SynthesisNutrients2020
A Systematic Review of the Effect of Dietary Supplements on Cognitive Performance in Healthy Young Adults and Military Personnel.
Synthesis in Nutrients, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Mapping smart technologies and nutritional strategies for monitoring cognitive resilience in military personnel under extreme operational conditions: a scoping review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Caffeinated chewing gum improves military performances in special forces soldiers.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Trial
- Comparable improvements in selective, but not sustained, attention in response to a multi-ingredient nootropic formulation when compared with caffeine.European journal of nutrition · 2026Trial
- A caffeine and theacrine combination improves cognitive performance in tactical personnel under physically fatiguing conditions.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2025Trial
- Short-term Aronia melanocarpa extract supplementation improves cognitive performance: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study in healthy young adults.European journal of nutrition · 2024Trial
- Effects of Multi-Ingredient Pre-Workout Supplement and Caffeine on Bench Press Performance: A Single-Blind Cross-Over Study.Nutrients · 2022Trial
- Duckweed Proteins in Neuro-Nutrition: Mechanistic Insights and Translational Relevance for Military and Extreme Environments.Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2026Review
- Validity and reliability of ChatGPT's responses on dietary supplements in Japan: A quality assessment and content analysis.PEC innovation · 2026Article
- Between Deficiency and Excess: The Dual Role of Selected Dietary Supplements in Immune Health.Cureus · 2026Review
- Bisphenol A in the Urine: Association with Urinary Creatinine, Impaired Kidney Function, Use of Plastic Food and Beverage Storage Products but Not with Serum Anti-Müllerian Hormone in Ovarian Malignancies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- A comprehensive review of dietary supplements mission-specific health and performance enhancement in military soldiers.Food science and biotechnology · 2025Review
- Effect of a Plant-Based Nootropic Supplement on Perceptual Decision-Making and Brain Network Interdependencies: A Randomised, Double-Blinded, and Placebo-Controlled Study.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Impact of Long-Term Dietary High Fat and Eicosapentaenoic Acid on Behavior and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Activity in Amyloidogenic APPswe/PSEN1dE9 Mice.Neuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- International society of sports nutrition position stand: tactical athlete nutrition.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2022Article
- Potential Herb-Drug Interactions in the Management of Age-Related Cognitive Dysfunction.Pharmaceutics · 2021Review
- Effects of the Human Gut Microbiota on Cognitive Performance, Brain Structure and Function: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2020Review
- The Psychonauts' World of Cognitive Enhancers.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Intake of dietary supplements has increased, despite evidence that some of these have adverse side effects and uncertainty about their effectiveness. This systematic review examined the evidence for the cognitive benefits of a wide range of dietary supplements in healthy young adult samples; the aim was to identify if any might be useful for optimising cognitive performance during deployment in military personnel. Searches were conducted in 9 databases and 13 grey literature repositories for relevant studies published between January 2000 and June 2017. Eligible studies recruited healthy young adults (18-35 years), administered a legal dietary supplement, included a comparison control group, and assessed cognitive outcome(s). Thirty-seven of 394 identified studies met inclusion criteria and were included for synthesis. Most research was deemed of low quality (72.97%; SIGN50 guidelines), highlighting the need for sound empirical research in this area. Nonetheless, we suggest that tyrosine or caffeine could be used in healthy young adults in a military context to enhance cognitive performance when personnel are sleep-deprived. Caffeine also has the potential benefit of improving vigilance and attention during sustained operations offering little opportunity for sleep. Inconsistent findings and methodological limitations preclude firm recommendations about the use of other specific dietary supplements.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.