| They arrive in cheerful bottles with names that sound like promises — Daily Brain Boost, Brain Drive, Brain guard+. And Americans, in turn, spend billions of dollars each year chasing the idea of a sharper mind. This is the logic of the moment: that the self is something to be tuned and upgraded, its limits negotiable through the right regimen of diets, workouts, injections, pills, powders and gummies. Cognitive health, once the domain of aging and illness, has become another frontier for optimization. “Is this all real or is it all marketing hype? It’s a combination I think,” said Gary Small, a professor emeritus of psychiatry and former director of the UCLA Longevity Center, now at Hackensack Meridian Health. “The science is changing so fast it’s hard for even experts to sort it out.” About 1 in 5 adults over age 50 use vitamins or supplements specifically to try to boost brain functions like memory, attention or focus, according to a 2021 AARP survey, the most recent update. The global market for nutritional supplements was estimated at $517.1 billion in 2025 and projected to be $862.5 billion by 2033, according to Grand View Research. |
