Like millions of other people, I initially bought Prevagen for my mom because I saw the convincing commercials on TV. I appreciate that the pills are small and that it includes Vitamin D, which is essential for older adults.

But what about the actual 90-day results? Honestly, they were incredibly disappointing. During my mom’s 90-day test with Prevagen, nothing changed. The brain fog was just as heavy, and she was still misplacing items around the house.

When I put my dietitian hat on and dug into the clinical research, I was shocked. Prevagen’s entire marketing is based on Apoaequorin, a protein originally found in jellyfish. But here is the biological truth: proteins are digested in the stomach. When you swallow Apoaequorin, your gastric acid immediately breaks it down into basic amino acids, just like a piece of chicken. There is virtually no evidence that this specific protein survives digestion to magically cross the blood-brain barrier.

And the physical reality of taking it was problematic. Not only did it fail to improve her memory, but my mom actually started complaining of mild, persistent headaches and occasional dizziness a few weeks into taking it—a side effect that, unfortunately, many other verified reviewers have also reported online.

In my professional opinion, Prevagen is an incredibly expensive placebo heavily relying on millions of dollars in TV advertising, rather than sound human biology.