Smart Brain Balance Review Summary
Smart Brain Balance from Natural Health USA LLC does not look like good value for money to us. Not by a long way.
We are not told how much of each ingredient we get in each serving; all we get is a 1g proprietary blend. This blend contains Glutamine, which is a great ‘filler’ ingredient; it can be used in relatively large amounts for very little money and without posing any side effect risks.
That is a major problem that Smart Brain Balance cannot overcome. It contains some good ingredients, and we have spoken briefly about these in our full Smart Brain Balance review below. However, unless we are told serving sizes, we have to conclude that this supplement is of poor quality. there are other stacks using similar ingredients that do tell you exact formula specifications.
Where To Buy Smart Brain Balance
Natural Health USA have an official online store. It seems like all of their sales go direct through Amazon. Obviously they did not think it was worth investing in their own order fulfillment system.
Full Smart Brain Balance Review
Smart Brain Balance is a nootropic supplement created and sold by Natural Health USA LLC.
These guys make quite an unusual range of products. On their official, Shopify-powered website, they list fat burners, female fat burners that are identical to the “male” versions, and Smart Brain Balance; their only nootropic.
According to the dedicated Smart Brain Balance page, this is a “natural memory enhancing supplement”.
On the bottle, we get 3 very distinct promises about what this product can do:
- Supports mental clarity
- Promotes concentration
- Improves focus and memory
These are standard claims plastered on the front of every natural nootropic supplement bottle. Helpfully, the manufacturers give us some more specific, detailed impressions of what we can expect from using Smart Brain Balance.
They state: “Smart Brain Balance is the brain supplement you need to meet the deadline, turn in your assignments in time and the brain booster that will grand you unmatched clarity for all your tasks.”.
They also tell us: “Get rid of anxiety, stress and sluggishness during the day or night and enjoy crystal clear mental focus.”
This all sounds wonderful. Decreased anxiety, better memory function, greater focus. These are exactly the things we want from a natural nootropic supplement.
The question is: can Smart Brain Balance really give us them?
Does this brain supplement actually work?
Is it going to cause side effect for most users? What are the risks?
Will it genuinely improve cognitive function or just provide a cheap caffeine kick?
There’s only one way to really find out. Let’s take a look at the Smart Brain Balance formula and see what this supplement really has to offer. We’ll look at ingredients, serving sizes, and more. We’ll also show you what some other people are saying about this natural nootropic.
Smart Brain Balance Formula – Does It Stack Up?
We need to take a closer look at the Smart Brain Balance formula to see if it matches up with the promises made by the manufacturer. Here is the ingredients list as displayed on the label:
As you can see, the Smart Brain Balance formula is just one homogeneous proprietary blend.
Generally speaking, all proprietary blends are bad for the same reasons. They prevent you from making an informed, free purchasing decision. They deny you the right of learning from your experience with certain substances; you have no idea if you respond well to caffeine if you don’t know how much you’ve been taking!
But of course not all proprietary blends are equally bad. Some are much worse than others. Some contain better ingredients, some don’t use any filler ingredients, and some are a lot safer than others.
So what about Smart Brain Balance’s proprietary blend?
The blend is 100mg in total, and it contains 5 ingredients.
Were all of these ingredients powerful, proven, effective nootropic agents, then this would actually be a pretty impressive formula.
If we divide the total serving size up equally between the ingredients, then we get an average serving size of 200mg.
For ingredients like Bacopa monnieri and Ginkgo biloba, 200mg is more than enough to derive great benefits from these nootropic substances.
Assuming the extract is of good quality, 200mg of Bacopa monnieri is an ideal dose.
Ginkgo biloba usually enhances cognitive function at doses between 75mg and 140mg. So the serving sizes here appear at first glance to be more than generous.
However, there are two incredibly serious problems here:
- Smart Brain Balance uses ineffective, un-proven ingredients
- It also contains glutamine, which is a classic ‘filler’ ingredient
We’ll deal with the issues around ineffective ingredients first.
Use Of Ineffective Ingredients
Smart Brain Balance contains two ingredients which, as far as we are concerned, offer no benefits whatsoever.
We’re talking here about St. John’s Wort and Panax Ginseng.
People claim that St. John’s Wort is a powerful anxiolytic. It is sold in multivitamin and health food stores around the world as a powerful stress-buster. It is said to help with mild symptoms of depression, to promote restful sleep, and to help with work-related anxiety.
The problem is that we have never seen any concrete evidence for this.
There are some studies which have found that hyperforin, a constituent of St. John’s Wort, may have a powerful anti-depressant effect. However, this is not the same as finding that St. John’s Wort works at reasonable doses, nor was the research conclusive.
This study found that St. John’s Wort actually doesn’t work how many people think it works, so the mechanistic justifications for St. John’s Wort don’t even stand up to investigation.
The same is true of Panax Ginseng; we have no strong reason to believe that this stuff confers any cognitive benefits whatsoever.
Panax Ginseng is often found in natural testosterone boosters because it is thought to help keep free testosterone levels within the healthy range. There is some slim evidence to support this limited claim, but that is just about the only benefit scientifically proven to come from Panax Ginseng use.
-Krill Oil: Should You Use It?-
Use Of ‘Filler’ Ingredient
Perhaps the most serious problem with this formula is the fact that it contains a very common filler ingredient: glutamine.
Glutamine is often used in proprietary blends for the simple reason that it can help you keep costs down by packing out the formula.
By that we mean that many manufacturers use glutamine to bulk out the majority of the blend, before just adding in the remaining ingredients in trace amounts.
Glutamine is very cheap and easy to buy in large amounts. It can be taken in large amounts (being a ubiquitous amino acid highly common in the human diet), and does not carry any serious side effect risks. By using glutamine as a ‘filler’, some manufacturers get away with using very small amounts of the more exotic and expensive ingredients while still being able to list them on the ingredient list.
Customers think they’re getting all of these fantastic nootropics, and the manufacturer keeps costs to a minimum while keeping prices at premium levels.
So is that what’s going on here? Well, all we can tell you is that the makers of Smart Brian Balance have decided to withhold the exact dosing information from us.
Plenty of manufacturers release their full formula specs (see all of our current top rated stacks) and they make plenty of money. Nobody steals their formulas.
So why have the makers of Smart Brain Balance decided to keep the exact serving sizes from us?
Is the formula mostly glutamine with some small amounts of bacopa monnieri and panax ginseng thrown in to spice up the ingredient list?
We can’t say for sure that this isn’t what’s going on, and we believe that fact speaks volumes.
Uncertainty is never a good thing, particularly when there are plenty of manufacturers out there who feel comfortable divulging their full formula specifications.
-Full Natural Nootropic Ingredient Guide-
What Are People Saying About Smart Brain Balance?
While you always need to take Amazon “verified customer” reviews with a hefty pinch of salt, we think it’s definitely worth checking them out to get a feel for what the product is like.
Here is a selection of Smart Brain Balance user reviews taken from Amazon. We aren’t saying that we think these reviews are particularly insightful or helpful, we are just providing a nice range for you to look at:
Smart Brain Balance Review Conclusion
All things considered, we don’t think Smart Brain Balance is a particularly good natural nootropic.
While it does contain some good nootropics, and the total blend size allows for the best ingredients to be dosed well, the product remains severely let down by the proprietary blend.
The Smart Brain Balance proprietary blend has two very serious weaknesses that go beyond the general problems of prop blends.
It contains two ingredients that have not yet been shown to provide meaningful benefits in robust, clinical conditions.
It also contains glutamine; a common ‘filler’ ingredient. Manufacturers regularly use glutamine to bulk out their formula, allowing them to get away with using trace amounts of expensive ingredients while still being able to list them on the label.
Maybe Smart Brain Balance is not using glutamine as a filler. Maybe all the ingredients are dosed perfectly.
The question we would ask is then: why hide the serving sizes if they are so good?
Plenty of manufacturers manage to reveal their full formulas while still making money hand over fist. As consumers, we must judge everyone by the highest standards.
If Smart Brian Balance’s manufacturers don’t feel that they can offer this, then that’s their problem. We are just forced to speculate, and when we have to speculate, we know we’re not dealing with a professional, top-quality product.
We have reviewed hundreds of nootropics and this supplement is still the most impressive. Our review team used this product for months and all experienced:
- Heightened focus
- Enhanced memory function
- More mental energy
- Better mental performance under stress
Read our full review to find out if this is the nootropic you have been looking for.
Leave a Reply