Why Bacopa Monnieri?

It is easy to think about memory as something that only matters later in life. In reality, you rely on it from the moment your day starts.

You need it to remember someone’s name after you’ve been introduced, to bring back the important part of something you read yesterday, to follow a conversation without losing the thread, and to recall the thing you were about to say before something distracted you.

The circumstances change as you get older, but the basic job doesn’t.

For younger adults, life can mean taking in a huge amount of information through university, work, screens, courses, books and conversations. For people building careers and families, there can simply be more to keep track of every day. And later in life, remembering names, appointments, conversations and everyday details can take on a different importance.

Bacopa has been studied in adult populations across different ages, including healthy younger and older adults. That research has examined several aspects of cognitive performance, with memory and recall appearing repeatedly in the published literature.

If you want to see exactly what was studied, how long the trials lasted and what researchers actually found, we’ve put the research together without the usual supplement hype.

Read the Bacopa research →

There are hundreds of ingredients we could have put into a “brain supplement.”

We chose Bacopa because there is enough human research behind it to ask useful questions about what it may do, while still being honest about what we don’t know.

Published randomised, placebo-controlled studies have investigated Bacopa in areas including:

Choosing Bacopa was only the first decision. We also had to decide what kind of Bacopa supplement we wanted to make.

Walk through the supplement aisle and you’ll find plenty of products with enormous ingredient lists. There might be a little Bacopa, a little Ginkgo, several vitamins, amino acids, caffeine and half a dozen other ingredients squeezed into a formula with an impressive name.

We wanted Koya to be much easier to understand. You should be able to turn the bottle around and know what you’re taking, how much you’re taking and why it’s there.

That’s why Koya is deliberately simple:

Bacopa is a plant, and plants naturally vary. Where a plant grows, when it is harvested and how it is processed can all affect the finished ingredient. That means seeing “300 mg Bacopa monnieri” on two different labels doesn’t automatically tell you that the products contain exactly the same thing.

Bacopa naturally contains a group of compounds known as bacosides, which are commonly used in the standardisation of Bacopa extracts. Standardisation gives greater control over the composition of the extract. It also makes the label more useful than simply telling you the weight of some powdered plant material.

There is another distinction worth making here. Published Bacopa studies have used specific standardised extracts, and different trials have not necessarily used identical preparations. We therefore don’t pretend that Koya itself was the product tested in every clinical trial.

What those studies give us is a body of research around Bacopa monnieri. What our own quality standards tell you is what is inside our product.

Learn about our quality and testing →

Because 300 mg sits within the amounts used in a number of published human studies of standardised Bacopa extracts.

For example, a 2012 systematic review looked at six randomised controlled trials lasting 12 weeks. The Bacopa extracts in those studies were taken at doses ranging from 300 mg to 450 mg per day.

That doesn’t mean every 300 mg Bacopa product is equivalent, because the extract and its standardisation matter too. It does explain why dose, extract quality and transparency all need to be considered together.

Koya provides 300 mg of standardised Bacopa monnieri per daily serving, with the amount clearly stated on the label. You shouldn’t need a calculator to work out how much of the main ingredient you’re actually taking.

There isn’t one type of person who becomes interested in Bacopa. Some people first discover it while studying. Others come across it when researching memory supplements later in life. Some simply want to move away from stimulant-heavy “focus” products and find something they can make part of their normal daily routine.

What tends to connect them is an interest in memory, recall and cognitive performance.

Younger doesn’t mean you have nothing worth remembering. If anything, this can be one of the most information-heavy periods of your life.

University, qualifications, professional training and the first years of a career can involve constantly learning new material. Add phones, messages, meetings, social media and everything else competing for your attention, and there can be an extraordinary amount coming in every day.

That is one reason the research around retention and recall is interesting. Bacopa isn’t reserved for people in later life; human research has included healthy adults across different age groups.

By your 30s, 40s and 50s, the problem can be the sheer volume of things competing for space in your head. There are names to remember, conversations to return to, appointments, work, family commitments and all the small pieces of information that make up an ordinary week.

Many people also begin noticing those familiar moments when a name takes a little longer to arrive, they walk into a room and forget why, or the point they were about to make disappears halfway through a conversation.

Those experiences don’t automatically mean anything is wrong. Persistent or concerning changes in memory should always be discussed with a healthcare professional. But they do explain why people start taking a much greater interest in memory and recall as they move through adulthood.

Memory naturally becomes a bigger consideration for many people as they get older, and older adults have also been represented in Bacopa research. A placebo-controlled 12-week study of healthy adults over 55, for example, examined verbal learning, memory acquisition and delayed recall among other measures.

That does not make Bacopa a treatment for dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or medical memory loss, and Koya should never be used as a substitute for appropriate medical care. If you or somebody close to you has noticed significant or unexplained changes in memory, speak to a GP.

For healthy adults simply interested in the published research around Bacopa and memory, however, there is a genuine evidence base to explore.

See the research in plain English →

People who find Bacopa often arrive while researching memory, concentration, forgetfulness or attention. And some of those people will have ADHD.

We need to draw a clear line here. Koya Bacopa is a food supplement and is not a treatment for ADHD. We don’t recommend replacing prescribed medication or professional care with Bacopa, and we don’t claim that taking Koya will reduce ADHD symptoms.

What we can point you towards is the research that exists around Bacopa itself. Human trials have investigated several measures of cognitive performance, including memory, recall and attention. You can read those studies and their limitations on our Science page.

If you have ADHD, take ADHD medication, think you may have ADHD, or have persistent problems with memory or concentration, speak to your doctor or pharmacist before deciding whether a supplement is appropriate for you.

Read the research →

Many products aimed at focus and mental performance contain caffeine because caffeine creates something very easy to notice: stimulation. For some people, that’s exactly what they want. Others already get enough caffeine from coffee and tea, or simply don’t want another source of it in their daily routine.

Koya Bacopa contains no caffeine.

The human research around Bacopa has generally looked at consistent use over weeks rather than the immediate feeling produced by a stimulant. In the six trials included in one major systematic review, for example, every study lasted 12 weeks.

That matters when deciding whether Bacopa fits what you’re looking for. It is an ingredient with research built around consistent use over time, rather than an ingredient selected because you can feel it twenty minutes after swallowing it.

The published studies give us a useful guide to how researchers have approached the question. Many of the best-known human Bacopa trials ran for around 8 to 12 weeks, and all six studies included in the 2012 Pase systematic review lasted 12 weeks.

That is why consistency matters if you’re choosing Bacopa because of the research behind it. It is also why we give every Koya customer a 90-day money-back guarantee. We think you should have enough time to use the product consistently before deciding whether you want to keep buying it.

If you’re trying Koya:

You shouldn’t trust a supplement because its website tells you to. You should be able to see enough information to make your own decision.

That’s why we publish the research behind our choice of Bacopa, explain the limitations alongside the positive findings, show you what is in the product and explain how we approach quality and testing.

We also avoid pretending that a study performed on a particular Bacopa extract automatically proves what our own bottle will do for every customer.

What you can check for yourself:

Bacopa monnieri caught our attention because it combines a long history of traditional use with a modern body of human research examining memory and cognitive performance.

We chose it because memory matters throughout adult life, whether you’re learning constantly when you’re younger, managing a head full of information in the middle of your career, or becoming more conscious of recall as you get older.

And we made Koya the way we did because supplements shouldn’t require detective work.

With Koya, you know what you’re getting: