Originally published September 2022. Updated August 2026 with current research and citations.
Memory loss and cognitive difficulty are serious problems today, affecting millions of people around the world. Like other chronic health challenges, nutrition, dietary supplementation, and exercise can meaningfully influence how well the brain functions over a lifetime. No one wants to lose mental or physical capacity. Preserving the ability to think clearly, maintaining memory, and being able to focus are as important to quality of life as anything else we value. If you are weighing specific products, I compared the leading options in my guide to the best supplements for memory loss.
What I Want to Be Clear About First
Nutrition does not treat disease of any type, and neither does any dietary supplement. In the clinical trial described below, my colleagues and I did not treat, cure, manage, or mitigate disease, and I will not describe our work that way.
What our research examines is the body's own capacity to maintain and repair itself when it is supplied the raw materials it needs. That principle is the foundation of everything I do, and I want it stated before the findings rather than after them.
What Causes Memory Loss?
Memory loss has many distinct causes. Health conditions such as depression, anxiety, stroke, diabetes, and Lyme disease can secondarily affect memory. Where memory difficulty accompanies depression or anxiety, it may ease as the underlying condition is addressed by a physician.
Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis involve damage to parts of the brain that affect memory. Common medications, including some antidepressants, blood pressure medications, statins, and steroids, can also affect memory.
Other contributors include overuse of alcohol or illicit drugs, trauma to the brain, infection, surgery, and nutritional shortfalls such as vitamin B1 or vitamin B12.
Typical aging brings some forgetfulness. Needing more time to learn or recall new information is a normal part of growing older, and it differs from the more pronounced changes described above. Any persistent change in memory is worth discussing with your physician.
The Scale of Dementia in the United States
An estimated 7.4 million Americans age 65 and older are living with clinical Alzheimer's dementia in 2026, which is about one in nine people in that age group (Alzheimer's Association, 2026). Nearly three-quarters of them are 75 or older.
Alzheimer's disease was officially listed as the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States in 2024, and the fifth-leading cause among adults age 65 and older (Alzheimer's Association, 2026).
The cost is substantial. Total annual payments for health care and long-term care for people with Alzheimer's or other dementias are estimated at $409 billion in 2026, and are projected to approach $1 trillion by 2050 in constant dollars (Alzheimer's Association, 2026).
Families carry much of that weight directly. Nearly 13 million Americans provide unpaid care for a family member or friend with dementia, a contribution valued at more than $446 billion (Alzheimer's Association, 2026).
The projections point in one direction. By 2060, the number of Americans age 65 and older with clinical Alzheimer's dementia is expected to reach 13.8 million (Alzheimer's Association, 2026).
What the Evidence Supports for Cognitive Health
If you live with any of the conditions above, or take any of the medications mentioned, speak with your healthcare provider about your options. That conversation belongs with a physician who knows your history.
Beyond that, consistent exercise, avoiding tobacco and excess alcohol, managing stress, and sleeping well are all supported by research as part of a healthy lifestyle. Your diet matters as well. Like every other organ, the brain depends on nutrients from food to function properly.
What We Measured in Our Clinical Research
My colleagues and I conducted a clinical trial in adults living with moderate to severe cognitive impairment for at least one year. At enrollment, participants completed a full neuropsychological battery, and blood was drawn to assess immune markers and markers of inflammation.
Each participant then took Daily Brain Care daily for twelve months, returning every three months for reassessment, with blood drawn again at twelve months.
We reported statistically significant changes in cognitive test scores over the twelve months, alongside changes in measures of immune function and inflammatory status, and we observed a relationship between the cognitive and immune measures (Lewis et al., 2013; Martin et al., 2017; Stillman et al., 2019).
I want to describe the limits of that work as plainly as the findings. It was a small, open-label trial without a placebo group, conducted in a single population. It establishes that these outcomes were measured and reported, not that any supplement addresses a disease.
Published clinical research of this kind is uncommon for a nutritional formula, and that is the reason I keep pointing to it. It is also the reason I describe it carefully.
Conclusion
Memory and cognition are significant concerns for many people today. Daily Brain Care supplies polysaccharides and other nutrients that support normal cellular function, as part of a lifestyle that also includes good food, movement, sleep, and stress management. You can read more about the research behind the formula on my About page.
References
Alzheimer's Association. (2026). 2026 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 22. doi: 10.1002/alz.71345
Lewis, J. E., McDaniel, H. R., Agronin, M. E., Loewenstein, D. A., Riveros, J., Mestre, R., Martinez, M., Colina, N., Abreu, D., Konefal, J., Woolger, J. M., & Ali, K. H. (2013). The effect of an aloe polymannose multinutrient complex on cognitive and immune functioning in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 33(2), 393-406. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2012-121381
Martin, A., Stillman, J., Miguez, M.-J., McDaniel, H. R., Konefal, J., Woolger, J. M., & Lewis, J. E. (2017). The effect of dietary supplementation on brain-derived neurotrophic factor and cognitive functioning in Alzheimer's dementia. Journal of Clinical and Translational Research, 3(3), 337-343. doi: 10.18053/jctres.03.201703.006
Stillman, J., Martin, A., Miguez, M.-J., McDaniel, H. R., Konefal, J., Woolger, J. M., & Lewis, J. E. (2019). Relationship between brain-derived neurotrophic factor and immune function during dietary supplement treatment of elderly with Alzheimer's dementia. Journal of Clinical and Translational Research, 5(2), 68-75. doi: 10.18053/jctres.05.201902.005
