What is bacopa (brahmi), and what does it contain?

Bacopa is the herb Bacopa monnieri, known in Thai as phrommi (พรมมิ) or phak mi (ผักมิ) and in English as brahmi or water hyssop. It is a semi-succulent plant of wet and marshy ground. Its best-known compounds are saponins called bacosides. Together, its saponins can make up to 6% of the plant's dry weight, and studies from Thailand and India show that the amount changes a great deal with the plant line, the season and the way the plant is grown.

In short:

• What it is: Bacopa monnieri (L.) Wettst., a perennial, semi-succulent herb of wet ground
• Names: พรมมิ, ผักมิ, brahmi, water hyssop
• Main compounds: saponins (bacosides) built on jujubogenin and pseudojujubogenin, plus alkaloids, flavonoids and sterols
• What changes the amounts: plant line, season, growing method, light and storage conditions
• Watch out for: many researchers advise against bacopa supplements in pregnancy and breastfeeding; anyone on regular medication should ask a doctor or pharmacist

What kind of plant is bacopa?

A 2020 review by Saha and colleagues in Plants describes Bacopa monnieri as a perennial, semi-succulent herb that grows in wet, damp and marshy areas throughout India, popularly known as brahmi. It has 64 chromosomes (2n = 64). A 2025 review in Nutrients from Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poland adds that it has obovate leaves (wider towards the tip) and small white flowers.

Scientific name and family

The accepted name is Bacopa monnieri (L.) Wettst., 1891. The plant was first named Lysimachia monnieri by Linnaeus in 1756, a name now kept only as a synonym (NCBI Taxonomy). Older papers place it in the family Scrophulariaceae, while NCBI Taxonomy now lists it under Plantaginaceae, in the order Lamiales. Both names appear in the research, which can be confusing.

Which plants can be confused with bacopa?

Two Thai studies show that the name "bacopa" or "brahmi" does not always point to the same plant.

Three Bacopa species in Thailand

A 2018 study by Tungphatthong and colleagues at Chulalongkorn University reports that three species of Bacopa are found in Thailand: B. monnieri, B. caroliniana and B. floribunda. Because they look alike, they are hard to tell apart. The researchers developed a DNA test to separate them and used it on six commercial products; all six contained genuine B. monnieri.

Bacopa and bua bok (Centella)

In some regions of India, both Bacopa monnieri and Centella asiatica, known in Thai as bua bok (บัวบก), are called brahmi, which can lead to mislabelling. A 2025 study by Suksawat and colleagues at Srinakharinwirot University compared the plants under the microscope, by chemical fingerprint and by DNA, then checked products bought online. Six were correctly labelled; one sold as Centella was actually another plant, Hydrocotyle umbellata, and another was Centella mixed with Bacopa.

Source: Suksawat and colleagues 2025. See also what is Centella asiatica.

What compounds are in bacopa?

The 2025 review in Nutrients lists alkaloids (herpestine and brahmine), saponins (bacosides, betulic acid and hersaponin), alcohols, flavonoids, sterol glycosides, sugars, amino acids and cucurbitacins.

Bacosides are built on two twin aglycones

Nuengchamnong, Sookying and Ingkaninan (2016), at Naresuan University in Phitsanulok, explain that the main bacopa saponins are glycosides of jujubogenin and pseudojujubogenin: a core (aglycone) with sugars attached. The two cores are isomers that differ only in where one side group is attached, at carbon 23 or carbon 22. Using mass spectrometry, the team identified 62 constituents in a bacopa extract, including saponin glycosides, flavonoids and alkaloids. Another study describes the bacopa saponins as dammarane-type triterpenoid saponins (Srivastava and colleagues 2012).

What is "bacoside A"?

