Before you take any supplement, including Prevagen, you should do your research and potentially talk to your health care provider. Along with reading Prevagen side effects reviews, it’s important to know the pros and cons.
Below we talk more about the memory supplement Prevagen and its possible benefits, and we also answer whether or not its use is linked to strokes.
A Brief Overview of Prevagen
Prevagen is a top-selling memory and brain supplement. According to Quincy Biosciences, the company that manufactures it, Prevagen can help with mild memory loss related to aging and improve some cognitive markers.
Prevagen’s primary ingredient is a protein derived from jellyfish called apoaequorin.
Apoaequorin can bind to calcium, based on lab studies. The theory behind using Prevagen as a memory supplement is that much of the reason for memory declines as we age is due to dysregulated calcium levels in the brain.
The thinking of researchers backing apoaequorin is that if you can regulate the calcium in the brain’s neurons, you can help improve memory.
There’s limited evidence to show that Prevagen works to improve memory, however. It could work in theory, but there’s very little research to prove or disprove its effectiveness in practice.Â
One of the only available studies often cited in Prevagen marketing to show the supplement’s effectiveness was carried out by the company that makes it. The study found some modest benefits for memory and brain health in participants, but critics have pointed out several flaws in how the study was carried out.
One flaw is that the study only ran for 90 days. That’s not long enough to know whether the supplement could have long-term adverse effects. During that 90 days, the supplement appeared to be safe, but again, more and longer research must be carried out before this can be said for certain.
There’s another problem with Prevagen to take into consideration as well.
The apoaequorin in the supplement is a protein. Proteins are primarily broken down in the intestines. That means there’s very little chance of any substantial amount of the protein crossing the blood-brain barrier, which it would need to do to be effective at regulating calcium levels.
Is Prevagen Safe?
Prevagen, since it is a supplement, is not FDA-approved. No supplement has to be or has approval from the FDA in the United States, so determining how safe it is can be difficult. The evidence on the product is also limited, meaning we don’t know as much as we can about the potential side effects.
These are risks that you can take on when you try supplements.
Based on what we know now, Prevagen is likely fairly safe, with only mild associated side effects like nausea and dizziness.
However, there have been issues with the FDA, the Federal Trade Commission, and the company that makes Prevagen.
Primarily, manufacturers of over-the-counter supplements aren’t supposed to make claims saying the product can cure, treat or prevent any condition or illness. Quincy Bioscience has been investigated by both the FDA and the FTC for misleading advertisements indicating that Prevagen is clinically proven to work.
The evidence supporting the use of Prevagen is both flawed and limited.
Prevagen and Strokes
While it might not be highly effective, there’s no concrete evidence that Prevagen is highly unsafe either.
Some user reports are being looked at. The FDA claims the Quincy Biosciences company hasn’t disclosed more than a thousand reported adverse reactions to the supplement. These include strokes, seizures, worsening multiple sclerosis symptoms, chest pain, memory impairment, and confusion.
That doesn’t mean that any of these conditions are caused by Prevagen, but since the research is limited, we can’t say for sure that they’re not either.
When you take a supplement, if you do experience what you think is a side effect, you can’t say for sure it’s the supplement that caused it. It’s a risk you take with any supplement.
So far, the clinical research doesn’t support a link between Prevagen and an increased risk of stroke, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
If you’re considering trying Prevagen, it’s a good idea to talk to a health care provider first, especially if you have a medical condition or take any medications.