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Ingredient & advertising guide

This page has two jobs. First, it explains every line on the label of the spray we sell, what each is, and what the research does and does not say about 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 We have marked each family of headlines as Exaggerated, Partly true, Withdrawn or Broadly supported.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?""MDs 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 mental decline. Nothing "begins" at a word. Word-finding and naming tasks do appear inside real cognitive screening tools, but those tools are administered and interpreted by a clinician alongside your history, your medications and a physical exam. Failing a word online means nothing on its own: plenty of people with perfectly healthy brains stumble over a word when they are tired, anxious, or being timed. "Top doctors" and "MDs" refer to no specific doctor. See section 5.
"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 Drinking These 3 Beverages""Japan's Oldest 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 in an important way. Memory loss is strongly related to age. Age is the single largest risk factor for dementia, and no diet removes it. What is true is narrower: certain long-term drinking and eating patterns are associated with faster cognitive decline in large population studies. 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.
"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 added sugar and refined starch are associated with poorer memory scores and greater cardiovascular risk over years. 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""Doctors Now Say This Popular Evening Drink Is Behind Brain Health Decline"	Partly true The "evening drink" is alcohol, and of everything our ads point at, this is where the evidence is strongest. Heavy and even moderate regular drinking has been linked in long-running studies to worse brain outcomes, including shrinkage of the hippocampus, the region most involved in forming memories. Excessive alcohol is one of the risk factors named in the 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia. [1] [2] What is overstated is the word "behind." Alcohol is one contributing risk factor among many, not the cause of memory loss. Cutting back is a genuinely good idea. It is not a cure, and it will not undo damage already done. The spray we sell contains no alcohol; that is a fact about the spray, not a reason to buy it.
"Doctors Name 5 Popular Drinks Now Tied To Memory Decline. Coffee Tops The List""Seniors: These 4 Drinks May Be Aging Your Brain Faster""The 4 Drinks Brain Doctors Want Seniors to Quit""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. Large reviews of coffee and cognition have generally not found ordinary coffee drinking to be a risk factor for dementia; several report a neutral or modestly favourable association. If you drink coffee and enjoy it, this headline gave you a reason to worry that the evidence does not support. Our own article about this spray suggests no coffee after two in the afternoon, for the sake of sleep, with water or the spray in its place. That is a timing point, not a claim that coffee harms memory. 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 heart, your sleep and your weight, and long-running population studies link heavy use of the first two to poorer cognitive outcomes over years. 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 your doctor, because several treatable causes listed in section 6 look exactly like memory loss and none of them is fixed by changing what you pour. The four drinks are the everyday ones in section 2: alcohol, sugary soft drinks, energy drinks and sweetened coffee drinks. Reviewing them is a reasonable second step, mostly for sleep and for your heart. Not enough plain water belongs on the list too. See sections 2 and 6.
"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. Mental decline is strongly tied to age, and no drink removes that. The five kitchen drinks are alcohol, sugar-sweetened sodas, diet 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. See section 2.
"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. The largest studies point to blood pressure, hearing, physical activity, social contact and education far more than to any food; see section 7. The three everyday foods are sugary breakfast cereals, processed meats and packaged baked goods, all in section 3. Eating less of them is associated in population studies with better long-term brain and heart outcomes. That is a modest, slow effect across a population, and no food is a guarantee at any age. See sections 3 and 7.
"Five sprays a day of a Swiss sage-and-bacopa spray for normal mental performance"	Partly true The sentence "contributes to normal mental performance" is a lawful European label claim for vitamin B5, permitted for any food that supplies at least 15 percent of the daily reference value of 6 mg, which is 0.9 mg. [3] [4] The spray supplies exactly 0.9 mg. "Normal" is the operative word: the sentence describes what the vitamin does in everyone who eats ordinary meals, not an improvement in anyone. The sage and bacopa are present at fractions of a milligram of their marker compounds, hundreds to thousands of times below the amounts used in the trials described in the ingredient section. No study has tested this spray. What the headline gets right is the format and the once-a-day dose; what it must not be read as is a promise about your memory or your focus.
"Neurologists Name 5 Popular Prescriptions Now Tied to Memory Decline"	Partly true, and the most dangerous to act on This one is closest to real research. Several widely prescribed drug classes have been linked in large studies to higher dementia risk, and prescribing guidelines already flag some of them as poor choices for older adults. [5] [6] [7] But an advertisement is the worst possible reason to change a prescription. Stopping some of these medicines suddenly can cause seizures, dangerous rebound anxiety, or a return of the condition being treated. Never stop or change a prescribed medicine because of something you read in an ad, including ours. Read section 4 before you do anything.

