Cognium Review & Test Results

What Is Cognium?

Cognium is pitched as a way to sharpen memory, speed up recall, and clear the mental cobwebs. That’s a big promise for a formula that leans so heavily on a single, fairly obscure ingredient. The product comes from Natrol, a Chatsworth, California company founded by Elliot Balbert decades ago that now focuses on categories like sleep and cognitive health.

For this review, I used Cognium for eight weeks and kept notes on anything I noticed (good or bad) including any side effects. I also dug into the research behind its headline ingredient, silk protein hydrolysate (often marketed as Cera-Q), and looked at the rest of the formula, the dosing, and how it’s put together. Price, quality control, and overall value are part of the assessment, too.

I’ll walk through what I found in detail, but the short version is this: there are stronger options on the market. I’ll explain why I think that’s the case and where Cognium falls short, based on both my experience and the evidence behind its ingredients.

How Does Cognium Work?

According to Natrol, the main active ingredient in Cognium is 100mg of silk-protein hydrolysate, something they branded as 'Cera-Q' (also called BF-7 - a contrived pseudo-scientific name, which actually stands for 'Brain Factor 7'). This peptide fragment supposedly crosses the gut barrier and get to work balancing acetylcholine levels. Beyond this one ingredient, there are a number of other ingredients sprinkled into Cognium's formulation. I use the word sprinkled intentionally, these ingredients are all dosed far below the levels known to be required for any meaningful cognitive benefit. Phosphatidylserine is only present at 50mg, half the required amount. Ginkgo biloba is only present at 25mg, essentially a meaningless amount compared with the 120mg proven to be effective in clinical studies. Green coffee extract is included at just 57mg, providing a minor caffeine boost. And just 38mg of fish oil concentrate is also far below the 250mg of EPA+DHA content needed (Cognium doesn't even provide clarity on the oil used). There's also a dusting of B vitamins, but these are only at half the aily value amounts recommended.

Scientific Basis

Problems with Cognium's cited research

Natrol features 3 scientific studies on the Cognium website and claims these provide supporting evidence for the product's effectiveness. 

Memory-quotient study

The first study cited by Natrol is one where three groups of volunteers took 200mg of BF-7, 400mg of BF-7, or a placebo - each for a 3 week course. The first two groups reported increases in Rey-Kim memory scores; an animal group also saw rescued acetylcholine after β-amyloid insult. However, among other flaws in this study, it's critically important to note that the study utilized twice the amount of BF-7 to that used in Cognium (which is just 100mg). Furthermore, the study only appears in a 2004 Korean physiology journal, with no funding disclosures or other basic study hygiene factors in place.

Four subject SPECT scan

In this study (also highlighted on the brand's website), just 4 students took 400mg of BF-7 and were subsequently subject to brain imaging. The scans showed warmer blood flow maps in parahippocampal regions, which are linked to recall. Despite the somewhat persuasive images, the study itself isn't scientifically robust, due to it being open-label, non-randomized and completely uncontrolled. Any similar novelty effect could replicate the same regional perfusion. Perhaps most importantly of all, the study used a dose 4x higher than that used on Cognium, rendering its results even more meaningless as evidence for Cognium's effectiveness.

Ischemia model plus Rey Complex Figure Test

This study used rats with a temporary middle-cerebral artery block. The rats were given a 10mg/kg dose of BF-7, and results suggested smaller infarcts and a reduction in maze test errors. A study arm with humans used 200-400mg doses and showed somewhat improved recall scores - but again the amounts used were 2-4 times higher than the dose present in Cognium. The study methodology is also questionable, as it combined animal pathology with loose human tests, making any real world translation extremely challenging.

Looking at the rest of Cognium's formula, there are similar shortcomings. Including just 50mg of phosphatidylserine means that any effects, if noticeable at all, are likely to be only very mild and short-lived. All the clinical research clearly points to 100mg being effective, meaning Cognium's decision to use only half that amount must be driven by a decision to maximize margins rather than effectiveness for the end user. It's the same story with the other 'secondary' ingredients Cognium adds. With just 25mg of ginkgo and modest amounts of B-vitamins and green tea extract, it's clear that Cognium's formula isn't led by clinical evidence in any meaningful way.

Scientifically speaking, Cognium may provide some minor support in stabilizing neurotransmitter balance and a very modest increase in cerebral blood flow, but this is far from certain. The supporting research for its main ingredient is sparse and doesn't match the dose used in the product and the amounts used of its other ingredients are without exception, simply too low to provide much support, let alone the improvements the brand claims. 

