Bacopa Monnieri

Authored by Robert Chen and Manny Lam

Take Home Points

• Bacopa monnieri is an herbal compound which has been shown to enhance cognition, specifically memory and attention.^1,2

• Bacopa monnieri has been shown to have neuroprotective and antioxidant properties.

Name

• Bacopa monnieri, also known as, coastal water-hyssop, herb-of-grace, Indian-pennywort, farfakh, adha-birni, brahmi, gundala, indravalli, safed chamni, litet tjockblad

Structure

• The main “active” ingredients of bacopa monnieri are bacosides, typically 15-20% of the plant.

• In bacopa products, a higher "Bacoside rating" rating denotes a more pure and potent bacopa ingredient.

Figure 1. Chemical structure of bacopa monnieri.

Source

• wetlands of Southern and Eastern India

How to take

• Take a dosage of 150-300 mg with food, since it is fat-soluble.

Effects on the Brain

Attention

• Bacopa monnieri has been shown to increase visual perception, as measured by the rapid visual information processing task (RVIP) in a meta-analysis of healthy volunteers consuming 300-450 mg daily for up to 12 weeks^2,3

Memory

• Bacopa monnieri has been shown to enhance working memory, specifically spatial memory, in a study of 107 volunteers ages 18-60 taking 150 mg twice daily for 90 days.⁴

• Bacopa monnieri has been shown to improve memory acquisition and memory retention, shown by an increased ability to recall words learned over time, even with interference, as measured by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT).

• Bacopa monnieri (300-450 mg daily over 12 weeks) has been shown to improve memory free recall in 9 or 17 tests in a meta-analysis of six studies³There were significant differences in performance on the auditory verbal learning test (AVLT) (measuring free recall memory), delayed recall task (measuring associative memory), digit span test (measuring memory span) and visual retention tasks (measuring visual memory).

• Bacopa monnieri has been shown to improve learning rate and memory consolidation, as measured by the ALVT in a study of healthy volunteers taking 300 mg of bacopa daily over 12 weeks, as well as a study of 54 individuals 65 and over without dementia.^2,5

• Bacopa monnieri has been shown to protect against interference during delayed memory recall according to a meta-analysis.⁶.

Mood

• Bacopa monnieri has been shown to improve anxiety in a study of healthy volunteers taking 300 mg daily over 12 weeks, as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.²

• Bacopa monnieri has been shown to decrease depression scores, as measured by the CESD-10 depression test, and to decrease anxiety scores, as measured by the State Trait Anxiety Inventory, in a study of 54 individuals 65 and older without dementia.⁵

Side Effects

• Potentially more nausea, diarrhea, cramping, bloating.⁷

Safety

• Approved as a dietary supplement component under provisions of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.

Mechanism of Action

The mechanism of memory enhancement has not been completely understood. However, bacopa monnieri may increase memory learning and retention:

* (1) interacts with the serotonin system (and indirectly the acetylcholinergic system)
* (2) enhances “synaptogenesis” (formation of connections between neurons).  
* (3) acts as an antioxidant by absorbing free radicals in cells;
* (4) mediates metal chelation8,9* (5) increases iron concentrates9* (6) inhibits lipid peroxidation8,9* (7) modulates the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This leads to increased firing of neurons, increased cerebral blood flow, decreased acetylcholine breakdown by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, and increased acetylcholine synthesis (by activating the enzyme choline acetyltransferase).9