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 "5 prescriptions" headline

Our headline said "5 popular prescriptions now tied to memory decline." It named none of them. These are the drug classes that research has actually flagged. "Tied to" means associated in observational studies, not proven to cause.

What this section is not. It is not a claim that these medicines cause dementia, not medical advice, and not a suggestion that a spray is an alternative to any of them. It is a prompt to have one specific conversation with a professional who knows your history. A few things in the spray we sell deserve a mention in that conversation of their own accord: sage leaf contains thujone, and its European monograph says safety in pregnancy and breastfeeding has not been established; bacopa's reference texts advise care in people with a thyroid condition or on thyroid hormone, and the trials reported stomach upset at doses far above this spray's; xylitol is laxative in large amounts and dangerous to dogs; ^[15] and vitamin B5 at 0.9 milligrams is a modest slice of a vitamin that is safe even at much higher amounts. One more reason to have that conversation before you make it a daily habit.

5. 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 actual cognitive screening looks like. Clinicians use short structured tools. The Mini-Cog, the MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) and the MMSE are the common ones. 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 administered in person, in a standard way, by someone trained to do it.
• The score is interpreted against your age and education, not against a fixed pass mark.
• A low score is a reason for further evaluation (bloodwork, medication review, history from a family member, sometimes imaging), never a diagnosis by itself.

Screening tools also produce false alarms. Anxiety, poor sleep, hearing loss, depression, pain and simply being nervous all lower scores in people whose brains are fine. This is precisely why an online word quiz is meaningless: it has none of the context that makes the real instrument useful.

6. Real warning signs, and the causes worth ruling out

The genuinely useful list is not about spelling. It is about whether memory or thinking has changed enough to interfere with everyday life. Signs that deserve a medical appointment include:

• Memory loss that disrupts daily life: repeatedly asking for the same information, relying on notes and family for things you used to handle yourself.
• Difficulty completing familiar tasks: a routine recipe, a regular route, paying the usual bills.
• New trouble following or joining a conversation, stopping mid-sentence, or calling things by the wrong name.
• Confusion about time or place: losing track of dates or seasons, or how you got somewhere.
• Trouble judging distance, or reading. Worth checking, since it can also be vision.
• Putting things in unusual places and being unable to retrace steps, sometimes with a sense that others are to blame.
• Noticeably poorer judgement, especially about money.
• Withdrawing from work, hobbies or social life; changes in mood, personality, suspicion or apathy.

Ordinary ageing looks different: occasionally forgetting a name and recalling it later, misplacing your glasses and finding them, needing help with an unfamiliar device, taking a moment to find a word, rereading a paragraph after lunch and getting it on the second pass. That is normal and common at every age.

7. What actually has the best evidence

If we only had one section to be useful in, this would be it. The 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission on dementia concluded that nearly half of dementia cases worldwide, around 45%, could potentially be prevented or delayed by addressing fourteen modifiable risk factors across the life course. ^[1] Not one of them is a supplement, a spray, or a list of three foods.

• Treat hearing loss. Use hearing aids if you need them.
• Control blood pressure from mid-life onward. Take the medication as prescribed.
• Treat high LDL cholesterol and manage diabetes.
• Do not smoke.
• Stay physically active. Regular walking counts, and it is free.
• Limit alcohol.
• Treat depression, and take it seriously in older adults.
• Stay socially connected. Isolation is a measured risk factor, not a soft one.
• Correct vision loss: get cataracts treated, keep the prescription current.
• Protect your head from injury; reduce fall risk at home.
• Sleep properly. Persistently short sleep in mid-life has been associated with higher dementia incidence. ^[10]
• Keep learning: education and continued mental engagement across life.
• Maintain a healthy weight and reduce exposure to air pollution where you can.

