I am not trying to second guess you. I am very grateful that you respond because I do believe you have done your research and have personal experience. I also believe that nobody will know more a medical condition than a person who has lived with it for years (trust me, I know). The vitamins I ask about are all from actual published papers; they are not from just random internet sites. Nor am I claiming that RDA is the right dosage, I simply told you what my doctors said.

If you believe that you have found what works well for you, great. If you believe that there may be other stuff that can help us also great. In that case here are the studies that mention the specific vitamins I asked about.

Vinpocetine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21615001
Mag-LT: http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/...273(09)01044-7

There are plenty of other supplements that may help. But, most people are deficient in the basics. Plus, many of these other substances are naturally produced when the body has the basic nutritional building blocks.

My position is to build a strong nutritional foundation. If one wants to add on top of that, there is a wealth of other substances that may help. The vinpocetine study included quite a number of substances. It would be nice if they narrowed the field to show what caused the best benefit.

The Mag T is not the only mag supplement that works. Studies show there are others that work just as well.

One could easily take 30 pieces a day or more. The Mag T costs a dollar a day. The others can easily bring the cost of a regimen to 5 to 10 dollars a day or more. The basic regimen can get people started for a dollar or so a day. Insurance does not cover any of these supplements.

When one learns to read the abstracts of the studies, it is easy to find the weaknesses. Mag T shows an improvement. Other mags do too.

Your comments are conflicting. You say the RDA comment was from the doctor but then you say you do not want to be over-zealous and harm yourself then you suggest Cerefolin Nac which has 2 mgs of B-12 (over 900 times the RDA) and a large dose of folate.

Keep in mind that when you read studies, the target population is important to consider. If it is the elderly or those with Alzheimer's, they often are not looking at long term issues. My elderly mother has been put on 3 grams of Tylenol per day for back pain. This would never be prescribed for a young person due to the potential of liver damage. For her, at 89, she will die of other issues before her liver gives out.

The football players studied had no previous brain nutrition programs. The vinpocetine and other substances were used but there was no comparison to a simple brain health nutritional regimen.

There is a saying, When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. In my opinion, basic brain nutrition is the 'stop digging' part. For many of us, it is a valuable way to get started with healing.

Do a bit of research and you will find a large number of nootropics promoted with all kinds of claims. People spend fortunes chasing that magic pill. I doubt many start with a solid foundation.

"no known vitamin has been shown to help" and "just take the RDA amount of a multivitamin"

Don't believe it! My Neurosurgeon has me on vitamin rehab and it WORKS! When I'm on the vitamins I can confidently say, "I have NEVER felt better", at least since 1972.

:-)

"In my opinion, basic brain nutrition is the 'stop digging' part. For many of us, it is a valuable way to get started with healing."

Ditto.