Phosphatidylserine
| By Jonathan Roseland |
I'm not a doctor, medical professional, or trained therapist. I'm a researcher and pragmatic biohacking practitioner exercising free speech to share evidence as I find it. I make no claims. Please practice skepticism and rational critical thinking. You should consult a professional about any serious decisions that you might make about your health. Affiliate links in this article support Limitless Mindset - spend over $150 and you'll be eligible to join the Limitless Mindset Secret Society.
This amino acid is a potent combatant of stress, which lowers cortisol while at the same time supporting cognitive function and aiding memory.
Scientific Research
Vs Stress
Performance vs Stress
The Golfer's Nootropic
Cognitive Enhancer
Vs ADHD
Vs Cognitive Decline
Memory Enhancement
Sources
Recommended Daily
Cofactors
Side Effects
Nootropic Stacks?
When to Expect Results...
Phosphatidylserine Videos
This article is mostly going to focus on decoding what the human studies are saying about Phosphatidylserine and how this squares up with the anecdotal experiences of Biohackers online. For more of my own personal experiences, thoughts, and comparisons please see the written and video reviews in the sidebar.
Scientific Research
Over 45 human clinical trials have been published about it in scientific journals.
Vs Stress
It decreases perceived exertion and cortisol from exercise or stress.
Taken in supplemental form for +40 days it can have a positive impact on cortisol levels and corresponding stress as demonstrated by a German 2012 study conducted on healthy men:
Nutrients such as omega-3 oils and phosphatidylserine have been considered to exert stress-buffering effects. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we investigated effects of omega-3 phosphatidylserine on perceived chronic stress...
Another placebo-controlled, University of Naples study noted that it counteracted exercise-induced stress response:
The results suggest that... phosphatidylserine may counteract stress-induced activation
Here's what a couple of people taking Phosphatidylserine have to say about stress:
"Since I started taking this 2 months ago, I'm sleeping better. My chiropractor says it's because it's helping my neurotransmitters work better to deal with stress." [1]
"...Definitely noticed calmer and more relaxed..." [2]
"...This worked on sleep because in inhibits cortisol induced by stress..." [3]
Speaking of sleep, anecdotally it's reported as increasing dream recall.
Performance vs Stress
In this and other studies, the human participants were subjected to various social and task-related performance demands in the testing environment. The interesting finding was that despite higher performance the stress levels of the participants did not increase proportionally.
This scientific observation demonstrates the true lifehacking value of supplementation; almost universally in our personal and professional lives, the cost of higher performance (productivity) is increased stress and all the demons that come with it. However, in these studies, the higher performance was achieved without higher stress.
[Phosphatidylserine] supplementation significantly increased cognitive function prior to exercise. Improved cognitive function could benefit athletes and non-athletes alike. [Phosphatidylserine] did not appear to affect mood or endocrine response prior to or following resistance exercise.
The Golfer's Nootropic
Interestingly one of the landmark human trials on phosphatidylserine focused on Golfers, apparently, the stress-reducing action resulted in a better golf game. To quote a study that appeared in 2007 in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
It is concluded that six weeks of Phosphatidylserine supplementation... significantly improves the number of good ball flights during tee-off which might result in improved golf scores.
Cognitive Enhancer
A 2011 American double-blind study done on athletes showed that supplementation of 400 Milligrams of the amino acid was a positive influence on cognition without influencing mood:
- Improved speed of calculations by 20%
- Improved accuracy (39% fewer wrong answers, 13% more right answers)
Phosphatidylserine supplementation significantly increased cognitive function prior to exercise. Improved cognitive function could benefit athletes and non-athletes alike. Phosphatidylserine did not appear to affect mood or endocrine response prior to or following resistance exercise.
This would imply that supplementation is a great idea for professionals whose day to day tasks are cognition intensive:
- Engineering
- Quantitative analysis
- Day trading
- Financial analysis
- Architectural design
- Accounting
- Programming
Vs ADHD
A 2013 Japanese double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 36 children demonstrated that 2 months of supplementation improved global symptoms of ADHD, auditory memory, and impulsiveness.
This means it decreased the 'distractibility' of children in the classroom, improved their retention and ability to repeat what was being taught, and decreased incidences of children acting impulsively. The bottom line is that parents with little monsters should consider 60 days of Phosphatidylserine before putting their children on amphetamine solutions like Ritalin or Adderall.
To quote the study:
Phosphatidylserine significantly improved ADHD symptoms and short-term auditory memory in children. Phosphatidylserine supplementation might be a safe and natural nutritional strategy for improving mental performance in young children suffering from ADHD.
A 2012 Israeli study showed that it was even more effective as a solution for ADHD when paired with Omega-3 or Krill oil supplementation.
The results of this 30-week study suggest that PS-Omega3 may reduce ADHD symptoms in children. Preliminary analysis suggests that this treatment may be especially effective in a subgroup of hyperactive-impulsive, emotionally and behaviorally-dysregulated ADHD children.
