Welcome to my Brainiac Foods review, where I break down key ingredients and explain if they're healthy for you.
Fit Healthy Momma Rating: 9.2/10 
Brainiac Foods has made healthy, delicious foods that are good for your brain more accessible, easy and enjoyable for kids and families. They have a wide variety of premium products to choose from, each one perfect for tossing in a lunch box or taking on-the-go!
As a bewildered parent, walking the aisles of any grocery store can be so overwhelming when deciding what nutritious snacks to provide your little ones. Heck, I am a Registered Dietitian and a parent and at times it can be equally confusing for our family!
So many quintessential kid snack favorites including crackers, granola bars, yogurts, packaged snacks, and pouches are seemingly disguised as healthy but unfortunately loaded with added sugars, sweeteners, dyes, and other less-than-ideal ingredients.
Though choosing healthy and nutritious snacks can be challenging, fortunately, there are companies like Brainiac that take the guesswork out of knowing what to look for at the grocery store and also makes snacking less stressful and more enjoyable! Let’s take a closer look at the buzz and see what options Brainiac has to offer.
Quick Summary of Brainiac Foods Review
Product: | Brainiac Snacks for kids and family |
Brand: | Brainiac Foods |
Founder: | Jonathon Wolfson, CEO |
Website: | |
Product best for: | Kids snacks, family snacks |
Main benefits: | Healthy foods and nutrients for the brain: Omega-3 DHA/EPA, Omega-3 ALA, Choline |
Discounts / Coupons: | 20% off (with our link below) |
Avg. User Rating: | 4.5/5 (753 reviews at amazon) |
FHM Rating: | 9.2/10 |
Introducing Brainiac: Brand Story and Mission
Brainiac was founded by a small team of parents who collectively realized that few food and snack products on the market satisfactorily met various nutrient needs for growing and developing children.
A simple, yet powerful brand logo that almost looks like what a superhero would wear on their shirt.
The key nutrients of focus including omega-3 DHA/EPA, omega-3 ALA, and choline are essential for brain development in growing children though it is very difficult to maintain an adequate intake of these nutrients on a regular basis, particularly for growing children.
Brainiac was developed to help fill this gap and the company boasts a strong mission that supports helping every kid reach their full potential by providing foods and snacks that help to fill these nutrient needs. Furthermore, these are everyday snacks that kids are typically already consuming, so why not add a boost of nutrition?
Brainiac takes the guesswork out of knowing if the snack you are providing your little ones is nutritious or less-than-ideal as Brainiac products are supported by a strong scientific and nutrition advisory board including pediatricians, neurologists, nutrition scientists, and dietitians.
What's even better is that Brainiac products are accessible to all, produced with sound nutrition in mind and minimal ingredients. Backed by science, supported by parents, and enjoyed by kids - it sounds like a win-win-win.
What’s “Brain Food”? And Why Is It Important?
”Brain food” may sound slightly confusing and arbitrary to most though indeed it is a vital component of proper brain development.
Key nutrients that make up “brain food” include omega-3 ALA, omega-3 DHA/EPA, and choline (to name a few) and play an integral part in feeding the brain and keeping it healthy.
These vital nutrients have also been well-researched in other chronic health conditions including reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and dementia, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, among others. The intake recommendations for these nutrients is contingent on life variables such as age, gender, pregnancy and lactation.
Regardless of life stage, it can be extremely difficult to meet daily needs unless you are optimizing omega-3 and choline-rich food sources on a very consistent basis such as with every meal and snack - which tends to be highly unrealistic for most individuals.
Many food companies have gotten creative and have started to fortify (add) these vital nutrients to various food products like yogurts, milk and soy beverages to better help increase intake. Let’s take a closer look at these key nutrients that help to fuel the brain.
Key Nutrients That Fuel the Brain
It's important to really break down the key ingredients so you know what you're putting in your body. And, after mentioning them above, I feel it's necessary to explain what they are why they are so important:
Omega-3 ALA
Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is an essential fatty acid nutrient, meaning that your body cannot make it and it must be obtained from your diet and is found mainly in plant-based food sources such as flaxseed, chia seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts, soy products including tofu, canola oil and pumpkin seeds. Your body can convert small amounts of ALA into DHA and EPA but this is in trace amounts and therefore the practical way to increase levels of DHA and EPA are also through optimizing food sources that are highest in ALA.
