From: dcborean@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (David Borean)
Subject: Re: INFO on smart drugs please.
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 05:18:38 GMT


I think what is trying to be said, is that there are Smart Nutrients and Smart Drugs..  Some would consider either of thenm  a waste of time.
The book is still open as to weather any
of these chemicals are actaully smart to take.  However chemicals like
DMAE are sold as supplements because they appear naturally in the human body.
Other Drugs may or may not be found in the body.  Vasopressin for example
is found in the body and is obviously used in two areas.  One is to control
the amount of water retention via a negative feedback loop, and the other
seems to have some impact on long term potentiation, however little
experimental evidence exists to support its claim as a memory booster.
Thus, it's a perscription drug, even though it exists in the human body.
Where as something like DMAE, also exists in the human body, there have been
no tests showing that it will actually harm you to take it, like vassopressin
could.  Vasopressin can and often will spontaneously create acute hypertension
which in cases of people with a history of hypertension can cause very
serious and even deadly side effects.  Anyhow, as it was stated many times
LOOK before you leap.  There are dangers in taking any nutrient of drug.
although nutrients generally have a larger window than drugs, they can do 
just as much harm if used unwisely.   Get the information, usually the sort
of information that abounds with nootropics is mostly anecdotal, which is very
flawed, as the placebo effect can cause very weird effects.  What one belived
in the body can  create generally.. So I suppose if you  thought with all your
heart that drinking 4 glasses of water every day will make you super smart, you
might just find your brain working better.  So accept anecdotal evidence as
an interesting point of reference, but get the facts from experimentation
and even then, as it's usually done on lab animals be careful.
Your best bet is to stay away, but if you insist, as I know many do, use
one at a time.  Trying to honestly guage it's value.  Don't expect anything
but if something occurs which you consider benificail, check it up
with the reference books and peoples anecdotal evidence and see if there are 
quite a few people describing what you describe.  For example, I heard that 
Choline will make you smarter, well, Actually Choline with a dose of B-5.
This will supposedly increase the ammount of AcH in the brain, which will 
increase the rate of nurotransmition, thus hopefully making you sharper.
I didn't experiment too much, but followed Dean&Morganthallers advice
from the book "Smart Drugs and Nutrients" and took I think about a gram of the stuff.. I felt like a depressed moron.. I couldn't remember much at all. I was
also seemingly very depressed.  I don't know if that had to do with just my life
or it had to do with the Choline, but on the whole I found it rather disheartening..   Just goes to show you.. I'll give it  a whirl later at a diff. dose
but Don't belive the hype.


I suppose that's enough for now..

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