NeuroIgnite Review

NeuroIgnite is a natural nootropic supplement made by Havasu Nutrition. It was originally launched by a brand called Organic Stride. It isn’t clear whether or not Organic Stride became Havasu Nutrition or they were bought out. Either way, Havasu NeuroIgnite is an extremely popular nootropic supplement today. This one has really stood the test of time, and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon.

But did it impress me?

Does NeuroIgnite really work? Will it cause side effects? Is there now a better option on the market for improving focus, memory, and clarity?

Here’s my in-depth NeuroIgnite review. As always, please leave your questions and comments at the end!

NeuroIgnite Ingredients

It’s important that you don’t confuse the original NeuroIgnite – released under Organic Stride – with Havasu’s new formulation.

Many NeuroIgnite reviews out there still show the old formula, which hasn’t been on sale in years!

Let’s take a look at the NeuroIgnite formula and see what we think:

Let’s go through these ingredients in a little more detail.

Bacopa monnieri

A staple herb in Ayurverdic medicine, Bacopa monnieri is an adaptogen found in many nootropic supplements today. It has been shown in clinical trials to significantly improve memory function.

St. John’s Wort

This is a classic “traditional medicine”. It is a very popular natural anxiolytic and anti-depressant alternative in the West today. Its proponents claim that it reduces stress and improves mood. I’m not convinced. As of yet, I’ve not seen any convincing studies proving that St. John’s Wort works better than placebo.

DMAE

DMAE is an incredibly popular cholinergic. It confers choline to the brain, thereby raising acetylcholine availability. No nootropic is complete without a cholinergic. However, I’m not a huge fan of this particular cholinergic. It doesn’t seem to be very reliable; lots of people find that it doesn’t work for them. It also isn’t anywhere near as potent as Citicoline.

Ginkgo biloba

Few nootropics have as much mainstream acceptance as Gingko biloba. It works by increasing blood flow to the brain, via both vasodilation (the opening of the arteries) and by increasing the viscosity of blood. This is why Ginkgo biloba is popular among older people who are trying to ameliorate cognitive decline.

Phosphatidylserine

Phosphatidylserine is a vital phospholipid for proper brain function. It is a principle component of brain cell membranes. That means no phosphatidylserine, no brain cell membranes, so no brain cells! It also triggers apoptosis – programmed cell death. Both of these functions make phosphatidylserine a necessary part of a healthy, efficient brain.

ALCAR

Most of you will better recognise Acetyl-L-Carnitine as ALCAR. This is a common ingredient in sports supplements due to its supposed energy-boosting properties. Its application in nootropic supplements is limited; there’s no real evidence that it increases cognitive performance.

Huperzine A

Huperzine A has long gone ignored in nootropic circles. But not anymore. This fascinating plant extract is able to inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which is responsible for destroying acetylcholine in the brain. With this enzyme out of the way, acetylcholine levels in the brain will quickly start to climb. It needs to be cycled, but when used properly it is immensely powerful.

My Thoughts On The Formula

In my honest opinion, the NeuroIgnite formula is riddled with problems. It isn’t a terrible nootropic by any means; it has many merits which I feel are worth highlighting here.

Main Positives

For one thing, NeuroIgnite contains a very good serving of Bacopa monnieri.

This is easily one of the best natural memory-enhancers in existence.

It has proven to be reliable and effective in both young and old. I myself use it on a daily basis and find it to be extremely beneficial for improving memopry retention, recall speed, and short-term working memory function. The extract quality could be a little better. Some products use a highly concentrated Bacopa monnieri extract which provides a very high percentage of bacosides – the active ingredient in Bacopa monnieri.

However, in NeuroIgnite’s case I think the large 300mg dose makes up for that. Even top quality nootropics today rarely provide more than 200mg of Bacopa monnieri. Some use extracts standardized to provide nothing but active bacosides, rather than bacosides generally (a distinction which manufacturers are only just waking up to).

That isn’t necessary though; you can get real benefits from 300mg of bacopa monnieri per day – no doubt about that.

You also get a reasonable – if a little small – serving of Ginkgo biloba from NeuroIgnite.

Ginkgo biloba is another very reliable little nootropic.

Compounds in Ginkgo biloba called terpenes seem to significantly reduce the “stickiness” of your blood, allowing it to flow more freely and easily through your blood vessels, including those in the brain.

Other compounds in Ginkgo biloba – flavones called glycosides – seem to trigger vasodilation. That is, they cause your blood vessels to expand, allowing more blood to flow to your cells. This means more oxygen and nutrient delivery, which in turn means more effective, efficient, healthier cells.

The difference this can make to your cognitive function over the long-term is obviously significant. But one of the best things about Ginkgo biloba is that it seems to be extremely effective in the short-term – some studies have found improvements in cognitive function in as little as 2-5 hours (source)!

Together, these ingredients will no doubt deliver a small but very real improvement in cognitive function.

I think anyone using NeuroIgnite for a prolonged period will experience improved memory function, greater concentration, and all-round better cognitive performance.

Main Negatives

Despite the notable benefits outlined above, I don’t think NeuroIgnite is the best option for people looking to enhance their cognitive function.

The formula simply has too many down sides to realistically compete with the leading nootropic supplements today.

My main issue is the use of ineffective, substandard ingredients.

Take DMAE for instance.

This is a widely used cholinergic. You’ll find plenty of examples of people raving about it on the major nootropics forums. However, it’s just as easy to find dozens of examples of people who get absolutely nothing out of DMAE; something which you can’t say for Citicoline or Alpha-GPC.

