org
3. Mantantzis K. et al. (2020). Psychology and Aging 35(4):517-528 doi.org
4. Scholey A.B. et al. (2008). Psychopharmacology 198(1):127-139 doi.org
5. Kennedy D.O. et al. (2006). Neuropsychopharmacology 31(4):845-852 doi.org
6. Wattanathorn J. et al. (2008). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 116(2):325-332 doi.org
7. Snitz B.E. et al. (2009). JAMA 302(24):2663-2670 doi.org
8. Brock C. et al. (2014). Phytotherapy Research 28(5):692-698 doi.org
9. Pengelly A. et al. (2012). Journal of Medicinal Food 15(1):10-17 doi.org
10. NIH NCCIH. "Ginkgo" (updated February 2025) nccih.nih.gov
11. Edmonds C.J. et al. (2021). Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 95:104380 doi.org
12. Poly C. et al. (2011). American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 94(6):1584-1591 doi.org
13. Barnes L.L. et al. (2023). New England Journal of Medicine 389(7):602-611 doi.org
14. USDA Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, "Spices, sage, ground" (SR Legacy) fdc.nal.usda.gov
15. Puttarak P. et al. (2017). Scientific Reports 7:10646 doi.org
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Citing a study does not mean the study is about this product. The trials above tested one plant, in other people, at doses this extract does not reach, not the blend itself; none of the research tested Herb Pharm Brain & Memory, and none of it supports it.

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