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Ingredient & advertising guide

This page has two jobs. First, it explains every line printed on the label of the spray we sell, what each ingredient is, and what the research does and does not say about it, including who was in each study and at what amount. Second, and this is the part most advertising pages leave out, it lists the headlines we run, tells you which ones are exaggerated, and separates the small number of things that are genuinely supported by evidence from the many that are not.

1. Our headlines, and what is actually true

These are the headlines we have run, grouped by the claim they make. The right-hand column is our own plain assessment. We have marked each family of headlines as Exaggerated, Partly true, Withdrawn, Our headline was wrong or Broadly supported.

The headline as you saw it	What is actually behind it
"Mental Decline Begins When Seniors Can't Spell These 3 Words. Test Now""Top Doctors Say Mental Decline Begins When Seniors Can't Pronounce These 3 Phrases. Can You?""Memory Decline Begins When Seniors Say These 3 Phrases (See The List)""Declining Memory Begins When Seniors Say These 7 Phrases. See Which Ones"	Exaggerated There is no set of three words, three phrases or seven phrases whose spelling or pronunciation marks the beginning of anything. Nothing "begins" at a word. Word tasks do appear inside the short memory checks clinicians use, but those checks are given in person and read alongside your history, what you take daily and your age. Failing a word online means nothing on its own: plenty of people stumble over a word when they are tired, nervous or being timed. "Top Doctors" refers to no specific person. See section 4.
"Japan's Oldest Doctors Say Memory Loss Isn't Age: Just Avoid Drinking These 3 Beverages""Japan's Greatest Doctors Say Memory Loss Isn't Age: Just Avoid Drinking These 3 Beverages""Japan's Oldest Doctors Say Memory Loss Isn't Age: Just Stop Eating These 3 Foods"	Exaggerated No group of Japanese doctors issued this statement. There is no such panel, no such list, and no source we can point you to. Japan appears in the headline because it is widely associated with long life, which makes the claim feel credible. That is a marketing decision, not a citation. The second half is also wrong. Memory changes with age for everyone, and no diet removes that. What is true is narrower: certain long-term drinking and eating patterns travel with faster slippage on thinking tests in large population studies. [1] [2] Association is not proof of cause, and "just avoid these three" is not how any of it works.
"Nobel Prize's Doctors Say Memory Loss Isn't Age: Just Stop Eating These 3 Foods"	Withdrawn We retract this one outright. No Nobel laureate has endorsed this page, this product, or any list of three foods on our behalf. Attaching the Nobel Prize to an advertisement implies an authority that does not exist and we should not have run it.
"The Overlooked Boxed Cereal Now Tied to 8 Out of 10 Memory Cases"	Our headline was wrong There is no such statistic. No study ties any cereal to eight out of ten cases of anything, "memory cases" is not a category any researcher uses, and no cereal has been "overlooked" by anyone: the sugar figure is printed on the side of every box. The number was invented for the headline and we withdraw it. The grain of truth is the same as for the other cereal headlines below: a diet heavy in ultra-processed food, the sweet cereal shelf included, travels in a large Brazilian study with somewhat faster slippage on thinking tests over eight years. [2] That is a modest association across thousands of people, not eight in ten of anyone. See section 3.
"Brain Experts Now Say These 3 Cereals Age the Brain Faster Than Time""Scientists Now Say This 1 Cereal Ages the Brain Faster Than Time"	Exaggerated No food ages the brain "faster than time." That phrase was written for effect and it is not a finding from any study. It is also internally inconsistent: in one version it is three cereals, in another it is one, because the number is something we test for click-through, not something anyone measured. The grain of truth: diets high in ultra-processed food are associated with somewhat faster slippage on thinking tests over years. [2] That is a modest effect across a population, not a fate sealed by a bowl of cereal. See section 3.
"Doctors Now Say This Popular Evening Drink Is Behind Memory Loss"	Partly true The "evening drink" is alcohol, and of everything our ads point at, this is where the evidence is strongest. In British civil servants followed for thirty years, higher drinking went with shrinkage of the hippocampus, the region most involved in forming memories, and with faster decline in word fluency; light drinkers had no edge over non-drinkers. [1] What is overstated is the word "behind." Alcohol is one contributing factor among many, not the cause of memory slips. Cutting back is a genuinely good idea. It is also worth saying plainly: the spray we sell contains no alcohol and no caffeine.
