# Do these OTC IQ boosting pills do anything at all? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218 "2017-01-15T13:36:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/1 "2017-01-15T13:36:52Z")
I frequently get pop ups from this product called IQ+, which claims to increase your IQ. They use Stephen Hawking and Anderson Cooper in the ad, who are made to appear to endorse the product. I know better than to trust these things, but I did Google it and found review websites that rate similar products. The reviews seem to indicate that some of these products have at least some benefit. Now perhaps these review sites are also industry funded and fake? Too much detective work to do, so I’m asking the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/2 "2017-01-15T13:43:47Z")
You get smart enough to realize you were ripped off. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/3 "2017-01-15T14:01:34Z")
"Hey, this is just aspirin! " “See, you’re getting smarter already.” ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/4 "2017-01-15T15:38:25Z")
For people on a dedicated junk food and snack diet, their nutrition is probably so precarious, almost any vitamin/mineral supplement would be of some marginal value. It doesn’t matter which vitamin or mineral, just any increment would in some cases show an improvement in some systemic function, including mental acuity. But for those with a fairly decent diet, no supplement is of much value, unless a lab test reveals a deficiency in some essential value that can be addressed with a chewable. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/5 "2017-01-15T15:46:00Z")
They greatly reduce swelling in your wallet. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/6 "2017-01-15T16:23:04Z")
Life imitates art: [The Far Side](https://goo.gl/images/pO7fwB) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/7 "2017-01-15T16:37:57Z")
Creatine has been used to increase intelligence and working memory. > **[Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance: a...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691485/)** > > Creatine supplementation is in widespread use to enhance sports-fitness performance, and has been trialled successfully in the treatment of neurological, neuromuscular and atherosclerotic disease. Creatine plays a pivotal role in brain energy... > [@](#): > > we tested the hypothesis that oral creatine supplementation (5 g d(-1) for six weeks) would enhance intelligence test scores and working memory performance in 45 young adult, vegetarian subjects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design. Creatine supplementation had a significant positive effect (p \< 0.0001) on both working memory (backward digit span) and intelligence (Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices), both tasks that require speed of processing. These findings underline a dynamic and significant role of brain energy capacity in influencing brain performance. The reason is that creatine monophosphate helps regenerate ATP from ADP. I believe working memory is 7 items for most people but people who take creatine can hold 8.5 bits of info in working memory. Other than that, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/8 "2017-01-15T17:03:29Z")
here > **[Nootropic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic)** > > Nootropics (/noʊ.əˈtroʊpɪks/ noh-ə-TROHP-iks or /noʊ.əˈtrɒpɪks/ noh-ə-TROP-iks) (colloquial: brain supplements, smart drugs and cognitive enhancers) are numerous natural, semi-synthetic and synthetic molecules that claim to improve cognitive functions (such as executive functions, attention, memory, creativity). > They are often found in the form of dietary supplements, nutraceuticals and energy drinks. Some nootropic molecules can also be found as prescription and non-prescription pharmaceutica... Interesting thing the wiki is that the stuff that \*did \*work to enhance brain function were analogs to meth, caffeine and nicotine. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/9 "2017-01-15T17:25:56Z")
I found a website that listed the ingredients and their supposed actions, including the following: _L-carnitine – also clears the brain of free radicals besides reducing synapses. L-Theanine – it cleans the brain of any toxins that might have clogged there as a result of everyday lifestyle habits and dietary patterns._ Well, you don’t want too many synapses in your brain for sure. And anything that cleans the brain of toxins is A-OK by me! Getting back to reality, I suspect the source of positive testimonials is the pill’s caffeine. I generally feel smarter after my a.m. coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/10 "2017-01-15T17:38:44Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > They greatly reduce swelling in your wallet. …and help you get screwed more often…! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/11 "2017-01-15T17:39:04Z")
I did not know this before doing my research, but nootropics appear to be very dangerous. According to [a well-known PhD scientist](https://amberdiffenderferphd.wordpress.com/2016/11/04/nootropics-what-you-need-to-know/): \*"Aaron Blank is one of the unlucky ones who didn’t die. In addition to being brain damaged and suffering from congestive heart failure due to kettleball exercises, his neurological functions are irreparably damaged from taking nootropics that turned him into a flesh eater, and daily tasks are a struggle now. Despite the brain damage and reduced neurological functions, Aaron still remembers some of his experiences with nootropics. “I used some nootropics I bought online from China to stay focused and alert during really long training sets with kettleballs,” he says with drool dripping from one side of his mouth. “I stopped taking them because I would always end up naked and biting the people around me.”\* ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/12 "2017-01-15T23:17:04Z")
How much do magic beans need to \*look like \*magic beans before people develop grave doubts about their efficacy? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/13 "2017-01-16T02:05:17Z")
If ever a cure to Alzheimers is discovered, then that would be pretty decent evidence that certain chemicals can prevent mental decline, at least. I’m pretty sure that there are already a few things which have been found that at least slow down that decline. And if we accept that there was a stage, during our youth, where we were better able to learn new concepts, then that’s fairly strong evidence that there is some achievable biochemistry which improves neural development. Whether any of these chemicals are naturally occurring, safe enough to be labeled for OTC use, survive through the digestion track, are actually taken up into the bloodstream, and are able to cross the blood-brain-barrier, though…well that’s the question. It’s a given that the second type of chemical exists, since otherwise childhood would be impossible. It seems highly unlikely that the first type of chemical doesn’t exist. But most things that we will find would probably either need to be injected into the blood stream or even into the brain, somehow. Something like [Alpha-GPC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-GPC) may help to prevent mental decline. [Lithium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_(medication)), in lower doses, may serve as a nutrient that promotes the development of [gray matter](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3055479/). Proper nutrition helps to prevent mental decline. Good sleep helps to prevent mental decline (theanine might help, if you are not getting sufficient sleep). ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/14 "2017-01-16T06:33:45Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I frequently get pop ups from this product called IQ+, which claims to increase your IQ. They use Stephen Hawking and Anderson Cooper in the ad, who are made to appear to endorse the product. I know better than to trust these things, but I did Google it and found review websites that rate similar products. The reviews seem to indicate that some of these products have at least some benefit. Now perhaps these review sites are also industry funded and fake? Too much detective work to do, so I’m asking the SDMB. Any medication or growth hormone claiming to boost your IQ or make you taller is bogus.:(:(☹ Most these stuff is probably very bad for you. **THERE NO medication or growth hormone claiming to boost your IQ or make you tall THAT WORKS. \*\* Anyways it not like person of IQ of 70 vs IQ of 100 is that much different and you can tell the difference. \*\* These IQ tests are only for trained skilled people doing IQ test**. It not like if you had IQ of 100 you can tell that person you talking to in your room have IQ of 70. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-these-otc-iq-boosting-pills-do-anything-at-all/777218/15 "2017-01-16T09:18:02Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Creatine has been used to increase intelligence and working memory. > > [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691485/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691485/) > > The reason is that creatine monophosphate helps regenerate ATP from ADP. I believe working memory is 7 items for most people but people who take creatine can hold 8.5 bits of info in working memory. > > Other than that, I don’t know. The reason is that they recruited only vegans and vegetarians for the study. Vegans are often deficient in creatine.