What is in Cognizil

Twenty-two dietary ingredients are named on this label. One of them carries a number. The other twenty-one share a single figure, so the only honest way to write this page is to put the researched dose beside each name and let the arithmetic speak.

Last updated September 22, 2026By Cognizil Editorial Desk

Quick answer

Twenty-two dietary ingredients are named. One carries a figure: chromium, 7 mcg. The other twenty-one share 15.47 mg and the split is not disclosed.

Eleven of those twenty-one are marked as 20:1 concentrates and ten as 10:1. Grant both the ceiling and the ratio and fourteen of the sixteen with a researched dose still fall short.

One of twenty-two

The quantified line

Chromium is the only dietary ingredient on this label with its own milligram figure.

The only two lines on this panel that carry a number of their own. The Daily Value is the FDA's current figure for adults.
Line	Per serving	% Daily Value	The Daily Value	What to notice
Calories	0	—	—	a liquid with no meaningful energy content
Chromium as Chromium Picolinate	7 mcg	20%*	35 µg	the only quantified dietary ingredient on the panel, and its arithmetic is correct

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Seven micrograms of chromium, from chromium picolinate. The label prints 20% of the Daily Value beside it, which does not follow from the FDA's own figure: the Daily Value for chromium is 35 µg, and 7 µg of 35 µg is 20%. That one checks out.

What the number does not tell you is whether 7 µg does anything. The Office of Dietary Supplements puts adequate intake for adult men at 30 to 35 µg a day and notes that frank chromium deficiency is rare outside of long-term parenteral nutrition. Seven micrograms is a fifth of a day's intake added on top of a diet that already supplies it.

Why this line is here at all

A Supplement Facts panel needs at least one quantified dietary ingredient to look like a panel. Chromium is cheap, it has an established Daily Value, and a 20% figure reads well. We are not saying that is why it is on this label. We are saying the label gives a reader no way to rule it out.

The blend

The other twenty-one

Printed in descending order of weight, as the regulation requires, and with no weight given for any of them.

#1 of 21 in the blendMaca Root ExtractLepidium meyeniiThe heaviest thing in the blend, studied mostly for libido, and even then the systematic review called the evidence too limited for firm conclusions.4.8× short, best caseCeiling 15.47 mgStudied at 1.5 to 3.5 g a day

#2 of 21 in the blendAfrican Mango Seed ExtractIrvingia gabonensisA weight-loss ingredient. A systematic review of its trials found none reported proper randomisation or allocation concealment.3.9× short, best caseCeiling 7.74 mgStudied at 150 mg twice a day, so 300 mg

#3 of 21 in the blendGrape Seed ExtractVitis viniferaOne of only two ingredients here that reaches a researched dose, and only on the most generous possible reading of the label.Reaches its lowest studied doseCeiling 5.16 mgStudied at 100 to 2,000 mg a day

#4 of 21 in the blendGuarana Seed ExtractPaullinia cupanaThe other ingredient that reaches its lowest studied dose. The meta-analysis of guarana and cognition found an effect on response time and nothing on accuracy.Reaches its lowest studied doseCeiling 3.87 mgStudied at 37.5 to 500 mg a day

#5 of 21 in the blendEleuthero Root ExtractEleutherococcus senticosusThe one controlled trial we read gave 120 mg a day for eight weeks and concluded the effects were, if any, negligible.1.5× short, best caseCeiling 3.09 mgStudied at 90 to 180 mg of dry aqueous extract

#6 of 21 in the blendAstragalus Root ExtractAstragalus membranaceusNot a cognitive ingredient in any source we opened. Cochrane's review of it in kidney disease could not draw definitive conclusions.9.7× short, best caseCeiling 2.58 mgStudied at 500 mg a day

#7 of 21 in the blendGreen Tea Leaf ExtractCamellia sinensisEuropean regulators found that 800 mg of EGCG a day or more, for four months or longer, raised liver enzymes in some people. That is a ceiling, not a target.No verified dose to compareCeiling 2.21 mgStudied at no cognition dose we could verify

#8 of 21 in the blendGymnema Leaf ExtractGymnema sylvestreNIH's LiverTox entry says the overall effectiveness in treating diabetes has not been shown. It has nothing to do with cognition.10× short, best caseCeiling 1.93 mgStudied at 400 mg a day

