With a rapidly aging US population, there's a growing demand for 'smart drugs,' or nootropics, which are meant to improve brain function.<br />The supplements are marketed as being able to 'enhance' the brain, promote creative thinking, and ward off cognitive decline and memory loss.<br />They've also become one of the fastest-growing segments of the supplement industry.<br />Now, Gizmodo reports new research from Harvard University shows such supplements often contain unapproved and potentially unsafe drugs.<br />The study detected in these 'brain-boosting' products ingredients unapproved by the US Food and Drug Administration.<br />It also found that these drugs could be in much higher doses than labeled, or in combinations that have never been tested in people.
