Neuro Review: Nootropic Gum?

Welcome to our Neuro review!

Full transparency, before we investigated the company much closer, Neuro set off a few “gimmick alarms”—but we’re glad we took a closer look. 

As it turns out, nootropic gum and mints really can be done right, and at a value that surprised us. 

After getting to know the folks at Neuro, sampling the products (Energy & Focus Gum is our favorite), and checking out their operations, we gave Neuro an overall rating of A-.

In this review, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Neuro, from their formulation strategy to certifications and everything in between.

Pros and Cons

Stubborn Roots: How Neuro Became Neuro

The Neuro origin story begins with two young men of eclectic skill sets and a trained ignorance to adversity.

The latter resonates deeply in the story of founder Ryan, whose athletic career (cross-country, track, and Kendo) was threatened by a snowboarding accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

But Ryan just kept on training, eventually with the U.S. Paralympic team as a wheelchair racer. 

The other founder, Kent, trained with the Japanese Olympic Judo team, competed internationally in Muay Thai, and worked as a muralist in Los Angeles.

After searching far and wide for a convenient product they could take to keep performing at a high level without all the sugars or mystery ingredients, Kent and Ryan—who have degrees in neuroscience, chemistry, and economics—eventually decided to just make one themselves.

The pair crowdfunded their first product, Neuro Gum Energy and Focus, in less than a week, and off it launched. 

That was 8 years ago, and today, Neuro boasts of a “pieces chewed” count exceeding 75 million, making sure to point out they haven’t cheaped out on ingredients as they grew as a brand and evolved their selection.

Our Review

We use the following major criteria when rating brands (complete with Neuro’s scores):

• Quality (A-)
• Transparency (A-)
• Website Experience (A-)
• Customer Service (A)
• Value (A)
• Brand Value (A-)

Included under each of these pillars are several sub-factors that cover everything from packaging and labeling quality to the customer service response.

Neuro received an overall grade of A- from our team, demonstrating high-level formulation knowledge and a commitment to serving their audience, but with some opportunities for improvement. 

As usual, we’ll start the review off with the key issue of quality. 

Quality

Starting off where we always do—the packaging—Neuro keeps it simple with minimalistically designed, yet informative packaging and labeling.

Both the individual boxes and the larger sleeves they came in displayed nutrition facts, “free statements” (gluten free, etc.), a blurb about the product, and more on their labels.

Both the tins that the mints came in and the boxes that house the gum were durable and easy to use (not flimsy, crumbling material), giving us no issues until the product was gone.

Finally, popping the pieces of Energy & Focus gum out of the foil insert was easy—no tedious clawing required.

We’re of two minds on the ingredient quality front, as the sound formulation quality is sullied a bit by a smattering of sweeteners, some of which can be problematic.

On the one hand, the use and savvy balancing of caffeine, GABA, l-theanine, and B vitamins, among other functional ingredients throughout the Neuro catalog speaks to a keen understanding of effective nootropic formulation.

On the other hand, the Energy & Focus gum alone contains sorbitol, xylitol, sucralose, monk fruit, and steviol glycosides.

None of these sugar alcohols and other alternative sweeteners are a hard red flag—all are described as well tolerated—but several of them have been associated with digestive issues. 

Considering the fact that Neuro does achieve sugar-free status, and the natural limitation associated with this type of product (who’s chewing 5+ pieces at once?), it still feels like a net positive on ingredients and formulation. 

As for sourcing, manufacturing, and certifications, Neuro keeps things quite buttoned up. Their “patented multilayered cold-compression” process, unlike the more common process of heat extrusion, is claimed by Neuro to maintain each ingredient’s bioavailability, or absorption capability. 

The mints and gum are manufactured in FDA-certified labs, and are both WADA and NSF certified.

Overall, both the products themselves and the behind-the-scenes elements Neuro shared with us speak to high standards of overall quality, earning them an A- for quality. 

Product Catalog

Neuro has three product lines: Energy & Focus, Calm & Clarity, and Health and Vitality. 

Each product is formulated to target these attributes with the use of ingredients like GABA, l-theanine, and more. 

