Will a Jellyfish Extract Help You Remember?

For this week’s Memos, I’m reviewing products I get asked about frequently, all products that seem to have a large online or television presence. I’m going to review the base research on the product, and then you can decide whether you want to use it or not.

One of the most prevalent television commercials at this time is for a product called Prevagen, a dietary supplement whose tag line is “Improves Memory.” Prevagen contains an extract called apoaequorin from a type of jellyfish that appears to be well researched; however I found only a single clinical trial on the use of apoaequorin and memory. The 90-day trial of 211 subjects aged 40 to 91 showed no significant differences on a variety of cognitive tests between the placebo group and those using apoaequorin. However when a sub-group of subjects who were concerned about memory were tested using the AD8 test, there were statistically significant differences. When accounting for the actual differences in the reported percentages, the differences did not seem significant in the real world.

The product does appear to be safe in standardized toxicology tests on animals. Beyond that, there doesn’t seem to be any clear benefit for supplement use at this time because of the limited clinical research. It should not harm you, but it’s up to you to decide if the small chance it will help is worth your investement.

What are you prepared to do today?