I don't know about you, but I found this to be impressive-

1. J Psychoactive Drugs. 2011 Jan-Mar;43(1):1-5.

Reversing brain damage in former NFL players: implications for traumatic brain
injury and substance abuse rehabilitation.

Amen DG, Wu JC, Taylor D, Willeumier K.

UC Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA. docamen@amenclinic.com

Brain injuries are common in professional American football players. Finding
effective rehabilitation strategies can have widespread implications not only for
retired players but also for patients with traumatic brain injury and substance
abuse problems. An open label pragmatic clinical intervention was conducted in an
outpatient neuropsychiatric clinic with 30 retired NFL players who demonstrated
brain damage and cognitive impairment. The study included weight loss (if
appropriate); fish oil (5.6 grams a day); a high-potency multiple vitamin; and a
formulated brain enhancement supplement that included nutrients to enhance blood
flow (ginkgo and vinpocetine), acetylcholine (acetyl-l-carnitine and huperzine
A), and antioxidant activity (alpha-lipoic acid and n-acetyl-cysteine). The trial
average was six months. Outcome measures were Microcog Assessment of Cognitive
Functioning and brain SPECT imaging. In the retest situation, corrected for
practice effect, there were statistically significant increases in scores of
attention, memory, reasoning, information processing speed and accuracy on the
Microcog. The brain SPECT scans, as a group, showed increased brain perfusion,
especially in the prefrontal cortex, parietal lobes, occipital lobes, anterior
cingulate gyrus and cerebellum. This study demonstrates that cognitive and
cerebral blood flow improvements are possible in this group with multiple
interventions.

PMID: 21615001 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]