These are unglamorous. They cannot be delivered in a headline, they take years, and none of them can be sold to you by us. They are also, by a wide margin, the best-supported things on this entire page.

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8. Ingredient guide: what is actually in the spray we sell

What each line on the label of EnergyBalance® Focus Brain is, what it is traditionally used for, and what the cited research says. The label gives four amounts per daily dose of five sprays (vitamin B5, bacopa glycosides, monoterpenes and total polyphenols) and does not state how much sage extract or bacopa extract the bottle contains. Where the seller's listing and the label disagree (the listing says 0.144 mg of monoterpenes per daily dose; the label says 0.0144 mg), this guide follows the label. The other ingredients are water, xanthan gum, natural flavouring and citric acid. Where a study is cited below, it used one substance at a time, in a measured dose hundreds to thousands of times larger than five sprays; none of it tested a spray, and none of it tested this product. Read the statement at the end of this section before you buy anything.

Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)

A water-soluble vitamin that helps turn food into energy and is involved in making and breaking down fats. Adults are advised to get about 5 mg a day: the US Daily Value printed on labels is 5 mg, ^[16] and the European reference value is 6 mg. ^[4]

Traditional and everyday use. Present in almost all foods: meat, eggs, milk, mushrooms, avocados, whole grains. Deficiency is very rare.

What the research says. No study has tested pantothenic acid for memory or attention in healthy adults; there is nothing to cite. The European Union does authorise the sentence "pantothenic acid contributes to normal mental performance" (and "to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue") on labels of foods that are at least a source of the vitamin, ^[3] on the basis of the vitamin's established role in the body, not on a trial of any product or of extra vitamin in people who already get enough. "Normal" is the operative word: the sentence describes what the vitamin does in everyone, not an improvement.

Amount per serving in Focus Brain. 0.9 mg per daily dose of 5 sprays (18% of the US Daily Value (5 mg); 15% of the EU reference value (6 mg))

Good to know. Safe even at high doses; very high supplement doses (such as 10,000 mg a day) can cause stomach upset and diarrhea.

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.^[17] 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.^[18] 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 Focus Brain. 0.0144 mg of monoterpenes per daily dose (the listing says 0.144 mg) (amount of extract not stated; both extracts together give 0.126 mg of total polyphenols)

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 seizures, 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.

Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri, water hyssop), whole plant

A creeping perennial of wet ground and pond edges across India, with small oblong leaves and white to pale purple flowers. In some parts of India the name "brahmi" is also given to gotu kola, which is a different plant; some products list both.

Traditional and everyday use. One of the best-known plants of Ayurvedic practice, traditionally associated with memory, calm and sleep.

What the research says. This is the one ingredient on the tin with trials in the right age group. In 54 healthy adults aged 65 and older, 300 mg a day of a standardized extract for 12 weeks was associated with better delayed word recall and better performance on a task of ignoring distractions than placebo, with no effect on divided attention or working memory.^[19] In 98 healthy adults over 55, the same daily amount for 12 weeks was associated with better verbal learning and delayed recall, while other measures did not differ.^[20] A meta-analysis of nine such trials found faster performance on two attention-speed tests, by milliseconds, and called for a large well-designed trial.^[21] All of that used standardized extracts in tablets for at least three months. A pinch of dried plant steeped in a twelve-ingredient tea blend, or a fraction of a milligram of glycosides in a spray, is not the same thing, and nobody has tested either.

Amount per serving in Focus Brain. 0.072 mg of bacopa glycosides per daily dose (amount of extract not stated)

Good to know. The trials reported more stomach upset, looser stools, cramps and nausea than placebo.^[20] Reference texts advise caution or avoidance in people with a thyroid condition or taking thyroid hormone, note it may slow the heart rate, and note it can affect how the liver processes some medicines. Talk to your doctor before taking it daily if you take anything daily.

Xylitol (sweetener)

A sugar substitute, a sugar alcohol about as sweet as table sugar, made from plant fibre (birch wood or corn cobs) and used in sugar-free gum, mints, candy, baked goods, toothpaste, mouthwash, vitamins and dietary supplements. ^[15]

Traditional and everyday use. A sweetener, nothing more. In the Focus Brain spray it is the second ingredient by weight after water and gives the "energy-drink" taste without sugar or caffeine.