#9 of 21 in the blendForskohlii Root ExtractColeus forskohliiThe human evidence is two twelve-week trials with 23 and 30 people. The one in women was a straightforward null.15× short, best caseCeiling 1.72 mgStudied at 500 mg a day of a 10% extract

#10 of 21 in the blendCayenne Pepper Fruit ExtractCapsicum annuumThe panel does not state a capsaicin content, so the studied dose cannot be matched to this label at all. No verdict.No verified dose to compareCeiling 1.55 mgStudied at capsaicin is studied at roughly 2 to 150 mg a day

#11 of 21 in the blendGrapefruit SeedCitrus paradisiTwo peer-reviewed analyses found that commercial grapefruit seed extract products owed their activity to synthetic preservatives rather than to grapefruit. This ingredient gets its own section.No verified dose to compareCeiling 1.41 mgStudied at no human dose we could verify

#12 of 21 in the blendPanax Ginseng Root ExtractPanax ginsengOne of the few genuinely cognitive ingredients on the label — and one of the few carrying no extract-ratio claim, so it gets no multiplier.155× short, best caseCeiling 1.29 mgStudied at 200 to 400 mg a day of standardised extract

#13 of 21 in the blendRaspberry Ketonesfrom Rubus idaeusThere is no human trial of raspberry ketones at supplement doses. The evidence is cell and rodent work, and the rodent doses do not translate.No verified dose to compareCeiling 1.19 mgStudied at no human trial at supplement doses exists

#14 of 21 in the blendL-Glutaminean amino acidDosed in grams in every trial. The ceiling here is about a thousandth of that.4,525× short, best caseCeiling 1.1 mgStudied at 5 g in a single post-exercise dose

#15 of 21 in the blendL-Tyrosinean amino acidThe most defensible cognitive ingredient on this label by mechanism, and the one whose studied dose is furthest away.6,787× short, best caseCeiling 1.03 mgStudied at 100 mg per kilogram, so about 7 g for a 70 kg adult

#16 of 21 in the blendL-Argininean amino acidTrials run from five grams upward. Thirteen grams caused considerable gastrointestinal distress; the ceiling here is under a milligram.5,171× short, best caseCeiling 0.97 mgStudied at 5 to 30 g a day

#17 of 21 in the blendBeta Alaninean amino acidThe International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand is unusually specific about the dose, which makes the gap easy to measure.4,396× short, best caseCeiling 0.91 mgStudied at 4 to 6 g a day for at least two to four weeks

#18 of 21 in the blendMonoammonium Glycyrrhizinatefrom licoriceThis is a flavouring. Its relevant number is a safety ceiling of about 100 mg a day, and the amount here is far below it — which is the one piece of good news on this list.No verified dose to compareCeiling 0.86 mgStudied at used as a flavour agent, not at a therapeutic dose

#19 of 21 in the blendGABAgamma-aminobutyric acidThe systematic review is blunt: there are no data showing that orally taken GABA crosses the blood–brain barrier in humans.2.5× short, best caseCeiling 0.81 mgStudied at from 2.01 mg in stress studies; 100 to 300 mg for sleep

#20 of 21 in the blendL-Tryptophanan amino acidThe meta-analysis split its trials at one gram. The ceiling here is 0.774 milligrams.1,293× short, best caseCeiling 0.77 mgStudied at 1 g a day or more

#21 of 21 in the blendL-Carnitine HClan amino acid derivativeThe lightest ingredient on the label. Its ceiling is three quarters of a milligram against a lowest studied dose of 250.339× short, best caseCeiling 0.74 mgStudied at 0.25 to 6 g a day, mostly 1 to 4 g

Each card carries the position the ingredient holds on the label, the extract ratio the label's own footnote symbol assigns to it, the dose the published research used, and the ceiling that position allows. Nothing in those cards was estimated. The ceiling is arithmetic, the dose is a citation, and where we could not verify a dose we say so rather than filling the gap.

How the ceilings are derived →Why a blend can hide this →

Extract ratios

Reading the two footnote marks

Eleven names on this panel carry a caret. Ten carry an asterisk. The footnotes define them: a caret means the ingredient came from a concentrate with a 20:1 extract equivalent, an asterisk means 10:1.

An extract ratio is a manufacturing statement, not a potency claim. 20:1 says twenty kilograms of raw plant went into one kilogram of extract. It does not say the active constituents concentrated twenty times, and for most botanicals they do not: water-soluble material concentrates, fibre and starch are discarded, and the marker compound ends up somewhere the ratio does not predict.

