Neuriva vs Natrol Cognium: which is better? We bring these two natural brain supplements face to face to see which one is the right choice for you. Starting with a brief summary to get an idea about what you can expect from each product.
Neuriva vs Cognium Summary:
While neither Neuriva nor Cognium makes it to our “top list,” the clear winner between the two is Neuriva. It contains 2 ingredients compared to only 1 ingredient in Cognium, and the ingredients themselves are more researched than that of Natrol Cognium.
However, one of the ingredients in Neuriva is not completely proven, and it is still missing many important core nootropics for memory, focus, and overall brain health.
As such, Neuriva is far from the best option. But, it is better than Cognium, which does absolutely nothing since its only ingredient is not proven to work.
Recommended Alternatives:
– Click to See The Current Top 3 Nootropic Supplements –
Neuriva vs Natrol Cognium – The Overview
Neuriva and Natrol Cognium are both popular brain supplements, also known as nootropics or nootropic stacks.
These two supplements have been on the market for a while now, but which one is better for you?
Neuriva promises to specifically improve your memory and executive functioning, whereas Natrol Cognium claims to not only improve your brain performance but also protect your neurons from aging and oxidative stress.
Neuriva comes with 30 capsules per bottle, and it costs $32.99. If you opt for the more advanced Neuriva Plus which has the added B vitamins, it will cost you $49.49 per bottle (30 capsules).
Natrol Cognium, on the other hand, costs $32.99 for a bottle of 60 tablets. Making it a cheaper option.
But which of these two brain supplements is actually better at improving your brain function? Which is safer? What do the studies say about their ingredients?
Let’s have a look.
Neuriva vs Natrol Cognium – Ingredients
Disregard the fancy packaging and marketing claims, the ingredients are what tell us if the supplement is safe and effective, and whether it’s good value for money overall.
The ingredients will also ultimately tell us which of the two competitors is better – Neuriva, or Cognium.
Let’s have a look.
Neuriva’s Ingredients
Here is how the ingredient label of Neuriva looks:
In case you’re wondering about Neuriva Plus, it has pretty much the same ingredient formula, just with some basic B vitamins added. Here’s how it looks:
Whether we’re talking about Neuriva or Neuriva Plus, it doesn’t look that great. Neuriva has only 2 ingredients which are Phosphatidylserine and Coffee Fruit Extract (and B vitamins in the case of Neuriva Plus).
- Phosphatidylserine is FDA-approved to help support memory and cognitive function in older people. However, the effects are very subtle and aren’t really noticeable. Phosphatidylserine is more of a “preventative” supplement rather than something that will have an immediate effect on your brain performance.
- As for Coffee Fruit Extract, it’s an unproven and untested ingredient. Coffee Fruit extract simply means that some substance has been extracted from the coffee fruit. What that substance is, we have no idea, because the manufacturer doesn’t tell us.
Neuriva claims that Coffee Fruit has been shown in studies to boost BDNF, which stands for Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor. Anything that can boost BDNF is definitely good for brain health, as BNDF is important for the growth and maintenance of your brain cells.
The problem is, the study that Neuriva draws on for their claims had used Whole Coffee Fruit Concentrate Powder, and not an extract. This means that the coffee fruit ingredient from the study is vastly different from the one that Neuriva uses. While the ingredient from the study is a complete Whole Coffee Fruit Powder with all of its beneficial compounds, the Coffee Fruit Extract in Neuriva is a single substance extracted from the Coffee Fruit. It can be anything – caffeine, water, fiber, you name it!
And that is it. This is all you get with Neuriva. If you decide to pay a bit more and go for Neuriva Plus, you will get some extra B vitamins. These are good for your general health, but they are unlikely to give you substantial results in terms of memory and cognitive function because we already get plenty of B vitamins through our diet. You would have to be severely deficient to notice any difference from B vitamin supplementation.
Overall then, Neuriva (and Neuriva Plus) looks to be an underwhelming supplement. The formula is slim, weak, and ineffective. It missing many core ingredients that are common in the best brain supplements – including Choline, Lion’s Mane Mushroom, Pine Bark Extract, Tyrosine, and Theanine amongst others. If you are looking for a supplement to reliably improve your focus, memory, cognition, and long-term neuronal health, Neuriva isn’t the one.
Natrol Cognium Ingredients
Here is the ingredient label of Natrol Cognium:
We’ll keep it short with Cognium – this one is even worse than Neuriva.
As you can see, there is just one ingredient in Cognium: CERA-Q.
That’s it; there are no supporting herbal extracts, and no essential nutrients.
All we get is a single compound.
So, what is CERA-Q exactly? It is a branded, patented form of silk moth protein hydrolysate. More specifically, CERA-Q is a powder that contains 60% silk protein hydrolysate by weight.
So, what does CERA-Q do?
According to Natrol, this ingredient significantly improves your cognitive function. Natrol says that CERA-Q enhances a number of aspects of cognition at the same time, from memory and focus to long-range brain function.
Cognium’s website explains that CERA-Q works mainly by boosting brain circulation. It is also said to enhance glucose uptake in your brain, while also acting as an antioxidant – protecting your neurons from free radical damage.
Now, if these claims were true, Natrol Cognium would likely be one of the very best nootropics you can find today.
Sadly, we don’t think these claims are true.
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that this ingredient has never been linked to improvements in cognitive function in a reputable, peer-reviewed- high-quality scientific study. The only evidence that we get from Natrol are some Korean papers, all of which were written up by researchers who are known to falsify study data.
Even if CERA-Q worked, Cognium would still be a far more effective brain supplement if it included more than one ingredient. It is missing almost all of the most researched ingredients for memory, focus, and long-term brain health.
Although Neuriva has some major drawbacks of its own, compared to Natrol Cognium, it is a vastly superior formula. Natrol Cognium does nothing. Some people will go as far as to say it is a scam nootropic. By definition, it actually is a scam – it costs money and it doesn’t work at all. We expected more from a brand as reputable as Natrol.
Neuriva vs Natrol Cognium – Side Effects
Neither one is likely to give you side effects. Both Neuriva and Natrol Cognium use ingredients that haven’t been shown to cause any major side effects – or even minor ones in most individuals. Even the dosages of these ingredients are low, so it’s unlikely that users will be having negative reactions.
Neuriva vs Natrol Cognium – Customer Reviews
Both Neuriva and Natrol Cognium have plenty of user reviews online. Many users report positive results from both supplements, but it’s easy to find negative feedback as well.
It is worth looking into some of the “testimonials” as they can give you a picture of how the product worked for them. However, it’s important to take some of the reviews with a grain of salt as it’s difficult to filter out the fake ones from legitimate testimonials.
The Bottom Line
So, which one is better: Neuriva or Cognium?
The answer is that Neuriva is the better option between the two. While Neuriva is far from a good brain supplement, it is better than Cognium – significantly better.
It contains more ingredients, and the ingredients themselves are better researched.
Natrol Cognium only contains moth silk protein which has absolutely no credible evidence to support the manufacturer’s claims. To us, it looks like an ineffective supplement.
If you are serious about improving your brain performance across the board, it’s best do more research before buying either one.
What do we recommend?
– Click to See The Current Top 3 Nootropic Supplements –
RELATED: