As a multivitamin, I can recommend you Source Naturals Advance One Multiple.
Very important nootropical basis: omega-3 fatty acids (EPA/DHA). Fish oil (about 2-4 grams a day (I use Now Foods Super EPA, delivering 360mg EPA/240mg DHA in each capsule)) or perilla oil are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Also very good is squalene (shark liver oil (1-2 grams a day)). Without the proper fatty acids oiling your brain, there is little sense in trying to boost your intelligence/mood/quality of your brain further. Mind you that most of the brain (about 60%) consists of fat. The quality of this fat determines for a great deal the quality of your brain. Avoid trans fatty acids. Make a serious study of the health and cognitive influencing properties of fats. Make a study about what kind of fats certain foods contain, how and in what kind of fats they are prepared, and determine whether they are beneficial or detrimental.
Also important is to watch your calory intake. The brain needs a lot of calories: about 30% of energy being used goes to the brain. But too much calories creates a lot of oxidative stress. Avoid foods with high glycemic index (calories that are fastly converted to energy). Sudden changes in you blood sugar level is bad for your mood (it can make you overly aggressive. impatient or depressed) and lessens your capacity to think clearly. They also highten the risk of having diabetes later in life. Make sure you are supplied with enough chromium to keep you blood sugar level stable. Eating small portions at several moments spreaded across the day is also a good practice.
As an adaptogen, consider Rhodiola Rosea (200 - 400 mg once a day) to increase your focus and mood. I have found Rhodiola Rosea's working more subtle than ginseng, but definitely present: you only feel it when you need it. For younger people like you, I think it's more suitable than ginseng. Ginseng is generally more suitable for people older than 30 (or it should be used in smaller doses). Using ginseng I sometimes feel a bit forced to focus.
A good nootropical amino acid you can try is pyroglutamine (pyroglumatic acid). About 1000 mg a day to start with.
Also buy lecithine powder: a cheap, reliable and effective source of choline. You can mix it with milk or yoghurt, you can scatter it over bread or food. Good for your memory, general thinking capacity and is also anti-oxidative. You don't have to use it scarcely.
A good source of acetylcholine is DMAE (I think 250 mg - 350 mg twice a day would be good). My personal experience is that it helps me to be more analytical, process information better and stay focused.
As for a good source vitamine A, try beta carotene. This way you cannot overdose yourself. Vitamine A can be toxic if a too high dose is ingested. Beta carotene only converts to vitamine A if your body needs it. But I have never heard of vitamine A being nootropic (I guess it could be so indirectly, in a supporting way).
Then there is Acetyl-L-Carnitine. But take this together with R-Lipoic acid to protect yourself from increased oxidation (start prudently with 250 mg Acetyl-L-Carnitine + 50 mg R-Lipoic acid a day, eventually doubling each of it later).
I have found methylcobalamin (methylated B12) 500 mcg - 1 mg a day good for my alertness, fast response, anti-stress and focus. I'm not sure what it could mean to you.
As for a solid anti-oxidant network: Extra vitamine E mixed tocopherols (about 800 iu total a day), extra vitamine C with bioflavonoids (about a total of 1,5 - 2 grams a day), about a total of 200mcg of selenium a day, opti-L-zinc (30-60 mg a day), R-Lipoic acid (50 mg), CoQ10 (15 mg for someone at your age) and N-acetyl-L-cysteine (about 1,2 grams a day). Do take them together for their synergetic effect.
Avoid food cooked at very high temperatures (fried foods). As they can accelerate glycation in your body. Glycation is the crosslinking of protein and glucose molecules. This process is responsible for the wrinkles in older's people skin. But worse is that it also occurs in your internal organs. The bad news is that they are irreversible. There are supplements you can take to block glycation: L-Carnosine and benfotiamine. There are other supplements, like pyridoxamine, but they are difficult to procure. Wait a few years and they will become common. To you, taking carnosine and benfotiamine now (about 3x100 mg carnosine and 3x50 mg benfotiamine a day) won't result in visible or noticable effects. Only after about 30 years you will notice that you look and feel younger than others at your age.
Avoid taking too much calories as they increase oxidative stress needlessly. There is evidence that R-lipoic acid can block this oxidative stress efficiently, but final conclusions are not drawn yet. Taking R-Lipoic acid now already is recommendable.
Also good to note is a process called methylation and a substance called Trimethylglycine that can enhance the methylation process. But at your age this is probably not an issue yet. But study this and keep this in mind for your later years.
These are the good things you can study and try without much (long term) risk.
Mind you that your youth is something very precious. You should not take it for granted.
Edited by shapeshifter, 06 June 2004 - 05:03 PM.