What the research says. Nothing to cite for memory or attention; it is a sweetener.

Amount per serving in Focus Brain. amount not stated (second ingredient by weight after water; the label warns that too much can be laxative)

Good to know. Large amounts are laxative; the product's own label says so, and five sprays a day is a small amount. Xylitol is dangerous to dogs: the FDA warns that in a dog it is absorbed quickly and can trigger a potent insulin release and a rapid, profound drop in glucose within 10 to 60 minutes, whereas in people it does not stimulate insulin. ^[15] Keep the bottle where the dog cannot get it.

*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.

9. 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 spray will improve your memory, your focus or your concentration.
• That it will prevent, delay, slow or reverse dementia or Alzheimer's disease, or act on any other medical condition.
• That it offsets alcohol, sugar, processed food, or any drink or food named on this page.
• That it can replace a prescribed medicine, or make a medication review 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 five sprays deliver the 333 mg of sage extract or the 300 mg a day of bacopa extract used in the trials. The label counts fractions of a milligram of the herbs' marker compounds.
• That "contributes to normal mental performance" means anything more than what the vitamin does in everyone. The sentence is lawful at 0.9 mg of vitamin B5, ^{[3] [4]} and 0.9 mg is what the spray contains; it is not a promise of improvement.
• That the seller's phrase "rapid absorption" describes anything measured. We found no study of it and we do not repeat it.
• That the words "Focus Brain" on the bottle describe anything that has been shown. They are a product name.

Things we can say honestly:

• It is a food supplement in spray form, water sweetened with xylitol, with small amounts of sage and bacopa extract and 0.9 mg of vitamin B5 per five sprays, made in Switzerland by a company that publishes a street address, a telephone number and an email. Every line printed on the label is listed above.
• It contains no sugar, no caffeine and no alcohol, according to its label and ingredient list.
• The only health sentences on the label are the four the European Union permits for vitamin B5, and they are printed word for word. ^[3] We repeat them as the regulation's sentences about a vitamin, not as ours about you.
• The price, the quantity discounts, the shipping terms (within the EU from Germany; outside the EU through the seller's global shop) and the return rule (sealed, unopened products only, within 14 days, at the customer's shipping cost; no refund on opened products) are exactly what is written on the seller's pages. Nothing more, and no promise made elsewhere overrides them.
• There are no customer reviews of this product on the seller's site as of the date on our article, and we quote none. Individual experiences would not be evidence in any case.
• 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 doctor.

10. 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?

Ordinary coffee is not an established risk factor for cognitive decline, and reviews generally find neutral to modestly favourable associations. 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 spoil your sleep. That last point is the only reason our article suggests no coffee after two, with water or the spray in its place.

Should I stop my sleeping tablet or my anxiety medication?

Not on your own, and not because of an advertisement. Some of these drugs cause seizures or severe rebound symptoms if stopped abruptly. Take your full medication list to your doctor or pharmacist and ask whether anything on it is a poor fit for your age. See section 4.

Is this product a treatment for Alzheimer's or dementia?

No. It is not a treatment for any disease. Its own label says it is not a medicinal product. If you or a family member is facing a diagnosis, the people to talk to are your doctor and a support organisation such as the Alzheimer's Association helpline listed above.

Why is it called "Focus Brain" if you say it has not been shown to do anything for the brain?

Because that is the name the maker printed on the bottle. We did not choose it and we do not repeat it as a promise. The only health sentences the label carries are the four European Union sentences for vitamin B5, and they describe what the vitamin does in everyone. We treat the name as a name.

What does "contributes to normal mental performance" actually mean?

It is one of four sentences the European Union permits on the label of any food that supplies at least 15 percent of the daily reference value of vitamin B5, which is 0.9 mg. ^{[3] [4]} The spray supplies exactly 0.9 mg. The sentence is based on the vitamin's established role in the body; it is not based on a trial of this spray, and it does not mean the spray improves anything in a person who already eats normally. Pantothenic acid is present in nearly all foods and a shortage of it is very rare.