"Doctors Name 5 Popular Drinks Now Tied To Memory Decline. Coffee Tops The List""Seniors: These 4 Drinks May Be Aging Your Brain Faster""The 4 Drinks Brain Doctors Want Seniors to Quit""Doctors: 3 Popular Drinks Now Tied to Memory Loss in Seniors"	Exaggerated Notice that the count changes: three drinks, four, five. It changes because it is an advertising variable we rotate, not a number that came out of a study. No doctor is named in any version, because none was consulted. "Coffee Tops The List" is the clearest thing we have got wrong: none of the studies on this page is about plain coffee. The spray we sell contains no caffeine at all, so it neither adds to nor replaces your coffee. The Food and Drug Administration cites 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, two to three 12-ounce cups of brewed coffee, as an amount not generally associated with negative effects in most healthy adults. [3] See section 2.
"Brain Doctors: Quit These 4 Drinks Before It's Too Late"	Exaggerated No brain doctor was consulted for this headline, and there is no "too late." The deadline was invented to make you click. The four drinks are the ones in section 2: alcohol, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, energy drinks and sweetened coffee-shop drinks. Cutting back on them is sensible for your nights, your weight and your wallet, and heavy drinking travels with poorer memory outcomes over years. [1] There is no evidence that quitting them on any particular day changes anything about your memory, and there is no age after which the change stops being worth making. See section 2.
"Memory Slipping? Check These 4 Everyday Drinks First"	Partly true Half right, in the wrong order. If your memory is slipping, the first thing to check is not a drink; it is a conversation with your own clinician about your nights, your hearing and what you take daily, none of which is settled by changing what you pour. The four drinks are the everyday ones in section 2. Reviewing them is a reasonable second step. Not enough plain water belongs on the list too. [4] [5] See section 2.
"America's Top Experts Say Mental Decline Isn't Aging: Just Avoid These 5 Kitchen Drinks"	Exaggerated The same construction as the "Japan's doctors" headline above, with the country changed. No panel of American experts issued this statement, and we cannot point you to one. Memory changes with age, and no drink removes that. The five kitchen drinks are alcohol, sugar-sweetened sodas, diet sodas, energy drinks and sweetened coffee-shop drinks, all in section 2, where the honest version of each is written out. "Just avoid" overstates what any of that evidence shows.
"Still Sharp at 90? Seniors Are Rethinking These 3 Everyday Foods"	Partly true The gentlest of our headlines, and still an overstatement. Nobody knows what keeps a particular person sharp at 90, and no single food does it. The three everyday foods are sugary breakfast cereals, processed meats and packaged baked goods, all in section 3. Eating less of them is part of the long, slow habits in section 5, and no food is a promise at any age.
"It Tastes Like an Energy Drink, and There Is No Caffeine in It"	Broadly supported This is the headline of our own article about the spray, and both halves are printed on its box. The seller describes the flavor as an "energy-drink taste," and the front of the box says "Caffeine-Free"; caffeine does not appear on the ingredient list. The headline does not say the spray gives you what an energy drink gives you, and it could not: the alertness people feel from coffee or a can comes from caffeine, [6] and there is none in this bottle. The taste comes from xylitol, a flavoring and citric acid. What the spray does carry with a number is 0.9 mg of vitamin B5, whose European sentence only says the vitamin contributes to normal mental performance, [7] and two plant extracts in fractions of a milligram. See section 6.
"Neurologists Name 5 Popular Prescriptions Now Tied to Memory Decline"	Partly true, and the one not to act on alone No neurologist named a list for us, and we will not print one. What is true is that pharmacists keep lists of everyday products, some sold over the counter, that are often a poor fit after 65, and that a yearly look at everything you take is worth having. But an advertisement is the worst possible reason to change anything a clinician gave you: never stop or change it because of something you read in an ad, including ours. Put everything you take in one bag, this bottle included, and ask your pharmacist. See the box at the end of section 2.

2. Every drink our ads point at

Our headlines have referred, in different versions, to "3 beverages", "4 drinks", "5 popular drinks" and "this popular evening drink" without ever naming them. Here is the complete list of what we were pointing at, and what the research actually supports for each one. Where a study is cited, it is observational unless stated otherwise: it can show that two things travel together in a population, not that one causes the other.

3. Every food our ads point at

The food headlines referred to "3 foods" and to "cereals": one cereal in some versions, three in others. Again, the number was ours, not a finding. Here is what was meant, and what stands behind it.

4. The "3 words" and "7 phrases" tests

Several of our headlines invite you to test yourself on words or phrases: spell these three words, pronounce these three phrases, see whether you say these seven phrases. There is no such validated test, and we cannot give you a real one, because a real one does not work that way.

What an actual memory check looks like. Clinicians use short structured checks. They do include word tasks: recalling three unrelated words after a delay, naming animals, repeating a sentence. But three things make them different from an online quiz:

• They are given in person, in a standard way, by someone trained to do it.
• The score is read against your age and education, not against a fixed pass mark.
• A low score is a reason for a longer conversation with your clinician, never a verdict by itself.

These checks also produce false alarms. A bad night, trouble hearing, and simply being nervous all lower scores in people whose memory is fine. This is precisely why an online word quiz is meaningless: it has none of the context that makes the real check useful.

5. Everyday habits worth more than any bottle

If we only had one section to be useful in, this would be it. None of these is a supplement, a bottle, or a list of three foods, and none of them can be sold to you by us.

• Sleep enough, at regular hours, and keep caffeine to the morning.
• Get your hearing and your eyesight checked, and use hearing aids or glasses if you need them: straining to hear or see looks a great deal like not remembering.
• Walk, most days. Regular walking counts.
• Drink enough plain water. Being measurably short of it travelled with poorer processing speed in 1,111 older Berliners. ^{[4] [5]}
• Drink less alcohol. ^[1]
• Eat more like the MIND pattern and less from the ultra-processed shelf. ^{[12] [2]}
• Stay in touch with people. Conversation is exercise for memory.
• Keep learning something: a language, an instrument, a route you have never driven.
• Once a year, take everything you take to the pharmacist.
• Ask your clinician for a B12 level if nobody has checked it in a few years; the stomach absorbs less of it with age. ^[13]

These are unglamorous. They cannot be delivered in a headline, they take years, and they are, by a wide margin, the most useful things on this entire page.

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6. Ingredient guide: what is actually in the spray we sell

What each line printed on the label of EnergyBalance® Focus Brain is, what it is traditionally used for, and what the cited research says, including who was in each study and at what amount. The daily dose is five presses, and every amount below is for those five presses together. Three notes on the label itself, which you should read before the entries below. The vitamin B5 line reads 0.9 mg, which is 15 percent of the European reference value of 6 mg, the amount a food needs to count as a source of the vitamin, ^[14] and 18 percent of the US Daily Value of 5 mg. ^[15] It is the only ingredient with an approved European health sentence: that pantothenic acid contributes to normal mental performance. ^[7] The sage and bacopa lines give only marker compounds, not extract weights: 0.0144 mg of sage monoterpenes (the seller's product listing prints 0.144 mg; we follow the label) and 0.072 mg of bacopa glycosides. For scale, the sage trial in adults over 65 used a single 333 mg dose of a standardized extract, ^[16] and the bacopa trials in adults over 55 used 300 mg a day of a standardized extract for twelve weeks. ^{[17] [18]}

Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)

A water-soluble vitamin that helps turn food into energy and is involved in making and breaking down fats. Adults are advised to get about 5 mg a day: the US Daily Value printed on labels is 5 mg, ^[15] and the European reference value is 6 mg. ^[14]

Traditional and everyday use. Present in almost all foods: meat, eggs, milk, mushrooms, avocados, whole grains. Deficiency is very rare.

What the research says. No study has tested pantothenic acid for memory or attention in healthy adults; there is nothing to cite. The European Union does authorise the sentence "pantothenic acid contributes to normal mental performance" (and "to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue") on labels of foods that are at least a source of the vitamin, ^[7] on the basis of the vitamin's established role in the body, not on a trial of any product or of extra vitamin in people who already get enough. "Normal" is the operative word: the sentence describes what the vitamin does in everyone, not an improvement.

Amount per serving in Focus Brain. 0.9 mg per daily dose of 5 sprays (18% of the US Daily Value (5 mg); 15% of the EU reference value (6 mg))

Good to know. Safe even at high doses; very high supplement doses (such as 10,000 mg a day) can cause stomach upset and diarrhea.

Sage (Salvia officinalis), aerial parts

A small evergreen shrub of the mint family with gray-green, velvety leaves, native to the Mediterranean and grown in kitchen gardens across the world; one of the most familiar cooking herbs. The FDA lists sage among spices generally recognized as safe for their intended use in food.

Traditional and everyday use. In European herbal tradition sage leaf has been used for a sore mouth or throat, mild digestive complaints and excessive sweating; the European Medicines Agency's herbal monograph accepts those uses on the basis of long-standing use, not clinical proof, and does not list memory among them. In the kitchen it flavors stuffing, sausages, beans and brown butter.

What the research says. In a placebo-controlled five-way crossover trial of 20 healthy adults over 65 (average age 73), a single 333 mg dose of a standardized sage leaf extract was associated with better secondary-memory performance across the day and better accuracy of attention compared with placebo; other doses helped less.^[16] In 30 healthy young adults, single doses of 300 mg and 600 mg of dried sage leaf were associated with better self-rated mood, and the 600 mg dose with better performance on a multitasking battery.^[19] Both were single doses on a single day; nobody has tested sage taken for months, and nobody has tested it in a five-herb liquid blend or in a spray that delivers a fraction of a milligram of its compounds.

Amount per serving in Focus Brain. 0.0144 mg of monoterpenes per daily dose (the listing says 0.144 mg) (amount of extract not stated; both extracts together give 0.126 mg of total polyphenols)

Good to know. Culinary amounts are widely used. Sage leaf contains thujone; the European Medicines Agency's monograph reports that sage oil equivalent to more than 15 g of leaf can cause a sensation of heat, rapid heartbeat, dizziness and serious nervous-system effects, and states that safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding has not been established. The product's own label says to seek medical advice before taking it during pregnancy. Talk to your doctor before use if you take anything daily.

Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri, water hyssop), whole plant

A creeping perennial of wet ground and pond edges across India, with small oblong leaves and white to pale purple flowers. In some parts of India the name "brahmi" is also given to gotu kola, which is a different plant; some products list both.

Traditional and everyday use. One of the best-known plants of Ayurvedic practice, traditionally associated with memory, calm and sleep.

What the research says. This is the one ingredient on the tin with trials in the right age group. In 54 healthy adults aged 65 and older, 300 mg a day of a standardized extract for 12 weeks was associated with better delayed word recall and better performance on a task of ignoring distractions than placebo, with no effect on divided attention or working memory.^[17] In 98 healthy adults over 55, the same daily amount for 12 weeks was associated with better verbal learning and delayed recall, while other measures did not differ.^[18] A meta-analysis of nine such trials found faster performance on two attention-speed tests, by milliseconds, and called for a large well-designed trial.^[20] All of that used standardized extracts in tablets for at least three months. A pinch of dried plant steeped in a twelve-ingredient tea blend, or a fraction of a milligram of glycosides in a spray, is not the same thing, and nobody has tested either.

Amount per serving in Focus Brain. 0.072 mg of bacopa glycosides per daily dose (amount of extract not stated)

Good to know. The trials reported more stomach upset, looser stools, cramps and nausea than placebo.^[18] Reference texts advise caution for anyone who takes anything daily for the body's own hormones, note it may slow the heart rate, and note it can affect how the organ that processes what you swallow handles some medicines. Talk to your doctor before use if you take anything daily.

Xylitol (sweetener)

A sugar substitute, a sugar alcohol about as sweet as table sugar, made from plant fibre (birch wood or corn cobs) and used in sugar-free gum, mints, candy, baked goods, toothpaste, mouthwash, vitamins and dietary supplements. ^[8]

Traditional and everyday use. A sweetener, nothing more. In the Focus Brain spray it is the second ingredient by weight after water and gives the "energy-drink" taste without sugar or caffeine.