"Bacoside A" is a name for a mixture, not a single compound. Bansal and colleagues (2016) describe it as a mixture of bacoside A3, bacopaside II, an isomer of bacopasaponin C (a jujubogenin isomer) and bacopasaponin C. Sources count the four slightly differently: the 2025 review in Nutrients lists bacopaside II, bacopaside X, bacoside A3 and bacopasaponin C.

Source: PubChem; membership of bacoside A from Bansal and colleagues 2016. Bacoside A3 and bacopaside II have exactly the same formula: they are isomers, made of the same atoms arranged differently. Bacopaside I contains sulfur (S), which the others do not.

How much bacoside is in bacopa?

The 2025 review in Nutrients says the plant's saponins, including the bacosides, bacopasides and betulinic acid, together can be present at up to 6% of the dry weight of the plant, and that bacoside A makes up about 38% of the dry mass of a standardised methanol extract. These are upper figures; the studies below show how far real plants vary.

Plant line and season

Bansal and colleagues at Thapar University in India collected 14 bacopa lines from wild populations and grew them at one site in Patiala for a year.

Even under the same growing conditions, the lines differed by more than a hundredfold between the best and worst cases. The researchers concluded that summer was the appropriate harvest time at their site in northern India.

What have Thai studies found about growing bacopa?

Demand and plant lines

Inthima and Sujipuli (2019), at Naresuan University, write that bacopa is a herb increasing in demand in Thailand, and that few cultivars have been developed for its production. They doubled the chromosomes of bacopa plantlets in the laboratory. Of 326 clones tested, 84 became tetraploid (four sets of chromosomes). The best tetraploid plants reached 2.8 times the fresh weight and 2.0 times the dry weight of normal plants, and the highest total bacoside content, 1.55 mg per plant, was 2.3 times that of the normal plants.

Light colour

Promchiangsa and colleagues (2026), from Pathumthani University and Naresuan University, grew bacopa in a laboratory system under warm-white, red, blue and green light. Green light gave the most new shoots (24.2 per clump) and the highest bacoside A3 (0.39% of dry weight), but the lowest chlorophyll. Bacopaside II did not differ between the light colours, while bacopasaponin C was higher under warm-white and red light. So the colour of light changed each bacoside differently.

Products sold in Thailand

Nopparat and colleagues (2024), from several Thai universities, bought seven bacopa products from Thai online markets and measured their bacosides. The bacoside content differed widely between the products.

The limits: the Thai cultivation studies were done in the laboratory, and the product study looked at only seven products. They show how much the amounts can vary, not what a typical product in Thailand contains.

Does storage change bacopa?

It can. Srivastava and colleagues (2012), at the Agharkar Research Institute in India, stored dried bacopa under different conditions and measured bacopaside I and bacoside A. Samples kept at 30 °C and 65% relative humidity held more saponins than samples kept at 40 °C and 75% humidity or under ordinary room conditions.

Is there a recommended daily amount of bacopa?

No. Bacopa is not a nutrient, so it has no value in the Thai Reference Daily Intakes (Thai RDIs), which cover nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. As shown above, the bacoside content also varies widely between plants and products.

Who should be careful with bacopa?

People who are pregnant or breastfeeding

The 2025 review in Nutrients notes that there are no clinical studies on the safety of bacopa extract in pregnancy, and notes that many researchers say women should not use bacopa supplements while pregnant or breastfeeding.

People taking regular medication

The same review says bacopa can inhibit several liver enzymes (the cytochrome P450 group) that the body uses to process medicines, so interactions with medicines can occur. It also notes a possible effect on hormone levels. Anyone taking regular medication, including hormone medicines, or under a doctor's ongoing care, should speak to a doctor or pharmacist first.

Effects that can occur

The review says the most common side effects are digestive: nausea, abdominal cramps and more frequent bowel movements were reported after prolonged use. Less often, dry mouth was reported, and tiredness was also reported.

If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, take regular medication or are under a doctor's care, speak to a doctor or pharmacist before taking dietary supplements.

Dietary supplements are not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease.