The Meaning of “brain Health” Depends on Who You Ask.
Few things are more important than a healthy brain, but what exactly does “brain health” mean? It seems like every day I come across a new multivitamin, health app, or wearable that promises to “support cognitive function,” “improve focus,” and, of course, ” improve brain health .”
As long as these products don’t claim to treat specific conditions, the FDA doesn’t require a strict definition of what that actually means. As a result, “brain health” might mean different things to a supplement company, a meditation app, or an actual neurologist. Meanwhile, consumers are left grasping at straws when trying to evaluate these claims.
Before judging whether a product delivers on its promises, it’s important to understand what “brain health” actually means, what components of it can even be measured, and what the research behind popular products and protocols shows.
What does brain health really mean?
There’s no single definition of “brain health.” It varies depending on who uses it. “Brain health is one of the most commonly used terms in the health and wellness field, yet one of the least well-defined,” says neuroscientist Dr. Ramon Velasquez . The phrase can refer to “cognitive ability, emotional well-being, stress resilience, sleep quality, neurological function, or long-term protection against age-related cognitive decline.”
In other words, brain health can mean many things. It’s important for consumers to understand that it can’t be reduced to a single number or biomarker. At the same time, most aspects of brain health—cognitive function, attention span, and so on—are measurable. Here’s what the scientific evidence shows, so you can counter all the quackery hype prevalent in the wellness space.
How is brain health measured?
Velasquez outlines the main categories that researchers and doctors actually use to assess brain health:
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Cognitive function tests. Standardized assessments of memory, attention, processing speed, and executive functions form the foundation of cognitive neuroscience research. These tests are not perfect instruments, but they are specific, reproducible, and have established norms for different age groups.
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Sleep quality. Polysomnography, the clinical gold standard, measures brain activity, eye movements, muscle tone, and respiratory function during sleep to characterize sleep stages and identify disorders. Consumer wearables partially mimic these metrics using heart rate data, although their accuracy is controversial .
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Resilience to stress and mood swings. There are validated scales, such as the PHQ-9 for assessing depression, the GAD-7 for assessing anxiety, and the Perceived Stress Scale, which allow for the quantitative assessment of psychological states closely linked to brain function. There are also indicators, such as heart rate variability, that provide a more complete picture based on self-reported data.
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Neuroimaging. These methods are expensive and used primarily for research purposes, but they provide objective data on changes in the brain at the anatomical level.
The point is, “no single metric fully captures brain health,” says Velasquez. “Brain health is best viewed as a multidimensional concept, and any product claiming to improve it must demonstrate measurable benefits in one or more of these areas.” The brain is extremely complex—at least, much more complex than some manufacturers would have us believe.
Can any foods really improve brain health?
Any product claiming brain health benefits must demonstrate improvement in at least one of the above areas: cognitive test results, sleep quality, mood, or stress resilience, as well as neuroimaging markers. (There are also studies of blood biomarkers, but their implementation in consumer products is still a long way off.)
Beyond these categories, claims of improved overall brain health “are difficult to verify because the term encompasses so many different biological and psychological processes,” says Velasquez. Here’s what the science actually shows about the various “brain health” products you may encounter every day. (I’m not a doctor—my goal here is to debunk marketing tropes. If any of these products have been recommended to you personally by a medical professional, always follow their recommendations.)
Supplements
The “brain health” supplement market is vast, and its marketing rhetoric is based almost entirely on vague, unverified claims. I’m not saying the essential vitamins and nutrients in these supplements don’t help your brain; research shows that omega-3 fatty acids can help improve learning, memory, cognitive well-being, and blood flow to the brain (though this mostly applies to older adults; the effect in healthy young people is more modest). Similarly, there’s preliminary evidence that lion’s mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) may help improve cognitive function and mood.
My point is that there’s simply not enough evidence from randomized clinical trials to suggest that isolating these ingredients in pill form will actually improve brain function. And I’m not the only one who thinks so —Harvard Medical School does, too. That’s why products that claim to “improve brain health” with “proprietary blends” should be treated with skepticism. Chances are, the doses are lower than those used in the underlying studies, and the marketing claims are too vague to be refuted. A more honest marketing strategy for supplements might sound something like: “Contains DHA, which has been linked to improved memory in older adults in randomized controlled trials.” But that won’t sell.
Health apps
Some studies suggest that “brain game” apps—like Luminosity and BrainHQ, for example—do demonstrate potential for improving cognitive function and mood. However, this potential is based on results showing that these apps can lead to improved performance on the tasks you practice within the app . That’s quite a leap from in-app games to actual cognitive performance. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission previously took action against Lumosity for misleading advertising—specifically, for claiming that the apps would protect against dementia and age-related cognitive decline without sufficient evidence. This illustrates why the definition of “brain health” is so vague in advertising: marketing claims about overall brain health, while the evidence, at best, supports specific task-specific performance. In most cases, any general claims about improving overall brain health or preventing cognitive decline are not supported by most of these “brain game” products.
Wearable devices
While smartwatches have provided insight into our physical well-being, wearable brain monitoring devices promise to shed light on the “black box” of our mental activity. I’ve previously written about this new trend in wearables that claim to “read your mind,” and I can summarize it this way: the technology is too immature, the regulatory framework is too sparse, and consumer apprehension is too high for these devices to become widespread anytime soon.
This is a good time to discuss your smartwatch—specifically, its sleep quality score , as sleep plays a key role in cognitive function. While sleep quality scores are certainly a useful number, it’s important to remember that they’re estimates, and each company has its own scoring system . However, sleep tracking is helpful if it encourages real behavioral changes that improve sleep quality over time. When in doubt, review the basics of sleep hygiene .
Result
Before believing claims of brain health benefits, awaken your inner scientist and start asking questions. What specific outcome is being measured: memory, attention, sleep, stress, a biomarker? What population was studied, and does it match yours? Was there a control group? Was the study independent of the company selling the product? Has it been replicated?
The claim “it improves brain health” immediately fails this test because it’s not specific enough. On the other hand, a claim like “improved working memory in adults over 60 years of age in a randomized controlled trial” can be assessed.
The irony is that the methods with the most convincing evidence for effectiveness across the greatest number of areas of brain health—regular aerobic exercise, quality sleep, stimulating activity, stress management, and healthy eating—are not the ones that receive the most marketing dollars.