What the research says. Nothing to cite for memory or attention; it is a sweetener.

Amount per serving in Focus Brain. amount not stated (second ingredient by weight after water; the label warns that too much can be laxative)

Good to know. Large amounts are laxative; the product's own label says so, and five sprays a day is a small amount. Xylitol is dangerous to dogs: the FDA warns that in a dog it is absorbed quickly and can trigger a potent insulin release and a rapid, profound drop in glucose within 10 to 60 minutes, whereas in people it does not stimulate insulin. ^[8] Keep the bottle where the dog cannot get it.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This information does not constitute medical advice and it should not be relied upon as such. This product is not a substitute for medication or other treatment prescribed by a physician or health care provider. Consult your doctor before starting any dietary supplement.

7. What we can and cannot promise

Set against the headlines that brought you here, this is the complete and honest position.

Things we cannot promise, and that nobody selling you a supplement can:

• That this spray will improve your memory, your attention or your concentration.
• That it will stop memory from changing with age.
• That it offsets alcohol, sugar, processed food, or any drink or food named on this page.
• That it can replace anything a clinician gave you, or make a yearly look at everything you take unnecessary.
• That any doctor in Japan, any Nobel laureate, any neurologist or any "brain expert" recommends it. None has.
• That a word or phrase quiz can tell you anything about your brain.
• That the sage or bacopa reach the amounts used in their research. The label gives thousandths and hundredths of a milligram of their marker compounds, while the trials used hundreds of milligrams of extract. ^{[16] [17]}
• That extra vitamin B5 will do anything for a man who is not short of it. The European sentence says the vitamin contributes to normal mental performance, ^[7] and a Cochrane review of fourteen trials of other B vitamins in 27,882 adults with no cognitive problems found little or no effect on overall thinking up to five years. ^[21]
• That the spray is absorbed faster through the mouth. The seller says so on its listing, cites nothing, and we could not find a measurement for this product.

Things we can say honestly:

• It is a 25-milliliter spray made and sold by EnergyBalance SA, Via della Salina 2, Muralto, Switzerland, taken as five presses into the mouth once a day, about 150 presses to a bottle.
• Every line printed on the label is listed above: water, xylitol, xanthan gum, sage extract, bacopa extract, flavoring, citric acid and vitamin B5, with amounts for the vitamin and for two marker compounds.
• Its only health sentence is the European Union's approved wording for vitamin B5, and the bottle holds exactly the amount of B5 that allows it to be printed. ^{[7] [14]}
• It contains no caffeine, no sugar and no alcohol, and it is vegan and gluten-free according to its label.
• The seller's European store ships only within the European Union. Buyers in the United States are sent to the seller's Swiss store, which ships worldwide and calculates shipping at checkout.
• The seller publishes no refund promise. Under the European 14-day right to cancel, its policy accepts food supplements back only if they are intact, unopened and with the seal unbroken, and the buyer pays the return shipping to Germany.
• The company publishes its street address, a telephone number in Switzerland (+41 91 942 88 88) and an email address (hello@energybalance.com), and its legal notice gives its commercial register number.
• The seller's page had no customer reviews when we read it, so we quote none.
• We print no price, because the seller sets it and it changes.
• We earn a commission if you buy. That is our interest in this, stated plainly.
• Nothing here is medical advice, and none of it replaces your own clinician.

8. Questions people ask us

Did a Japanese doctor, a Nobel laureate or a neurologist really say this?

No. Those attributions are advertising language. No named or identifiable expert made those statements, and none has endorsed this product.

So is coffee bad for my memory or not?

None of the studies on this page is about plain coffee, and our "Coffee Tops The List" headline overstated it. What is worth watching is added sugar in coffee drinks, and caffeine late enough in the day to cost you a night. The Food and Drug Administration cites 400 milligrams of caffeine a day as an amount not generally associated with negative effects in most healthy adults. ^[3] The spray we sell contains no caffeine.

Should I stop something because of your "5 prescriptions" headline?