Qualitative Review of Cognium's Efficacy

I took one Cognium capsule every morning with my breakfast for 8 weeks. At the outset I conducted some simple baseline calibration, recall of words, a simple n-back phone test and reaction time measurement. In general terms, I maintained a broadly consistent routine, diet and workload throughout to minimize other variables for the duration of the trial. 

Weeks 1-2

I didn't discern any noteworthy effects during this period. This was slightly disappointing but not unexpected. In my experience, most brain supplements take a few weeks to really show their potential but the most effective ones tend to provide some early results. My day of work felt the same as it normally does, complete with my usual 2 cups of coffee to get me to lunchtime. My memory app scores were consistent with their baseline as were the other tests I conducted. I did notice a slight fish oil taste on the first few days, but that reduced when I started taking Cognium after (rather than before) my oatmeal.

Weeks 3-4

These weeks were the ones where I expected to begin to fully understand Cognium's real potential. Not only because it's the window where brain supplements tends to start to show their effects, but also because one of Cognium's main claims is memory 'improves in 4 weeks'. Such a definitive claims warrants some skepticism, but I hoped to be pleasantly surprised. Perhaps (being generous) there was a very modest improvement in my ability to recall names, but my word memory list test didn't show any meaningful improvement in my daily scores throughout this period. There certainly wasn't any obvious sign of enhanced focus, motivation or verbal fluency either. 

Weeks 5-6

This period, to my mind, was make or break in my testing. As I headed into weeks 5 and 6 any memory improvements should begin to become that bit more noticeable and the effects of phosphatidylserine and ginkgo would show, if they were sufficiently dosed (which unfortunately they aren't, as I've highlighted above). I tried timing additional tests for which I have baseline scores - including reading comprehension and puzzle apps, but I couldn't measure or discern any changes. Similarly any meaningful memory boost remained elusive. As a small positive I didn't note any negative effects or obvious side effects either.

Weeks 7-8

My final 2 weeks with Cognium continued in much the same vein. My memory test averages were +/- 2% compared with my pre-trial period baseline. I couldn't detect any worthwhile memory or recall improvements even during this final stage of my product trial. Again a minor consolation was the absence of any obvious side effects, but this can't really be considered a positive when no benefits were experienced. 

Overall, my experience matched what could have been expected from a product with below-clinical level dosages of several nootropic ingredients, alongside a half dose of silk protein, a little studied ingredient which no other brands use, and probably for good reason.

Estimate of Efficacy Relative To Similar Products

Dosage:

One bottle of Cognium has 60 capsules, enough for 60 days based on the brand's recommended 1 capsule per day serving size per day. It's perhaps worth noting that the bottle will last longer than many brands, but the sub-clinical dosages and lack of results mean that it doesn't represent good value even with a 2 month supply in each bottle.

Quality:

The quality of Cognium's overall formula and approach seems flawed and arguably rooted in creating a somewhat unique and highly profitable (read low cost to manufacture) product, rather than one rooted in efficacy for the user. The inclusion of a wide range of fillers, unnatural coloring and bovine gelatin also speaks to a low cost to manufacture product. The inclusion of ingredients with no cognitive benefit that act as filler is something I personally don't like to see at all in any supplements.

Efficacy:

Cognium simply didn't deliver any tangible memory improvements, or other brain benefits during my time with it. Looking at the ingredients list, it's no real surprise, there's simply no real evidence to support the ingredients it uses as nootropics when present in the low amounts used. The results are especially stark when compared to the best brain supplements such as ThinkEase.

Cost:

Cognium sells for $32.95, but is frequently priced at $39.95 by third party retailers. Compared with some brain supplements the price is relatively low, but the lack of meaningful results and the very small amount of active ingredients means I can't consider it to offer good value for money.

Safety Considerations and Potential Side Effects

I didn't experience any negative effects during my 8 week trial of Cognium. The very low doses of each ingredient makes it unlikely that many if any side effects will be experienced by most people. However, the inclusion of silk protein extract does give me some cause for concern, as it's not been widely studied and its effects aren't well documented. For this reason, it's advisable to be somewhat cautious and monitor closely for any side effects.

Overall Assessment

On the plus side, Cognium seems to be fairly well tolerated and isn't as costly as some supplements, but this is more than offset by the downsides. The most significant downside is that it doesn't seem to offer any clear evidence for its effectiveness, something also borne out in my own experience with the product. I can't therefore recommend it as an effective way to improve memory or overall cognitive performance, it simply uses too little of the wrong ingredients to deliver against the claims made.

There are many more effective alternatives to Cognium. The best brain supplement in my experience is ThinkEase. I found ThinkEase to be very effective in supporting memory improvements as well as increasing my scores across a wide range of cognitive tasks throughout my trial period - so much so that ThinkEase is now my personal go-to nootropic supplement.

References and Further Reading