Verified
“Standardized to 50% bacosides.”
Printed on the Supplement Facts panel for the 1,000 mg extract per serving.
Nutricost Bacopa Monnieri 1,000 mg Review
SAC StudioBest High-DoseBUY
8.4/10SAC Product Score™
How the score breaks downHide breakdown
SAC Product Score™ — how it breaks down
- Studied Extract & Dose30%7.4
- Standardization Disclosure20%9.4
- Testing & Manufacturing20%8.8
- Formulation & Form15%8.2
- Value15%8.8
Buy it if you want a high-bacoside generic extract with testing; halve the dose
✓ Buy if…
- You want a printed 50 percent bacoside standard
- You want third-party testing and a vegetarian capsule at a low price
✗ Skip if…
- You want a clinically studied extract by name
- You have a sensitive stomach; bacopa's GI effects scale with dose
Read the full analysis
✓ Also buy if…
- You are happy to take one capsule instead of the two-capsule label serving
✗ Also skip if…
- You want the trial dose without doing arithmetic
Nutricost's bacopa is built for people who want numbers: 1,000 mg Bacopa monnieri herb extract standardized to 50 percent bacosides per two-capsule serving, 60 servings from 120 hypromellose capsules, with microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate, rice flour and silica as other ingredients. Non-GMO, gluten-free, vegetarian, third-party tested and GMP-compliant-facility seals are in the gallery. The catch is that 500 mg of bacosides a day is far beyond anything the trials gave.
How we built the SAC Product Score™ — 8.4/10
Studied Extract & Dose30%7.4/10
A generic extract at 1,000 mg per serving is more than three times the studied dose and not a named trial extract; a strong standard, but an untested amount.
Standardization Disclosure20%9.4/10
Standardized to 50 percent bacosides is printed on the panel, the second-highest declared standard on the list.
Testing & Manufacturing20%8.8/10
Third Party Tested, GMP compliant facility, non-GMO and gluten-free seals in the gallery; the lab is not named.
Formulation & Form15%8.2/10
Hypromellose capsule with microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate, rice flour and silica; vegetarian.
Value15%8.8/10
About $0.28 per two-capsule serving, or $0.14 if you take one capsule.
The product at a glance
- Form
- Hypromellose (cellulose) capsule
- Serving
- 2 capsules
- Count
- 120 capsules (60 servings)
- Per serving
- 1,000 mg Bacopa monnieri extract (herb)
- Standardization
- 50% bacosides (printed)
- Other ingredients
- Hypromellose capsule, microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate (vegetable source), rice flour, silica
- Seals
- Non-GMO, gluten-free, vegetarian, third party tested, GMP compliant facility (gallery)
- Cost per dose
- ~$0.28 per 2 capsules
Marketing claims vs. reality
Verified
“Third party tested.”
Third Party Tested and GMP compliant facility appear in the gallery quality seals; no lab is named.
Not verified
“Clinically studied dose.”
The label serving is 1,000 mg of a 50 percent extract; the memory trials used about 300 mg of standardized extract a day. No trial has tested this amount.
What our test actually found
01A lot of bacosides
Five hundred milligrams of bacosides a day is several times what the twelve-week trials delivered. More is not known to be better, and bacopa's nausea and cramping are dose-related; one capsule is the sensible serving.
02Good label discipline for a budget brand
A printed standard, a vegetarian capsule and third-party testing at fourteen to twenty-eight cents a day is more than most generic bacopas offer. The dose design is the only thing to argue with.
Pros & cons, no sugar-coating
Pros
- 50 percent bacosides printed
- Third-party tested, GMP, vegetarian capsule
- Cheap per milligram
- 120 capsules per bottle
Cons
- Label serving is three times the studied dose
- Generic extract, not a named trial material
- Five excipients
The high-dose generic, best taken at half the label
A well-labelled, tested, vegetarian bacopa whose serving size ignores the trials. Take one capsule a day and it becomes a sensible, cheap standardized extract. Take two and you are running an experiment nobody has published.
Affiliate link — Super Achiever Club earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.
If this doesn’t fit — try these
Doctor's Best Bacopa with Synapsa
9/10The clinically studied Synapsa extract at 320 mg with the bacoside standardization printed on the panel, in a vegan capsule for a third of a dollar a day — the complete package.
See it on the list →Swanson BaCognize Bacopa
8.7/10The BaCognize clinically studied extract at 250 mg, standardized to 12 percent bacopa glycosides, from a brand with NSF and UL GMP facilities, for sixteen cents a capsule; gelatin capsule, one to three a day.
See it on the list →Nootropics Depot Synapsa Bacopa
8.5/10The same clinically studied Synapsa extract at 320 mg, verified in the vendor's ISO 17025 lab, but with a maltodextrin filler and no bacoside percentage on the panel, at the highest price here.
See it on the list →Sources & further reading
- Calabrese C, et al. J Altern Complement Med. 2008;14(6):707-13.Calabrese C, Gregory WL, Leo M, Kraemer D, Bone K, Oken B · 2008 · Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine · PMID 18611150
Effects of a standardized Bacopa monnieri extract on cognitive performance, anxiety, and depression in the elderly: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Twelve weeks of 300 mg a day of a standardized Bacopa extract improved delayed word recall and reduced anxiety and heart rate in healthy older adults; increased stool frequency, cramping and nausea were the reported side effects.
- Kongkeaw C, et al. J Ethnopharmacol. 2014;151(1):528-35.Kongkeaw C, Dilokthornsakul P, Thanarangsarit P, Limpeanchob N, Norman Scholfield C · 2014 · Journal of Ethnopharmacology · PMID 24252493
Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials on cognitive effects of Bacopa monnieri extract
Pooling nine randomized trials with 518 participants, Bacopa extract improved speed of attention, shortening Trail B time and choice reaction time, with other cognitive domains showing smaller or inconsistent effects.