No. Not on your own, and not because of an advertisement. Take everything you take to your pharmacist and ask whether anything is a poor fit for your age.

Which line on the label has the best support?

The vitamin B5 line, in a narrow sense. Its sentence comes from the European Union's approved list and only says the vitamin contributes to normal mental performance. ^[7] It is not a promise that more of it will change anything.

Why does the label give such small numbers for the herbs?

It declares marker compounds rather than the weight of each extract: 0.0144 mg of sage monoterpenes and 0.072 mg of bacopa glycosides for five presses. The trials used hundreds of milligrams of extract. ^{[16] [17]}

Is there anything in it that might upset my stomach?

The label says too much xylitol can be laxative, which is one reason not to go past five presses a day. Bacopa's own trials, at far higher amounts, reported stomach upset as the commonest side effect. ^{[17] [18]}

Can I order it from the United States, and can I send it back?

Not from the seller's European store, which ships only within the European Union; its Swiss store ships worldwide. Only sealed, unopened bottles can be returned, at the buyer's cost: write to hello@energybalance.com or call +41 91 942 88 88.

Are there any customer reviews?

Not when we read the seller's page. We quote none, and we have not borrowed any from elsewhere.

If your own headlines are exaggerated, why should I believe this page?

A fair question. Do not take our word for it. The references below are real, published sources you can look up yourself, and nothing in sections 4 and 5 requires you to buy anything or trust us. If this page and our headlines disagree, believe this page.

Can I check these claims myself?

Yes, and you should. Every numbered reference below can be found by searching its authors and journal. For general information, the National Institute on Aging (nia.nih.gov) publishes plain-language material and sells nothing.

References

These are the sources behind the claims marked with a number above. Several are observational studies, which can show association but not cause. The studies of sage and bacopa tested one ingredient at a time, in other people, at amounts far above anything in this spray; one of the sage studies was run in young adults. The regulations and fact sheets are the governments' own. None of them tested this spray. We have deliberately not cited anything for the claims we describe as exaggerated, because there is nothing to cite.

1. Topiwala A. et al. (2017). BMJ 357:j2353 doi.org
2. Gonçalves N.G. et al. (2023). JAMA Neurology 80(2):142-150 doi.org
3. US FDA Consumer Update. "Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?" (updated 2024-08-28) fda.gov
4. Mantantzis K. et al. (2020). Psychology and Aging 35(4):517-528 doi.org
5. Edmonds C.J. et al. (2021). Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 95:104380 doi.org
6. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (2015). Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine. EFSA Journal 13(5):4102 doi.org
7. European Commission (2012). Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012, Annex (list of permitted health claims) eur-lex.europa.eu
8. US Food and Drug Administration. "Paws Off Xylitol; It's Dangerous for Dogs" (consumer update, 2025-12-17) fda.gov
9. Cao Q. et al. (2025). International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 76(4):370-380 doi.org
10. NIH NCCIH. "Green Tea" (updated February 2025) nccih.nih.gov
11. Poly C. et al. (2011). American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 94(6):1584-1591 doi.org
12. Barnes L.L. et al. (2023). New England Journal of Medicine 389(7):602-611 doi.org
13. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. "Vitamin B12: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals" (updated July 2, 2025) ods.od.nih.gov
14. European Parliament and Council (2011). Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex XIII Part A (points 1 and 2) eur-lex.europa.eu
15. US Food and Drug Administration. "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels" (content current as of 2024-03-05) fda.gov
16. Scholey A.B. et al. (2008). Psychopharmacology 198(1):127-139 doi.org
17. Calabrese C. et al. (2008). Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 14(6):707-713 doi.org
18. Morgan A., Stevens J. (2010). Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 16(7):753-759 doi.org
19. Kennedy D.O. et al. (2006). Neuropsychopharmacology 31(4):845-852 doi.org
20. Kongkeaw C. et al. (2014). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 151(1):528-535 doi.org
21. Rutjes A.W.S. et al. (2018). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CD011906 doi.org

Citing a study does not mean the study is about this product. The studies above tested one ingredient at a time, at amounts far above this spray, not the spray itself; none of the research tested EnergyBalance® Focus Brain, and none of it supports it.

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