A very intriguing, holistic and academic overview of Bacopa for your enjoyment. Link follows, and a brief excerpt below
http://www.greenphar...=9;aulast=GohilClinical Studies: Cognition
Numerous clinical studies have been carried out to date to establish the efficacy of BM in memory and attention disorders and to study its acute and chronic effects clinically on cognitive function. A study was conducted to measure the effect of BME on human memory.
[76] Seventy-six adults aged between 40 and 65 years volunteered for the double-blind randomized, placebo control study. The results showed a significant effect of BME on the test for the retention of new information. In the follow-up tests, it was found that the rate of learning was unaffected, suggesting that BM decreases the rate of forgetting of newly acquired information. In adults, only chronic administration was shown to enhance cognitive effects. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 38 healthy volunteers (ages 18-60), subjects were given a single dose of 300 mg BME (standardized to 55% combined bacosides A and B) or placebo.
[77] Subjects were tested 2 h after drug administration, coinciding with maximum pharmacodynamic effect. Acute administration of this dose of BME resulted in no significant changes in cognitive function when compared to baseline values. On the other hand, significant cognitive-enhancing benefits have been demonstrated with more chronic administration of BME, as demonstrated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, 12-week trial utilizing the same patient selection criteria and same dose of BME (300 mg daily) containing 55% combined bacosides.
[78] At the end of the 12-week study, results indicated a significant improvement in verbal learning, memory consolidation and speed of early information processing in the treatment group compared to placebo. These effects were not observed at baseline or at 5 weeks. These results were attributed to BM's antioxidant properties and/or its effect on the cholinergic system.
[78] BM's ability to modulate or enhance cognitive function has also been studied in children.
[79] In another double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled trial of 36 children with diagnosed attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder was conducted over a 16-week period.
[80] Nineteen children received an extract of BM, standardized to contain 20% bacosides at a dosage of 50 mg twice daily for 12 weeks, and 17 subjects were given a placebo. Active drug treatment was followed by 4 weeks of placebo and the children were evaluated on numerous cognitive function tests at baseline, 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks. A significant benefit was observed in BM-treated subjects at 12 weeks as evidenced by improvement on sentence repetition, logical memory and paired associated learning tasks. Evaluation showed that these improvements were maintained at 16 weeks after 4 weeks placebo administration.
[80] In one double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized study, the efficacy of standardized BME (SBME) in subjects with age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) without any evidence of dementia or psychiatric disorder was evaluated. The subjects received either 125 mg of SBME or placebo twice a day for a period of 12 weeks followed by a placebo period of another 4 weeks (total duration of the trial 16 weeks). SBME produced significant improvement in mental control, logical memory and paired associated learning during the 12-week drug therapy. SBME was found to be efficacious in subjects with age-associated memory impairment.
[81]
