Dimethylaminoethenol (DMAE) is a metabolite, a product produced by the body's metabolic process of procaine. It is a central nervous system stimulant that has a mild impact. It's effect is similar to an amphetamine, but it is not such a drug. The term DMAE is actually an abbreviation for dimethylaminoethanol, a naturally occurring chemical produced by the human brain. It is a choline molecule that has one methyl group missing from the nitrogen, and it may be for this reason that it can cross the blood-brain barrier more easily than choline. While choline is known to be the precursor of acetylcholine, a recognized neurotransmitter, DMAE may prove to offer a more direct approach to this function by moving into the brain, being acted on by an enzyme (methylation), and thereby undergoing conversion into choline directly where it is needed.

Although free-radicals are a natural result of the human body's activity, the human equilibrium may be upset because of modern diet and environmental conditions that add further stressors to the system. These conditions cause a need for additional antioxidants in order for the body to cope with industrialized life. Antioxidants seem to reinforce one another, and for this reason it seems prudent to combine the use of several rather than to rely on only one type. (See references list.)