We’ll start with Energy & Focus, which is their best-selling product line.

Energy and Focus

Available as either gum or mints, both products in this line are made with the following ingredients to optimize, well, energy and focus:

• Natural Caffeine
• L-Theanine
• Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxine)
• Vitamin B12 (as Methylcobalamin)

Both products are available in two order sizes, and you can choose between peppermint or cinnamon. 

Finally, all Energy & Focus products are vegan, and contain no aspartame, sugar, or gluten.

Calm and Clarity

Leveraging the clinically supported ability of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) to lessen the excitability of nerve cells, the Calm and Clarity line just contains one product for now, but Neuro made it count.

These mints are available in decidedly mellower flavors—when compared to Energy & Focus—including honey lemon and ginger chai.

As you may have surmised by now, the caffeine has been ixnayed, but the L-theanine stayed, which makes sense. 

Also, Neuro has included more than half your daily value of vitamin D3 in this product, as vitamin D3 supplementation has shown very promising results as an anxiolytic, or anxiety reducer. 

Health and Vitality

Finally, we didn’t expect to see an Athletic-Greens-level ingredient list adorning the Health and Vitality mints packaging—because hey, it’s a mint—but Neuro still managed to pack a surprisingly full roster of key nutrients in there.

Available flavors include Blueberry Guava and Passionfruit Orange, and unlike the other products, this one is only available in a bulk bag (180pcs).

The Health and Vitality mints are essentially a well-balanced shot of “letter vitamins”—see below for details.

Transparency

It’s the Internet. If you need to dig more than five seconds to find out basic product or brand info, you’re probably clicking off the site, and we’re right there with you.

Such was not the case with the Neuro site, where visitors have easy access to the origin story of the brand, a basic overview of the ingredients and manufacturing practices, and all the standard policies (shipping and returns, etc.).

Wherever you are on the site, gleaning at least a surface-level understanding of each product formulation and the ingredients therein is always one or two clicks away.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t room for improvement, however, like an overview of where and/or from whom the ingredients are sourced.

And while the well-primped product pages covered the basics—ingredients and their intended functions—a more newbie-friendly introduction to l-theanine (what is that?), GABA, and so forth would be a welcome addition.

We concluded our testing experience with the sense that all major bases were covered in the transparency department—though some areas seem to be missing a layer of key information.
Also taking into account how forthcoming the Neuro team was with us as we hit them with our usual barrage of nosy questions, we arrive at an A- for transparency.

Website Experience

In the case of smaller product catalogs, we are a bit less forgiving when it comes to evaluating the shopping experience, but Neuro delivered with an attractive and easy-to-use online store.

Click or tap the “shop” tab in the main navigation bar (or the shop button on the homepage), and you’re directed to a page that contains the entire selection, already separated by their three product lines.

Each of these three sections on the shop page gives a brief summary of the product line alongside the standard product images with “shop now” buttons.

Once you click through (to select an individual product), the product page is free of drop-down boxes; all the flavors and quantities you can choose from have separate buttons on the page. 

As for educational content and other resources, the science page provides a succinct breakdown of Neuro products’ functional ingredients—like L-theanine, caffeine, etc.—but both on the product pages and elsewhere, the site could stand to deepen the knowledge base for newbies to nootropics.

Finally, browsing the entire site, adding items to cart, and all other aspects of use went without issue on both mobile and desktop devices. 

Short of needing a little buttoning up on the knowledge base, our experience with the Neuro site was consistent with that of most A-level brands we’ve reviewed. 

Customer Service

Outside of direct contact with customer service agents, we also factor in how accommodating the shipping and return policies are.

All shipping is free with Neuro—there’s a good start—and the site quotes a window of 5-7 business days for all orders shipping within the US. 

This is a tad longer than the average, but certainly not among the longest shipping time quotes we’ve seen (and again, free). 

The refund policy is down the middle—you have 30 days after receiving your product to contact support and receive a refund or replacement. 

You will receive an automatic replacement if the product is damaged, soon to expire, or otherwise defective, but customers who simply don’t like the product will be refunded “at our discretion,” the policy states.

While we appreciate the candor—better to let customers know you may deny a refund than to lie—this falls short of a satisfaction guarantee.

As for Neuro’s customer service performance, we tested both options they offer: phone and email.

After waiting for less than a minute on the phone, a friendly representative accurately answered our question. 

The email response was equally helpful and prompt, providing a personalized answer to another question we asked before the day ended.

Taking into account the policies and the response from the customer service team, our tests left us with the impression that Neuro actively engages with and accommodates their customers as best they can, earning them an A for customer service.

Value

As you might guess, we’re not exactly working with a lot of context here in terms of similar competitors.

The vast majority of nootropic gum and/or mint products on the market are really just chewy caffeine pills, very rarely containing L-theanine, let alone GABA, B-vitamins, and so forth.

Most of these products cost between $0.25-$0.35 per piece. 

Depending on quantity, Neuro Gum costs between $0.38 (12-pack order) and $0.44 (6-pack order) per piece.

Neuro Mints cost between $0.29 (12-pack) and $0.33 (bulk bag) per piece.

The solid, but not perfect ingredient quality is favorably contrasted against this reasonable price range (and the competitors’ ingredients). 

The value of the solution is not lost on us either; if you’re using Neuro Gum or Neuro Mints to stop drinking coffee or energy drinks, you might even save a bit of money. 

All this considered, we find Neuro’s products to be very competitively priced, earning them an A for value. 

Brand Value

This is where we take a broader look at the impact the brand is having/has had on their industry, the state of public nutrition, and more.

While they weren’t the first to cram nootropics into a piece of gum or a mint, Neuro certainly has the most well-balanced formulation we’ve seen among more visible brands in this area, earning them kudos for innovation.

Sticking to aspartame- and sugar-free products also speaks to a commitment to reaching the broadest audience in a way that promotes public health, as do the B vitamins.

Though the site could fill this in a bit more completely, what we know of their team (neuroscience and chemistry backgrounds) gives assurance that the formulation know-how is strong.

On the philanthropy side, Neuro gives back 1% of proceeds to charity, the most recent iteration of which has included a campaign for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, raising more than $25,000 for the cause.

Though the Neuro team told us they strive towards more sustainable practices throughout their supply chain, they don’t have any major initiatives in that area to bring attention to.

Overall, Neuro seems to be continually engaged in the effort to safeguard and improve quality standards within their own walls and out in the world, earning them an A- for brand value.

Our Experience

Our team sampled three products from Neuro’s Energy & Focus line, including both flavors of the gum (peppermint and cinnamon) as well as the peppermint-flavored mints.

Starting with the gum, there were no discernable differences in the flavor or texture for either the peppermint or the cinnamon as compared to your everyday chewing gum (chiclet, by the way, not stick).

However, while most people probably won’t be able to tell that these are sugar-free, because we already knew and were looking for it, there was a tiny hint of that sugar alcohol taste.

The mints were very minty indeed, and once again, right on the mark flavor-wise with no red flags to throw our palates off—mints as usual.

The functional benefit is where all three of these products really shine, delivering a very focused burst of energy that was perfect for powering through busy workdays and the like.

Where caffeine alone—especially when taken quickly and without food—has a definitive rising and falling effect in terms of the energy surge (and crash), this felt much more like a switch was flipped, and stayed on for several hours without varying in its effects.

Overall, we were pleasantly surprised with the consistency and potency of these benefits in all three rounds of sampling, and have continued to personally use the Energy & Focus gum well after our trial ended.

Neuro FAQs

Final Thoughts

Neuro brings an innovative solution to an overlooked and gimmick-prone space in the form of well-formulated nootropic mints and gum that actually work.

Their online presence could use a bit of beefing up in the vein of beginner-friendly education, but is otherwise welcoming and easily accessible.

The customer service response was helpful and highly responsive, and the shipping/return policies are not the best, but not the worst.

We were surprised by how competitively priced Neuro’s products are—even the smaller orders.

Finally, our team found Neuro’s Energy & Focus mints to deliver on the claims with sustained, focused boosts in energy.

We recommend Neuro Gum and Neuro Mints to anyone looking for an easy and familiar way to ramp up productivity throughout the day.