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About Thesis

Thesis, established with a mission to enhance cognitive performance, offers personalized nootropic supplements tailored to individual needs. Their approach starts with a comprehensive assessment to understand each customer's unique cognitive goals and challenges, ranging from increased focus and energy to enhanced creativity and motivation. Thesis prides itself on formulating supplements with high-quality, natural ingredients that are backed by scientific research, ensuring both safety and effectiveness for brain health and function. By leveraging potent, synergistic ingredient combinations, Thesis aims to provide a natural, effective way to boost cognition, clear brain fog, and support overall mental wellness.

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The Best Nootropics Supplements Personalized to Your Brain?

Updated: 01/25/2024

Outliyr is is editorially independent. We may get a small commission if you buy through our links (at no cost to you). Thanks for your support!

Your brain is a primary difference between winning a Nobel prize and living a life of mediocrity.

How well it functions isn’t solely a matter of genetics.

Neuroscience research, and overwhelming anecdotal experience, show that we can dramatically upgrade our:

• Mental clarity
• Productivity
• Access to the flow state
• Information processing speed

Welcome to the world of “neurohacking”. Using special ingredients and lifestyle practices to optimize the brains and increase our overall quality of life.

But there’s one glaring issue…

Companies making the best brain-boosting supplements recognize this and customize their formulas to your unique lifestyle.

One such nootropic experience is a “newcomer” (you’ll learn why this isn’t exactly true) called Thesis. You take a short brain assessment, they send you a starter kit, and their complimentary coach helps you hone the perfect brain supplements — customized to you!

This post will thoroughly review of TakeThesis, how it compares to other nootropics companies, and whether this is the last brain supplement you’ll need.

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Quick & Dirty Intro to Nootropics

These are different from the off-label use of prescription pharmaceuticals like Adderall.

Essentially, nootropics are a special class of ingredients that satisfy ALL the following criteria:

• Safe and non-toxic
• Enhance learning and memory
• Protect against injury
• Boost natural cognitive ability (memory, logic, creativity, focus, etc)

There’s something that makes them even better…

Nootropics upgrade your baseline performance even after you stop taking them . They cause long-term changes to brain structure and function. Almost like training you how to operate at a higher level and forming positive habits.

At the same time, the good ones provide a quick and noticeable pick-me-up. You don’t wonder if they’re working.

The right formulas help you reach your full potential faster and more effectively.

What is Take Thesis Nootropics?

Thesis is the masterpiece of expert brain supplement formulators Dan Freed and Adam Greenfield. This duo began researching nootropics out of personal need. Both struggled with poor cognitive performance. They learned how to balance brain chemistry to maximize performance.

Now they’re sharing their discoveries with the world.

After great success with their original product, Find My Formula (which I reviewed here), they revamped their formulations and process.

While each of us has unique neurochemistries, after working with enough people, they began to spot patterns in which ingredients, the forms of those ingredients, and doses work best. Over the span of years, they’ve amassed a huge dataset:

• 30,000+ users
• 550,000 recommendations made
• 127 ingredients tested

Resulting in 86% of users reporting higher energy levels, better mood, more reliable memory, and greater motivation.

Unsurprisingly, Thesis has garnered a stellar 96% customer satisfaction.

The company also has soul. By donating a portion of each sale to both the Covenant House and The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), they’re evolving the future of brain enhancement and also making it more accessible to the world.

Thesis Nootropics Ingredients

When evaluating any nootropic, you must consider how they source and test ingredients.

The sad truth is that most of the products on the market are WORSE than useless. Contaminated with heavy metals, mycotoxins, pathogens, even adulterated with banned (dangerous) substances.

Thesis puts each ingredient through a rigorous, multi-step ethical, medical, and legal evaluation. Before acquiring and testing the ingredients for safety and purity, every ingredient must be supported as safe and effective by clinical trials.

This team keeps up with the ever-changing regulations.

Since the days of Find My Formula, a lot has changed. Each of their blends has undergone a major overhaul.

One of the common gripes with naturals is that you don’t feel anything.

How Thesis Works

Thesis isn’t your run-of-the-mill supplement company.

They’ve streamlined a process resulting in 86 percent of users finding their neurochemically tuned formulations in less than one month.

This is how to best use Thesis:

• Assess your unique brain
• Establish your baseline
• Begin your Starter Kit
• Notice what works for you and what doesn’t
• Tweak and optimize with complimentary coaching

Your Thesis journey begins with a short survey to understand your basic lifestyle, how your brain functions, and your goals for using nootropics. The entire “quiz” takes just a few minutes. When you finish, their AI finds your “digital twin” to determine which formulations are most likely to work for you.

A few days later, you’ll receive the Thesis Starter Kit in the mail, with the four separate blends best matched to your brain.

I suggest jotting down the way you feel, your challenges, and goals. That way you’ll have something to reference after several weeks of testing. Bonus points for including audio/video in your log.

You’ll follow the directions, testing each product for six days in a row. Then take a break over the weekend, allowing your body to reset. Though you don’t need two days off, I notice better effects when I give my body the extra rest day.