Vs Cognitive Decline
Phosphatidylserine concentrations in the brain decline with age. There have been five double-blind human studies demonstrating that Phosphatidylserine supplementation is between mildly helpful and completely transformational for those suffering from Alzheimer's and Dementia.
To quote the verified Amazon review of one long term user of the supplement:
"This product has cleared a fuzzyness in my head along with noticeable memory improvement in only 3 weeks. I have a friend, who was head researcher at the Pentagon for 12 yrs. that used this on her alzheimers husband (100mg x 3 daily for 3 months then 1 x a day). I met her husband 3 years ago and he was really challenged with beginning advanced alzheimers.
Today, he is totally cured of the symptoms and she claims is was the benefit of a prayer miracle and Phosphatidylserine. Good luck to all who try this. My two older sisters passed away with this horrible symptom and I'm using Phosphatidylserine as of 3 weeks ago and see memory improvement already. God bless all."
Memory Enhancement
It's been demonstrated in 3 human studies to augment general memory and working memory in another double-blind study. To quote another Japanese study:
...phosphatidylserine (SB-tPS) is already known to improve the learning ability of aged... These results suggest that repeated administration of [phosphatidylserine] SB-tPS could enhance the learning ability of normal adult[s]
While this 2005 Japanese animal study indicated a true Nootropic effect on the memory of healthy adults the majority of human studies only documented memory improvements in the elderly or subjects suffering from cognitive decline. From the abstract of the Japanese study:
...phosphatidylserine (SB-tPS) is already known to improve the learning ability of aged or drug-induced amnesic...
In this study, its effect on normal adult rodents was evaluated using several learning tasks...
These results suggest that repeated administration of SB-tPS could enhance the learning ability of normal adult rodents as those of aged ones.
The conclusion I've reached, therefore is that Phosphatidylserine does benefit memory but if your sole aim is to improve your already completely healthy memory other Nootropics will give you a better bang for your buck.
Sources
Like many other Nootropics that come from the natural world, seafood, particularly herring and mackerel are good sources of Phosphatidylserine. A more dubious source is sunflower oil.
It's regarded as one of the more expensive brain supplements with monthly supplies costing +$25 and in premium Nootropic stacks that cost up to $100/monthly. To quote one Biohacker on Longecity:
"I actually have taken it before and it helps a ton with just about everything, from coordination to visual thinking to slashing stress, but its cost is very prohibitive. It's one of the most expensive nootropics I've ever dabbled with..."
Downloadable Phosphatidylserine?
You may be interested in taking it as an infoceutical - a non-pharmacological, side-effect-free version of the supplement that takes advantage of the phenomenon of water memory - which is imprinted on water via quantum collocation and electromagnetism using this device...
Infocueticals typically have 1/3 or half the effect of the actual medicine being imprinted. If you're skeptical of Infopathy that's understandable, it's a game-changing application of a little-known scientific phenomenon. But I'd urge you to evaluate the scientific evidence (presented in my biohacker review) that downloadable medicine is no longer science fiction...
Recommended Daily
200-400 milligrams three times daily
Cofactors
A significant amount of data from the human studies suggest that concurrent Omega-3 Fish oil and Krill Oil supplementation is very important to maximize the Biohacking value from Phosphatidylserine.
A 2007 study by the University of Northumbria suggested a synergistic effect with Ginkgo Biloba. To quote the placebo-controlled, multi-dose, double-blind, balanced-crossover design study:
Complexation with phosphatidylserine appears to potentiate the cognitive effects associated with a low dose of Ginkgo Biloba.
Side Effects
Supplementing +300 Milligrams may result in stomach upset or insomnia. There are some concerns with the transmission of mad cow disease because some Phosphatidylserine is derived from Bovine cortexes. However, there are virtually no documented cases of this happening according to WebMD.com.
Conflicts: Fat or calorie blockers.
When to Expect Results...
What I'm hearing consistently from the scientific sources is that Phosphatidylserine supplementation begins making an impact at between 30-90 days. So not a Nootropic to expect instant results from!
Nootropic Stacks?
You'll notice that many of those fancy branded brain nutrient multivitamin products Nootropic stacks include Phosphatidylserine. This is not really how serious Biohackers supplement Nootropics:
- Nootropic stacks do not contain Phosphatidylserine in sufficient dosages.
- The Phosphatidylserine is not verified as a pharmaceutical-grade by analysis or spectroscopy.
- You cannot experiment with raising or lowering the dosage specifically.
I've tried a handful of these Nootropic stacks and while I found some of them to be performance-enhancing generally, I did not feel they imbued the long-term beneficial effects that the scientific literature discusses.
It's an ingredient in one of my all-time top favorite Nootropic Stacks, Neuro-Stack. Which has 100 milligrams of patented SharpPS GREEN® 60% from Sunflower.
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