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Herb library · Herb · Bacopa monnieri

Bacopa (brahmi)

A small creeping marsh plant of India, sold for memory and focus. A meta-analysis of nine trials found small improvements in speed of attention; it has not been shown to help any disease.

Traditional use

Used for centuries in Ayurveda for anxiety, sleeplessness and epilepsy, and to improve memory. It shares the Sanskrit name Brahmi with gotu kola, and the two have long been confused; older writers called bacopa Jala-brahmi, water brahmi. Dutt's 1877 compilation from Sanskrit medical works records that the physicians of Calcutta used this plant as brahmi, gave the leaf juice with honey for insanity, fried the leaves in clarified butter for hoarseness, and made a medicated butter, brahmi ghrita, for insanity, epilepsy and hoarseness. Today it is widely sold for memory, thinking and mental focus.

What studies show

  • Limited

    Memory and thinking: a 2014 meta-analysis of 9 randomized trials (518 people, 12 weeks or longer, standardized extracts) found faster attention and reaction times with bacopa. The authors call it a potential effect and say a large, well-designed trial is still needed.

  • Insufficient

    Disease: LiverTox notes that bacopa has not been shown to be effective for any disease or medical symptom in adequately controlled trials.

Be careful of

Cautions

  • NoteSide effects are usually minor and short-lived: stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, gas, dry mouth, headache, dizziness, trouble sleeping and rash. In small trials, side effects were about as common as with placebo.
  • NoteLiverTox (NIH) rates bacopa an unlikely cause of liver injury.
  • NoteProducts labeled brahmi may contain bacopa or gotu kola. Check the Latin name on the label.
  • PregnancyNCCIH advises talking with your clinician before using Ayurvedic products while pregnant or nursing.
  • NoteSome Ayurvedic preparations include metals. The FDA warns that this makes some Ayurvedic products potentially harmful, and a 2015 survey found high lead or mercury levels in some of the supplements tested.
  • Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.

From the old books

What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.

“This plant is considered a nervine tonic, useful in insanity, epilepsy and hoarseness. Half a tolá of the fresh juice of the leaves, with two scruples of páchak root and honey, is recommended to be given in insanity.”
Udoy Chand Dutt, The Materia Medica of the Hindus (1877), p. 213. See the page of The Materia Medica of the Hindus, p. 213 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from The Materia Medica of the Hindus, p. 213
“It is certainly not the Brahmi of the Nighantas, but would appear to be the plant called Jala-brahmi or “Water Brahmi” by Sanskrit writers. Owing to a similarity in the names it has frequently been confounded with Hydrocotyle asiatica, which is the Brahmi or Brahmi-manduka of the Nighantas.”
William Dymock, C. J. H. Warden and David Hooper, Pharmacographia Indica (1892), vol. 3, p. 8. See the page of Pharmacographia Indica, vol. 3, p. 8 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from Pharmacographia Indica, vol. 3, p. 8

Sources

  1. LiverTox: Bacopa monnieri (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  2. Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials on cognitive effects of Bacopa monnieri extract (2014) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  3. Ayurvedic Medicine: In Depth (opens in a new tab) · NCCIH · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.