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Joanna Helmuth, M.D., a neurologist at the University of California San Francisco’s Memory and Aging Center, is concerned. She’s worried about vulnerable people like vapenaysh6969, a Reddit user who recently asked for advice on the Nootropics subreddit, a message board where more than a quarter of a million people are trying to sort their way through all of the allegedly brain-boosting chemicals on the market. “Ordered some phenylpiracetam,” vapenaysh6969 wrote. “In desperate need of some motivation after being unemployed for a year now.”
Dr. Helmuth has studied the rise of pseudomedicine in products for brain health, and she believes that the industry—worth a startling $7.2 billion—preys on people desperate for solutions. It reminds her, in fact, of the days when nostrums were sold to cure cancer, before science-backed treatments became available. People who are worried about their memory, stress level, or employability can be particularly susceptible, but anyone can get caught up in the hype, especially as the pandemic’s endless-loop burnout and Covid brain fog drag on. Piracetam and its analog phenylpiracetam, for example, were used in the 1980s to help Russian cosmonauts combat stress and fatigue on missions. They’re not approved by the FDA, and there is no evidence that they’ll help you get a job during a pandemic. (At least not on earth.) But that doesn’t stop people like vapenaysh6969 from betting their hopes, their brains, and their money on unproven treatments just like them.