Blue of methylene to improve real or false memory and concentration?

From the podcaster Joe Rogan Ai Reel with the Minister of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.the social social networks of videos in which a blue liquid promises to sweep away the brain-fog: the mist that prevents us from concentrating and remembering things. But the Methilene blue Is it really so powerful? Or it is yet another boutade Made on the Internet?

What is the blue of the methylene

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Born in the Basf laboratories in 1876 as a tincture for fabric, the blue of methylene has earned the first medical gallons thanks to Paul Ehrlichwhich exploited the ability to color (and kill) the parasite of malaria. Today, however, the only use approved concerns there metemoglobinemiarare blood pathology in which the dye “returns” an electron to hemoglobin; It is also used in the hospital against carbon monoxide poisoning, septic shock or as a surgical markertaking advantage of his ability to act as a tiny chemical battery.

Brain barrier

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And the ability to exchange electrons allows him to cross the blood -brain barrier, which protects the brain and – in fact – prevents many substances from entering it, and pampering the mitochondria, from which the label of Nootrope. Too bad that the avalanche of online posts that boast the poggi superpowers on fragile bases: many protective effects – better learning, lucid memory, neurons saved after trauma – stop at studies on mice. In man the numbers are very others: one micro-studio out of 26 volunteers recorded +7 % in the call of words and some flash in brain resonances, while other trials on Alzheimer’s or chronic pain remain, for now, inconclusive. “Although some studies have shown clues that the blue of methylene may be beneficial for some problems related to the brain, these studies have been small in size” he explains Lorne J. Hofseth, researcher from the University of South Carolina, on The Conversation. “The researchers have not yet identified in what circumstances it is really useful.”

side effects

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To be the list of side effects is instead concrete: interaction with numerous antidepressants (risk of serotonergic syndrome), a danger of emolisi in subjects with G6pd deficits, peaks pressure at high doses and contraindication in pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Moral: if the color intrigues it is understandable, but before dyeing synapses and blue expectations you need more robust studies – and the supervision of a doctor who knows when that blue is really the right color. “Overall – concludes Hofseth – although scientists have discovered clues to some fascinating properties of the blue of methylene, we need much wider and long studies to find out if it really works, what is the right dosage And how sure it is in time “.