Prevagen: The Poster Child For Media Failure On Quackery

"New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that a federal judge in Manhattan accepted a jury’s finding that Quincy Bioscience Holding Company, Inc., Quincy Bioscience, LLC, Prevagen, Inc., Quincy Bioscience Manufacturing, LLC (Quincy), and four corporate defendants made fraudulent and deceptive statements about the supplement Prevagen and are liable for violating New York’s consumer protection laws. Quincy advertised its supplement, Prevagen, in media markets across New York, including in Albany, Syracuse, New York City, and the Southern Tier, as a way to reduce memory problems, improve memory, and support cognitive health. After a two-week trial, the jury concluded that Quincy had not substantiated any of its claims about Prevagen with reliable scientific evidence." (link)

Why are supplements legally advertised? There must be more than the FDA's warning, you can hardly read it because it's so small.

Medicine For The Brain

If you are exposed to any media, you are deluged with alternatives to medicine pseudoscience, including brain health supplements such as Prevagen. Regarding the brain, the best things you can do for its health are simple and inexpensive. Neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta, MD, has some advice in a new book, "Keep Sharp." The book is supported by the fact that we now know that the brain is able to grow new cells throughout life. The big revelation to me was the following:

• "I think that crossword puzzles and brain training exercises can be quite helpful at making the roads in your brain that you use a lot already, keeping them strong. ... It's kind of the "practice makes perfect" part of your brain. And some of the brain games can actually increase your processing speed, the speed at which you process new content and new information. But I really do draw a line between that and keeping a brain sharper and building cognitive reserve throughout your life. That's different. You want to be doing different things in order to build that reserve, as opposed to doing the same thing better and better. There's a role for both, but if it's cognitive reserve you're looking for, doing different things — things that *get you outside your comfort zone* — it's probably going to have a much bigger payoff."

Click here for an NPR interview with Dr. Gupta.

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*to include learning why others have different opinions than you?*

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UPDATE: 2/24/2021

Below are more links on this topic:

Brain Boosting Supplements May Contain Unapproved Drugs

Focus Factor Fiction?

FDA curbs unfounded memory supplement claims

Beware Of Media Promotion Of Prevagen

"From the memory supplement’s launch in 2007 through 2016, agency officials repeatedly raised concerns as the number of consumer complaints grew."

"Though drugs and dietary supplements are both regulated by the FDA under the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic Act, they’re held to vastly different standards. The FDA requires drug manufacturers to prove through rigorous testing that their products are safe and effective before they are approved to enter the market. The agency lacks the same authority when it comes to supplements. Instead, the companies are responsible for ensuring their products are safe and lawful, and in many cases, they can introduce new dietary supplements to the market without even notifying the agency. As a result, supplements are generally presumed safe until proven otherwise."

Prevagen is just a canary in the coal mine of supplements