Arnold said:
We've been here before and will be here again with the "I want to see a study" for the nay believers of alternative medicine
Well, that's just how it goes, unfortunately
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
<keep in mind I have previously researched, purchased, and used multiple nootropic stacks in the past, this isn't me trying to talk about stuff I'm ignorant on, or anything like that>
Look, the stuff is not that cheap if you make a solid stack (let's just leave it at that, the *average* stack isn't that cheap. I know cheap is relative, and you can get bulk powders, yadda yadda yadda, but for the average noot user, it's not a drop in the bucket). Furthermore, we're not positive, or even pretty sure, we know the potential health consequences of a plethora of these substances. Lastly, the benefits, if any, are agreed upon by all parties to be minimal.
So, when something can offer me a potential chance at a cognitive boost, it catches my eye. But when it comes to noots, there's the costs/potential immediate dangers/unknown long term effects, and the results are *barely* present if they're present at all. This is where studies NEED to be employed, as subjective anecdotal reports are all but worthless in this area (for instance, just look at how many people swear tribulus helps them with either strength or muscle size, despite the fact it's been proven over and over it does jack shit for either).
It's just that the (purported) effects aren't saying it'll make you twice as smart, it's only advertising quite modest gains in very ambiguous areas ("wellness", "sharpness", etc), and this necessitates studies. You personally researching, purchasing, and consuming the pills, whether you like it or not, puts a strong psychological mechanism into play, making it hard for you to honestly assess the tiny changes you're looking for. Again, this is why studies are necessitated here. Furthermore, the lack of studies for showing benefit in healthy people looking for a boost, as opposed to people in decline looking to stay normal, is extremely telling. I may've mentioned it in this thread already, but creatine monohydrate is the end-all of legal bodybuilding supplements. A huge % of lifters use it, and the effect is, if you're lucky, maybe a 5% increase in strength. Yet, people will spend a hundred a month on super-advanced-creatine1000 formulas and crap like that. Now, if <insert noot here> were actually safe and performed as hoped, it wouldn't just appeal to bodybuilders, a very tiny niche of the overall world, it would appeal to damn near everyone. The incentive to fund such studies is huge, but one would only fund them were they pretty damn sure the studies would come back to show the noots as actually helping a 20-50 y/o, with normal mental competence levels, to gain a little extra memory/mental speed/etc. I can only think of a single, telling reason why such studies have not, and (imo), will not, ever be seeing the light of day.
