Effects of a Multi-Ingredient Energy Supplement on Cognitive Performance and Cerebral-Cortical Activation.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Copper (Supplement) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

This study assessed whether a multi-ingredient energy supplement (MIES) could enhance cerebral-cortical activation and cognitive performance during an attention-switching task.

Cerebral-cortical activation was recorded in 24 young adults (12 males, 12 females; 22.8 ± 3.8 yrs) via electroencephalography (EEG) both at rest and during the attention-switching task before (pretest) and 30 min after (posttest) consumption of a single serving of a MIES (MIES-1), two servings of a MIES (MIES-2), or a placebo (PL) in a double-blinded, randomized crossover experimental design.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 24 adults taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are young adults and adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Because people in this Copper (Supplement) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Copper (Supplement) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Copper (Supplement) group a baseline to be compared against.

Each person switched between Copper (Supplement) and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

EEG upper-alpha power was assessed at rest and during the task, wherein d' (Z[hit rate]-Z[false alarm rate]) and median reaction time (RT) for correct responses to targets on attention-hold and attention-switch trials were analyzed.

What Was Measured

This study assessed whether a multi-ingredient energy supplement (MIES) could enhance cerebral-cortical activation and cognitive performance during an attention-switching task.

Cerebral-cortical activation was recorded in 24 young adults (12 males, 12 females; 22.8 ± 3.8 yrs) via electroencephalography (EEG) both at rest and during the attention-switching task before (pretest) and 30 min after (posttest) consumption of a single serving of a MIES (MIES-1), two servings of a MIES (MIES-2), or a placebo (PL) in a double-blinded, randomized crossover experimental design.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Attention, Caffeine, Cerebral Cortex, Cognition, Dietary Supplements, Drug Synergism and Electroencephalography.

Author keywords: L-theanine, brain activity and theacrine.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Copper (Supplement) in 24 adults.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 2019 (Journal of dietary supplements), a journal based in England.

More context: the Copper (Supplement) compound page, all human trials.