Can Drugs Put Brainpower Into Overdrive?

Chances are, you haven’t heard about nootropics yet. They’re still pretty far out of the mainstream. But they’re beginning to gather some steam as they head for the public consciousness (pun intended), and it seems likely they’ll be getting increasing press in the near future.

So what are they?

Wikipedia says nootropics are also known as “smart drugs, memory enhancers, neuro enhancers, cognitive enhancers, and intelligence enhancers,” and “are drugs, supplements, nutraceuticals, and functional foods that improve one or more aspects of mental function, such as working memory, motivation, and attention.” The term was coined in 1972 by Romanian psychologist Corneliu Giurgea and is a synthesis of the Greek words for “mind” and “to bend or turn.”

Giurgea synthesized piracetam, the first nootropic, in 1964, and he subsequently established a set of criteria these drugs should meet. For him, nootropics must enhance learning, increase the coupling of the brain’s hemispheres, and improve executive processing (which involves tasks such as planning, paying attention, and spatial awareness). It was also important to him that the drugs be nontoxic and nonaddictive. As he put it in his book Fundamentals to a Pharmacology of the Mind: “Man is not going to wait passively for millions of years before evolution offers him a better brain.”

That seems inarguable. History affirms that there’s a basic human drive to improve ourselves between the ears. But can nootropics actually accomplish this?

Before answering that question, a distinction must be made. Wikipedia’s definition features synonyms such as “cognitive enhancers” and “smart drugs.” This is a source of some confusion, since much of what you may read on the subject of nootropics includes in that category such prescription drugs as Adderall, Ritalin, and the like. These are amphetamines or amphetamine-like substances that were originally intended to treat specific conditions, such as ADHD, sleep apnea, shift-work disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, and narcolepsy.

But they are increasingly taken these days for off-label purposes. Adderall, for example, is as freely available as pot on college campuses at the moment. It’s the drug of choice as a study aid, especially when deadlines are involved. Amphetamines have the brief but efficient effect of promoting mental clarity and enabling increased focus.

In that sense, they are cognitive enhancers, but they are often erroneously classified as nootropics, which, as Giurgea posited, must be nontoxic and nonaddictive. These medications are neither, plus they carry the risk of serious side effects. A nootropic, on the other hand, is a nutritional supplement designed to improve brainpower in healthy adults over extended periods of time—safely.

Even excluding the aforementioned prescription drugs, the range of potential nootropics is wide. A whole host of naturally occurring foods and herbs—everything from ginseng to krill oil, grapeseed extract, yerba mate, even licorice, and many, many more—are touted as having nootropic properties.

But for our purposes, let’s concentrate on the newer, more exotic compounds that are attracting the most attention. A sampler (with acknowledgments to Nootriment, the most comprehensive website out there):

The “racetams.” As noted above, piracetam was Giurgea’s original creation, but its group now includes many newer arrivals that purport to be stronger and/or better, such as aniracetam, oxiracetam, coluracetam, nefiracetam, and pramiracetam. Racetams work by increasing levels of neurotransmitters and other chemicals required for proper brain function. Tests have shown that they improve cognitive function and increase the communication between the two hemispheres of the brain.

Noopept. The newest kid on the block. Not technically a racetam, though it is derived from this class and has similar mechanisms of action. Said to be over 1,000 times more concentrated than piracetam. Seen as being effective for disorders such as depression and anxiety. It activates receptors for dopamine as well as selective serotonin receptors and increases levels of nerve growth factor, which is a hormone involved in the maintenance and repair of healthy brain cells.