The label says 0.0144 mg of monoterpenes and the listing says 0.144 mg. Which is right?

We follow the label. The label is what the maker prints on the product; the larger figure appears in a paragraph on the seller's web page. We have noted the discrepancy in our article and here, and nothing we say depends on either number, because both are fractions of a milligram.

Does it contain caffeine, alcohol or sugar?

No, according to the box and the ingredient list. The taste comes from natural flavouring and the sweetness from xylitol.

Is xylitol safe?

For people, in the amounts in five sprays, yes; large amounts are laxative, which the label says. For dogs it is dangerous: the FDA warns that it can cause a rapid drop in a dog's glucose within 10 to 60 minutes. ^[15] Keep the bottle out of a dog's reach.

Does it ship to the United States?

The seller's European shop delivers within the European Union from a warehouse in Germany and directs customers outside the EU to its global shop, where shipping is calculated by weight at checkout. Check the shipping line before you pay.

Can I return it if I do not like it?

Only if it is still sealed and unopened, within 14 days of delivery, at your own return shipping cost to the seller's warehouse in Germany. Opened products are not refunded. That is the seller's rule and we repeat it so that nobody buys twelve bottles to try one.

Why does this page talk about medicines if the product is not one?

Because one of our headlines pointed at "5 prescriptions", and you deserve to know what was behind it. Nothing in section 4 is advice to change a medicine, and the product is not an alternative to any of them.

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 5, 6 and 7 requires you to buy anything or trust us. If this page and our headlines disagree, believe this page.

Does this page cost anything?

No. It is free, 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 title. For general information, the National Institute on Aging (nia.nih.gov) and the Alzheimer's Association (alz.org) publish plain-language material and sell nothing.

References

These are the sources behind the claims marked with a number above. Most are observational studies, which can show association but not cause; the sage and bacopa trials used standardized extracts or dried leaf at hundreds to thousands of times the amounts in five sprays; the European regulations and the FDA pages are legal and safety documents, not studies. We have deliberately not cited anything for the claims we describe as exaggerated, because there is nothing to cite.

1. Livingston G. et al. (2024). The Lancet 404(10452):572-628 doi.org
2. Topiwala A. et al. (2017). BMJ 357:j2353 doi.org
3. European Commission (2012). Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012, Annex (list of permitted health claims) eur-lex.europa.eu
4. European Parliament and Council (2011). Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex XIII Part A (points 1 and 2) eur-lex.europa.eu
5. Gray S.L. et al. (2015). JAMA Internal Medicine 175(3):401-407 doi.org
6. Coupland C.A.C. et al. (2019). JAMA Internal Medicine 179(8):1084-1093 doi.org
7. American Geriatrics Society 2023 Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel (2023). Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 71(7):2052-2081 doi.org
8. Pase M.P. et al. (2017). Alzheimer's & Dementia 13(9):955-964 doi.org
9. Pase M.P. et al. (2017). Stroke 48(5):1139-1146 doi.org
10. Sabia S. et al. (2021). Nature Communications 12:2289 doi.org
11. Mantantzis K. et al. (2020). Psychology and Aging 35(4):517-528 doi.org
12. Edmonds C.J. et al. (2021). Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 95:104380 doi.org
13. Gonçalves N.G. et al. (2023). JAMA Neurology 80(2):142-150 doi.org
14. Morris M.C. et al. (2015). Alzheimer's & Dementia 11(9):1015-1022 doi.org
15. US Food and Drug Administration. "Paws Off Xylitol; It's Dangerous for Dogs" (consumer update, 2025-12-17) fda.gov
16. US Food and Drug Administration. "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels" (content current as of 2024-03-05) fda.gov
17. Scholey A.B. et al. (2008). Psychopharmacology 198(1):127-139 doi.org
18. Kennedy D.O. et al. (2006). Neuropsychopharmacology 31(4):845-852 doi.org
19. Calabrese C. et al. (2008). Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 14(6):707-713 doi.org
20. Morgan A., Stevens J. (2010). Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 16(7):753-759 doi.org
21. Kongkeaw C. et al. (2014). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 151(1):528-535 doi.org

Citing a study does not mean the study is about this product. None of the research above tested EnergyBalance® Focus Brain, and none of it supports it.

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