A 2022 review of extract ratio declarations makes the point that the native ratio only becomes meaningful alongside the solvent, the plant part and a marker assay. This label gives none of the three. We still grant the full ratio on the best-case page, because granting it and watching the numbers fall short anyway is a stronger argument than disputing it.

The two marks, as the label defines them.
Mark	Footnote	How many names carry it
^	Sourced from a concentrate with a 20:1 extract equivalent	11
*	Sourced from a concentrate with a 10:1 extract equivalent	10
*	Percent Daily Value based on a 2,000 calorie diet	1 — the chromium line

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One symbol, two meanings

The asterisk does double duty on this panel. It marks the chromium line's percent Daily Value footnote, and it marks ten blend ingredients as 10:1 concentrates. A reader who follows the asterisk from L-Glutamine lands on a sentence about a 2,000 calorie diet. That is a typesetting fault, not a compliance fault, and it is the kind of thing a second proof would have caught.

Other Ingredients

The inactive ingredients

The label's Other Ingredients line reads: Water, Natural flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Stevia, Xylitol, Citrus Extract.

Water: The carrier. A liquid supplement is mostly this.
Natural flavors: Undefined by law beyond the source being natural. No allergen statement accompanies it here.
Potassium sorbate: A preservative. Standard in liquid supplements and in soft drinks.
Stevia: A sweetener from Stevia rebaudiana. No calories.
Xylitol: A sugar alcohol, also a sweetener. See the warning below.
Citrus extract: Unspecified. Not the same entry as the grapefruit seed in the blend, and the label does not say what it is for.

Xylitol and dogs

Xylitol is severely toxic to dogs at small doses. A 30 ml bottle of sweetened liquid on a kitchen counter is exactly the kind of thing a dog will get into. The label carries no pet warning. Keep it closed and out of reach, and call a vet immediately if a dog swallows any.

The gaps

What the label does not tell you

The weight of any single blend ingredient.
The standardisation of any extract — no ginsenoside percentage, no EGCG figure, no capsaicin figure, no forskolin figure.
The plant part for several entries where it matters.
The caffeine content, although guarana is on the list.
Whether the grapefruit seed material was tested for the synthetic preservatives repeatedly found in commercial grapefruit seed extract.
Any allergen statement.
The solvent used for any extraction.

None of those omissions is illegal. A proprietary blend declaration that lists its ingredients in descending order and gives a total is a compliant declaration. Legal and informative are different standards, and this page is written to the second one.

The full panel, transcribed →The grapefruit seed question →Cautions and interactions →

See the Cognizil packs

Two, three or six bottles, priced plainly, with a 180-day window on the sales page kits. Read the best case first, then decide.

See the price Read the best case

Shipping is calculated at checkout. This site publishes no figure it was not given.

Sources

References

Every source below was opened and read. Nothing here cites a study we did not read, and no identifier on this site was written from memory.