Omega-3 DHA/EPA
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and Eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) are two well-recognized omega-3 fatty acids that are found predominantly in fish, fish oil, and algae products and have cardioprotective health elements in addition to helping reduce inflammation. Rich food sources of omega-3 DHA/EPA include salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, and concentrated fish oil most often found in nutritional supplements. Because of its overwhelming health benefits, DHA and EPA are added as a functional food to many food products in the grocery store including milk and yogurts, cereals, and even pasta.
Choline
Choline is also considered an essential nutrient because as the human liver does produce some, it is not sufficient enough to meet your body’s needs and therefore also needs to be consumed within the diet. Choline helps to provide your cells with structural integrity and also serves as a precursor for acetylcholine, which helps with mood, memory and cognition, and other brain and nervous system functions. Foods including beef, eggs, chicken, soybeans are all rich food sources of choline.
What Products Does Brainiac Offer?
Fortunately, Brainiac offers a wide variety of brain-boosting food and snack options to choose from including:
Applesauce pouches
A few flavors offered by Brainiac include regular applesauce, strawberry applesauce, and cinnamon applesauce. These flavorful and nutritious pouches require no refrigeration which is a perfect on-the-go snack for lunches, family outings, playdates, and vacations. These pouches are packed with natural ingredients (no artificial flavors, dyes, or added sugars) such as fish oil, choline, and rosemary extract. Many other brands of commercial applesauce have added sugars and fortunately, Brainiac boasts zero!
Peanut Butter Spread
Honey peanut butter spread and chocolate peanut butter spread (yum, say no more!) are individual squeezable pouches that are also convenient for on-the-go families. With brain-boosting nutrients including omega-3 DHA, omega-3 ALA, and choline, these packaged peanut butter spreads would be the perfect addition to a slice of whole-grain toast at breakfast, squeezed right out of the packet, or paired with a sliced apple at snack time.
Bars
Apple cinnamon and chocolate chip Brainiac bars are a fantastic substitute for the typical boring granola bar sitting at the bottom of your child’s lunch sack. According to Brainiac, brain bars are gluten-free and boosted with omega-3 and choline to “support focus and memory at work or in the classroom.” These bars are a little higher in added sugar than what I typically recommend but a treat here and there is important to enjoy too! Brainiac takes pride in using ingredients that are minimally processed and nutritionally sound and unlike many other granola and protein bars on the market, these bars are free from anything artificial.
Yogurt
Smart smoothie singles, the drinkable yogurt version, are available in strawberry, mixed berry, and strawberry banana. If you have wild hair, why not try all of the flavors as these yogurts are a great source of calcium for growing bodies and bones in addition to being loaded with “brain food.” Furthermore, there are no artificial sweeteners, dyes, or ingredients in these drinkable yogurts. Brainiac also offers these yogurts in the smart tube version, which is a great addition to any child’s lunch box. These yogurt tubes also store great in the freezer for a frozen yogurt treat.
Who Should Try Brainiac Snacks?
Anyone who enjoys snacks - though isn’t that everybody (I know I do)?! Brainiac markets these food and snack products to families with young children but truly these snacks are perfectly nutritious on-the-go options for busy adults needing a snack boost during the day. Research has supported that omega-3 fatty acid intake is equally as important for adults in reducing the risk of heart disease and fighting chronic inflammation among many other health conditions and Brainiac makes it enjoyable to increase “brain food” in an easy, nutritious way.
Where Can I Buy Them?
Retailers such as Walmart, Harmons, Albertsons, among many others. The Brainiac website has a convenient store locator so that you are able to conveniently find Brainiac products nearest you. Fortunately there are various online purchasing platforms, such as Thrive, that make purchasing Brainiac products super convenient as well and you don’t even need to leave your home.
Wrapping Up: Are Brainiac Foods Healthy?
Yes, absolutely. Boasting minimal ingredients and a great source of balanced nutrition and key nutrients including omega-3 DHA/EPA, omega-3 ALA, and choline, Brainiac snacks are a convenient, nutritious, brain-boosting snack for children-- and parents alike. It can be wildly overwhelming as a parent trying to choose convenient and nutritious snacks for your children, but Brainiac makes the decision quite seamless.
Verified Review
