Excelerol is a natural herbal pill described as the #1 Brain Supplement, Supports and Maintains Memory, Concentration, and Focus. I first saw this stuff on AMAZON last month, and I’m always looking for a good, non-prescription, “pick-me-up,” something to help with that late-after “BLAH” feeling that I often seem to get, and help my concentration and all that. But, damn, this stuff is expensive.

It was selling for $99.20 for a pack of 90 pills. But if it costs that much, it must be good stuff, right? And there was an awful lot of “verified” (that means they definitely bought the product on Amazon) 5 and 4-star reviews.

Well, call it a result of my lack of impulse-control, coupled with my $2000 tax refund coming in, but I went ahead and ordered two packs, to give this thing a fair shot. And today I have now taken enough to give a fair and balanced appraisal of its effectiveness, which I will get to in my next post (I split them up because I know this will be a bit long). But I decided to really look into this stuff, and see what it’s about. I found some information which I find interesting, to say the least…

Excelerol is sold (not in stores, just online) by a company called Accelerated Intelligence Inc. which, according to the company’s Facebook Page, exists to accelerate intelligence. It is our vision to improve humanity through creating advanced nutraceutical supplements and delivery systems, and it was founded by a man named Shaahin Cheyene.

According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia: Shaahin Cheyene (also previously known as Sean Cheyene or Sean Shayan ) is an Iran-born American businessman. He is the founder and current CEO of the companies Accelerated Intelligence Inc., a maker of nutritional supplements, and Victory Films, a documentary film production company. He was the founder of the now-defunct company Global World Media, a maker of legal intoxicants, Cheyene developed several alternative medicine products, including “Herbal Ecstacy”, an ephedra-based alternative to the drug MDMA, commonly known as “ecstasy”. In addition, Cheyene is a writer and documentary filmmaker. READ MORE

But, I must admit, what I found most interesting about him is that he used to date and live with Asa Soltan Rahmati, from my new favorite “reality show” Shahs of Sunset. But when one media outlet referred to him as her husband, he had his lawyer demand a retraction. Apparently, he was really afraid of being associated with that show in any way. Go figure.

Cheyene has also written multiple articles for the Huffington Post.

So I took a look at the Excelerol website. It’s all very professional looking. And they’ve got links to many glowing reviews. Then I took a closer look at some of these reviews…

Bob Levitan is described as “Fitness Expert”. He’s also an actor.
Carol Hannan refers to herself as an Exercise Physiologist. Which she is. AND she’s also a Spokesperson, Model, Actor.
Steffen Leisner is described as a Visionary Architect…who was hired by Cheyene and Rahmati back in 2007 to help redesign their home.
And there’s also Stephen Estes, described as Entrepreneur – Vitagasm Inc.

I looked up Vitagasm, which only has a couple of video promos on Youtube, and a unfinished website, and it is supposed to be an “herbal aphrodisiac” which, according to Estes’ flickr photostream, was developed by Estes “along with Shaahin Cheyene”.

Now, I’m not trying to imply that the fact that these people are all actors or friends/associates of Shaahin Cheyene that makes their reviews of Excelerol unreliable, although I can certainly understand why some people might think so. I mean, if you made some kinda product, it’s natural to give some samples to people you know to see what they think, right? Many of the graphic novel and book reviews that I do here on my blog are of books that were created by people I know, which is why I made a point to review them. I’m also friends with singer Stacy Clark, whose albums I always review. And I’m always fair and balanced in my reviews. And there are over a dozen other reviews of Excelerol on their site, I couldn’t look up everyone.

Now let’s move back to the Amazon page, and see what’s up with those reviews. As I type this, there are 86 customer reviews (I’ll be posting mine after I finish these posts), 45 give 5 STARS, 22 give 4 STARS, 5 reviews each give it 3 STARS and 2 STARS, and 9 give 1 STAR.

Looking through the lower reviews, I notice that many reviewers claim that they were tempted by all the high reviews, but that because the product didn’t work for them, either not well or at all, they suspect that many of the higher reviews are fake, that they were created by the makers of Excelerol.

There is NO PROOF of that. I want to make that clear. NONE. But some people are suspicious because, apparently, many of the 5 and 4 star reviews, even the “Verified” ones, are from people who’ve never reviewed any other product on Amazon before. Yeah, I can see how that might raise some red flags.

Currently the 5-STAR review voted “Most Helpful” by other customers is by a woman identified as “J.Malone”, who filmed a video review, and it looks authentic to me, but looking at her Amazon profile, that was the first review she ever did on Amazon, back in July 2012, and she’s since done just one more, in January 2013. You can be the judge if that matters when evaluating her review.

Clicking through some other random reviews, I did notice multiple incidences of people who’ve never reviewed anything else, posting raving reviews for Excelorol.

Another 5-STAR video review is from “Ally”, and it’s likewise her only one, so far. Same with “Sarah”‘s 4-STAR video review.

Again, I will stress that just because it’s their first and/or only review on Amazon, it doesn’t mean their experiences aren’t real. Neither does that fact that they don’t give much info about whom they are, because at least they’re willing to go on film and show their faces, right?

One man who does give his full name and some contact info is Armin Tadayyon who, according to his profile, runs a company called Ezoba Design He posted two 4 STAR video reviews for Excelerol on Amazon, a couple of weeks apart, which you can see HERE and HERE. Except, the strange thing is, he had a personal blog called The Tadayyon Life (say it out loud, it’s clever), which I checked out just a couple of days ago. Yet, today, when I click the original link http://ataday2.people.uic.edu//blog/?author=1 I get nothing. Manually entering the address, but stopping after .edu I get a new blog created yesterday, http://ataday2.people.uic.edu/, which is currently pretty undeveloped, except it’s promoting Excelerol. Hmmm…

Another 4 STAR video review is from DebsMcAlister

Note: That box of Excelerol she’s holding is not the same as the actual box that they’re shipped in. That’s an oversized prop that I’ve seen in some of the other reviews on the Excelerol website.

Debbie McAlister is also…AN ACTRESS.
Oh, and Carol Hannan’s video review is also posted on Amazon, with 5 STARS.

I should note that each Excelerol pack comes with a card that says if you leave a review on Amazon within 30 days of purchasing it, and then send Excelerol a link to your review, they’ll send you a coupon for 50% off Excelerol.

Going off Amazon, I did some searching for Excelerol among the Blogosphere, to see if any of my fellow bloggers had tried this.

Jen Friel wrote #Experiment: 90 days on @excelerol in August 2012, where she was planning to take a pill a day for 90 days (after receiving a free pack) and then report on it. As of last Friday, I didn’t see any follow ups about Excelerol on her blog, so I left a comment asking about it, and she replied “i didnt like it at all. it gave me a headache for the first few days that i took it and after i saw no effect on my attention. total waste.”

However, Jake Sauvage wrote Excelerol, a brain-boosting supplement that delivers powerful results! Michelle Cantu wrote Mentally Energized with Excelerol Brain Supplement, The Wigleys wrote Excelerol – Do You Support Your Brain?, and Amberr Meadows wrote Excelerol Brain Supplement Review: A Product with Potential, and they all endorse the product, saying it’s worked for them. And they all appear to be unbiased sources. So take that for what it’s worth.

A few more notes about the product before I wrap this up.

This image appears on the Excelerol website, in the section called OUR FACILITIES, with the clear implication being that this is a picture of the place where Excelerol is either manufactured now or where it was developed. The same image also appears on the bottom of the pack that Excelerol arrives in. However, a Google Image search reveals that it’s a stock photo for Medical Research.

The packs come with a special Nuerodigital Pill Dispenser, which it says you can program to remind you when to take the pills.

It’s advertised as “free,” but it obviously costs money to make, so it seems like they could just skip this, and then lower the price of the packs a little. As one reviewer on Amazon said if this pill is supposed to increase your memory, why would you need a device to remind you when to take it?

And lastly, I’ll point out that the directions for how to take Excelerol are inconsistently advertised.

Amazon calls the 90-pill pack a 90 DAY pack, but then the instructions on Amazon say Take 1-3 capsules a day or as recommended by a health professional.

But the back of the actual box says “Take 1-2 capsules up to 3 times a day or as recommended by a health professional”, while the instruction card that comes inside the box says “Take 1-2 capsules with plenty of water up to 4 times per day” (along with a warning not to exceed 8 capsules in any 24 hour period).

Well, it’s only a “90 day supply” if you only take one per day and, to be fair, there were many reviewers who said that was all they needed, and it worked for them. But if you need more than that, then this stuff goes a lot faster. In response to some negative reviews on Amazon, Excelerol customer service have said that, while no herbal drug affects everyone the same (that’s true) most customers feel best results after 90 days of regular use. Well, if you’re someone who needs more than 1 a day, like 2, 4, 6, or even 8, this stuff won’t last that long and you’ll have to spend several hundred dollars just to get enough pills to last for 90 days.

For product that is this expensive, I think they need to either drastically lower the price, or make it more of a one-size fits all thing.

Next: MY REVIEW