Not only is DMAE less reliable than Citicoline, but it is also the least extensively studied of the major cholinergics. There are lots of peer-reviewed studies looking at the effects of both CDP-Choline and Alpha-GPC on human cognition. Not so for DMAE; all I’ve ever been able to find are a handful of rodent studies and a few human trials that weren’t very conclusive.

The use of DMAE instead of a proper, proven cholinergic, is a big disappointment for me.

One of the main reasons that people use nootropics is to enhance focus, concentration, and information processing. Those are things that I expect every premium nootropic supplement to get absolutely right. And the best way to increase focus, concentration, and mental clarity in the short-term is to use a powerful cholinergic.

Skimping isn’t an option for me when it comes to focus and information processing. It shouldn’t be for you either if you take your mental performance seriously.

Another less-than-amazing ingredient in NeuroIgnite is St. John’s Wort.

This is widely used in the West today as a natural anxiolytic. But I honestly have no idea why – there is very little clinical evidence that taking St. John’s Wort improves mood, reduces stress, or improves cognitive function during times of severe stress.

This is reflected in the composition of the best nootropics today – you’ll see Rhodiola rosea, Tyrosine, Ashwagandha, 5-HTP, but never St. John’s Wort.

I’m talking about one of the main ingredients in Havasu NeuroIgnite here. I don’t know why Havasu Nutrition have gone so heavy on this stuff as it is so unproven, but I know that they could have done much better.

A separate issue is the low doses.

This isn’t as serious as the problem laid out above, but it still prevents NeuroIgnite from being a good stack.

The best ingredients in NeuroIgnite – those with the most potential to make a real difference to your mental performance on a day-to-day basis – are dosed pretty low in NeuroIgnite. Aside from the Bacopa monnieri anyway.

Phosphatidylserine, for example, is a genuinely superb option for anybody wanting to maximize their brain function as they get older. Having healthy phosphatidylserine levels means you can efficiently construct new brain cell membranes, get rid of cells when they reach the end of their lives, and so on.

But we only get 50mg from NeuroIgnite. The most powerful brain supplements on the market today usually contain 100-150mg of phosphatidylserine as standard. It is also regular phosphatidylserine rather than a standardized, branded form which most of the top nootropics now opt for.

The same can be said about Ginkgo biloba, the Huperzine A, and especially the ALCAR – these substances have minimum standard doses of 75mg, 125mcg, and 300mg respectively.

Do you honestly think that 50mg of ALCAR is going to have any effect on your cognitive function when most people take 300mg with their pre-workout?

No, of course it wont! Very disappointing from Havasu NeuroIgnite.

Is it safe to take NeuroIgnite?

Havasu Nutrition are a reputable supplement brand. Obviously, they aren’t going to jeopardise that reputation by using dangerous brain drugs, synthetic stimulants, or ridiculously high doses.

On the whole, Havasu NeuroIgnite looks like a perfectly safe nootropic for the vast majority of people to use on a regular basis.

The ingredients have all been independently tested in clinical trials. None of them have ever thrown up serious concerns regarding health and safety.

In my experience, none of the ingredients in NeuroIgnite produce serious side effects when used properly – that is, at the right doses and in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

That said, there are some things you need to be aware of if you are tot totally avoid side effects while using NeuroIgnite.

The main thing you need to consider is the Huperzine A content.

As mentioned above, Huperzine A inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. Therefore, while taking Huperzine A your brain will be unable to get rid of excess acetylcholine. This is good at first; more acetylcholine means more brain power. But after a while, acetylcholine levels can start to verge into ‘excessive’ territory.

When that happens, a number of side effects are invariably going to occur:

• Headaches
• Confusion
• Lack of focus
• ‘Foggy head’
• Demotivation
• Muscle cramps

These side effects will get more and more severe the longer you continue to use Huperzine A without taking a sufficiently long break.

I never use Huperzine A for longer than 4 weeks without taking a break of 7 days. It is actually rare that I take Huperzine A; generally it will only be pre-workout, or right before I need serious tunnel-vision focus.

Is NeuroIgnite good value for money?

This is where NeuroIgnite really takes a dive for me.

This nootropic is priced in a similar band to other premium brain supplements today.

But it does not even come close to delivering the same kind of power and potency as things like Mind Lab Pro or Qualia Mind. It contains few ingredients, and the best of them have been left under-dosed.

It uses a substandard cholinergic that doesn’t even work for some people. For a small number of people, DMAE actually backfires, triggering confusion, headaches, and demotivation.

Finally, when you buy NeuroIgnite, you’re paying for a sizable serving of St. John’s Wort – a herb which lacks conclusive scientific proof.

So even though the price tag is $21.95 per bottle – lower than other nootropics – NeuroIgnite still doesn’t look like good value for money to me.

You are often better off paying a little bit more for a supplement that actually gives you good results. I don’t think you’re going to get a great deal from NeuroIgnite.

Final Verdict – Should you use Havasu NeuroIgnite?

I’m really not that impressed with NeuroIgnite. It might have been a competitive, exciting nootropic when it came out a couple of years ago. But it has totally been eclipsed by the new generation of cognitive enhancers.

Your paying for too much dead weight and too many low doses here.

It gives you a good dose of Bacopa monnieri, and a reasonable serving of Ginkgo biloba.

But that’s about it.

That isn’t good enough for me anymore.

NeuroIgnite will no doubt enhance multiple aspects of cognitive function for some people. But results are always going to be mild. You certainly wont experience the kind of heightened focus, attention o detail, and relaxation that you get from the top stacks today.

You can check out my recommended list of nootropic stacks today here…

Or to learn more, check out the big list of nootropic ingredients.