U.S. Government Publishing Office21 CFR 101.36 — Nutrition labeling of dietary supplements — eCFR.gov · source
U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationDietary Supplement Labeling Guide: Chapter IV, Nutrition Labeling — FDA.gov · source
U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationDaily Value and Percent Daily Value: Changes on the New Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels — FDA.gov · source
U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationGrapefruit Juice and Some Drugs Don’t Mix — FDA.gov · source
U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationFDA Calls on Certain Firms to Stop Producing and Issuing Misleading ‘FDA Registration Certificates’ — FDA.gov · source
Booker, Frommenwiler, Reich et al. — 2022Understanding plant to extract ratios in botanical extracts — Frontiers in Pharmacology · DOI 10.3389/fphar.2022.981978 · source
Shin, Lee, Yang, Lim & Ernst — 2010Maca (L. meyenii) for improving sexual function: a systematic review — BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine · PMID 20691074 · source
Ngondi, Etoundi, Nyangono et al. — 2009IGOB131, a novel seed extract of the West African plant Irvingia gabonensis, significantly reduces body weight and improves metabolic parameters in overweight humans — Lipids in Health and Disease · PMID 19254366 · source
Centre for Reviews and DisseminationThe efficacy of Irvingia gabonensis supplementation in the management of overweight and obesity: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials — NCBI Bookshelf (DARE) · NBK132337 · source
Zhang, Liu, Li et al. — 2016The impact of grape seed extract treatment on blood pressure changes: a meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials — Medicine (Baltimore) · PMID 27537554 · source
Congretel, Bonnet, Gaudel et al. — 2023Effect of Guarana (Paullinia cupana) on Cognitive Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis — Nutrients · PMID 36678305 · source
European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal ProductsAssessment report on Eleutherococcus senticosus (Rupr. et Maxim.) Maxim., radix — ema.europa.eu · source
Schaffler, Wolf & Burkart — 2013No benefit adding Eleutherococcus senticosus to stress management training in stress-related fatigue/weakness, impaired work or concentration — Pharmacopsychiatry · PMID 23740477 · source
Pop, Cherecheș, Buzoianu et al. — 2021Standardized astragalus extract for attenuation of the immunosuppression induced by strenuous physical exercise: randomized controlled trial — Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · PMID 34271953 · source
Zhang, Lin, Xu, Leung & Chan — 2014Astragalus (a traditional Chinese medicine) for treating chronic kidney disease — Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · CD008369.pub2 · source
European Food Safety Authority — 2018Scientific opinion on the safety of green tea catechins — EFSA Journal · DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5239 · source
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney DiseasesGymnema, in LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury — NCBI Bookshelf · NBK610217 · source
Godard, Johnson & Richmond — 2005Body composition and hormonal adaptations associated with forskolin consumption in overweight and obese men — Obesity Research · PMID 16129715 · source
Henderson, Magu, Rasmussen et al. — 2005Effects of Coleus forskohlii supplementation on body composition and hematological profiles in mildly overweight women — Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · PMID 18500958 · source
Zsiborás, Matics, Hegedűs et al. — 2023The effects of capsaicin intake on weight loss among overweight and obese subjects: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials — British Journal of Nutrition · PMID 36938807 · source
Takeoka, Dao, Wong, Lundin & Mahoney — 2001Identification of benzethonium chloride in commercial grapefruit seed extracts — Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry · PMID 11453769 · source
Avula, Dentali & Khan — 2007Simultaneous identification and quantification by liquid chromatography of benzethonium chloride, methyl paraben and triclosan in commercial products labeled as grapefruit seed extract — Die Pharmazie · PMID 17867553 · source
Zeng, Li, Wang et al. — 2024Effects of Ginseng on Cognitive Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis — Phytotherapy Research · PMID 39474788 · source
Operational Supplement Safety, Consortium for Health and Military PerformanceRaspberry ketone dietary supplements for weight loss — opss.org · source
Gleeson — 2008Dosing and efficacy of glutamine supplementation in human exercise and sport training — Journal of Nutrition · PMID 18806122 · source
Deijen & Orlebeke — 1994Effect of tyrosine on cognitive function and blood pressure under stress — Brain Research Bulletin · PMID 8293316 · source
McNeal, Meininger, Wilborn et al. — 2018Safety of dietary supplementation with arginine in adult humans — Amino Acids · PMID 29858688 · source
Collier, Casey & Kanaley — 2005Growth hormone responses to varying doses of oral arginine — Growth Hormone & IGF Research · PMID 15809017 · source
Trexler, Smith-Ryan, Stout et al. — 2015International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Beta-Alanine — Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · PMID 26175657 · source
Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food AdditivesGlycyrrhizinic acid — evaluation and intake guidance — WHO JECFA database · source
Hepsomali, Groeger, Nishihira & Scholey — 2020Effects of oral gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) administration on stress and sleep in humans: a systematic review — Frontiers in Neuroscience · DOI 10.3389/fnins.2020.00923 · source
Sutanto, Loh, Kim & Kim — 2021The impact of tryptophan supplementation on sleep quality: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression — Nutrition Reviews · PMID 33942088 · source
NIH Office of Dietary SupplementsCarnitine — Health Professional Fact Sheet — ods.od.nih.gov · source
NIH Office of Dietary SupplementsChromium — Health Professional Fact Sheet — ods.od.nih.gov · source
U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationQuestions and Answers on Dietary Supplements — FDA.gov · source

The best caseEvery ingredient given its ceiling and its full extract ratio.Read it →How it is meant to workThe mechanisms named, and the separate question of dose.Read it →Proprietary blendsThe rule that lets a label do this, and what it was for.Read it →