If you’re sensitive, I suggest taking these capsules first thing in the morning.

At any point, you can schedule a call with one of the resident Thesis Nootropics Experts. They’ll help coach you to ensuring the best possible experience and tweak your kit as necessary. Definitely take advantage of the experts, as they’re a key bonus of Thesis !

By the end of the month, you’ll have discovered your favorite blends and the ones that you don’t like. It’s perfectly normal to not like some of them, and your future orders will only include the products you love most.

The Thesis Nootropic Blends for Every Goal

Note that I’ve written about five blends below, but your Starter Kit will only contain four. Once you’ve gone through the Starter Kit, you’ve demoed the blends.

Hopefully, you’ve discovered the ones that work great for you.

For every subsequent order, you get four slots to customize however you prefer. My favorite combo is:

• (2) Clarity

But if I really loved a particular blend, for example, I could just do:

• (4) Creativity

You can request any of the formulations in either of two versions: caffeinated or caffeine-free.

Don’t pay much attention to the names of each. They’re merely general suggestions of the most often reported benefits. It’s entirely possible that you’ll get more clarity from Creativity, or better logical reasoning from Energy.

Let’s examine each of the different blends.

Thesis Energy

I reach for Energy when I get less than 7 hours of sleep, or when I need extra energy to crush a workout and power through a long Monday. It’s also useful for travel days, or when I know I’ll wind up in energy-depleting situations. Others use it to reinforce new healthy habits.

Thesis Energy blend ingredients include:

• Zynamite® – 300mg
• TeaCrine® – 100mg
• Sabroxy® – 100mg
• CDP Choline – 300mg
• N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine – 300mg
• N-Acetyl Cysteine – 500mg
• Optional: Caffeine – 100mg
• Optional: L-Theanine – 200mg

Sabroxy is an ancient Ayurvedic extract that comes from the bark of the Indian trumpet tree. Research suggests it enhances memory, focus, immunomodulation, mood, and even skin health.

From previous experience, I know that I respond well to Zynamite and TeaCrine. The former is an extract of mango leaf, and the latter is a molecular cousin of caffeine that comes from a tea plant, is non-habit forming, and with fewer side effects. Both noticeably increase energy, as expected. As a bonus, I find that these two also lift my mood.

Compared to the previous Energy formula, this iteration is smoother and more refined. Each sachet contains three capsules, and I start feeling effects 15 minutes after swallowing them.

I’ve been a big fan of all the Energy blends I’ve tested so far. It’s constantly ranked in my top 2 favorites due to the pronounced effects. It feels like a more full-body caffeine without the jitters or crash.

Thesis Clarity

As the package insert describes, Clarity supports a calm, focused flow and is great for optimal performance during high-stakes days. Good for presentations, content creation, and non-stimulating concentration.

I’ve found this description to be spot on. The formula has undergone a complete overhaul, featuring two ingredients I haven’t found in other nootropics.

Thesis Clarity blend ingredients include:

• 7,8 Dihydroxyflavone – 30mg
• Camellia Sinesis Extract – 250mg
• Alpha GPC – 250mg
• Epicatechin – 250mg
• Lion’s Mane 8:1 Extract – 500mg

7, 8 Dihydroxyflavone is a man-made flavonoid that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and mimic the effects of BDNF (dubbed “MiracleGro for the brain”). Camellia Sinesis is the ingredient that earned tea’s reputation as a health drink. It’s a potent source of the relaxing compound l-Theanine. Epicatechin also comes from tea, and it promotes optimal blood flow, mood, and neuroprotection.

A dose of Clarity takes three capsules, and I couldn’t pinpoint the exact time I started feeling it. The effects became more pronounced after approximately one hour.

Don’t expect a huge boost in energy or racing thoughts from this one. Once I released that expectation, I noticed that I felt clear, calm yet alert, steady, and mentally sharp . All without overstimulation. I flowed through my work, easily focusing on each task through completion.

To my surprise, Clarity went from among my least favorite Find My Formula blends, to my Thesis top pick.

I’m confident that this is one of the only nootropics that I can take in the afternoon (or even evening) and still sleep great.

Thesis Creativity

Creativity helps you generate new ideas, think abstractly, and finally bring your dream projects to fruition. It works by quieting overthinking and helping integrate both hemispheres of the brain.

The stack of powerful adaptogenic herbs also makes it an excellent choice for stressful situations, or to relax in social events.

You can rest assured that it contains some of the most researched and scientifically proven herbs on the planet. Ashwagandha and Panax Ginseng are staples in Ayurvedic (Indian) and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Thousands of studies back their use.

Thesis Creativity blend ingredients include:

• KSM-66 Ashwagandha – 300mg
• GS15-4 Panax Ginseng – 200mg
• Zembrin® – 25mg
• Agmatine Sulfate – 250mg
• Alpha GPC – 150mg

The Thesis formulators did a great job here, handpicking the strongest, cleanest, and most bioavailable forms of each ingredient.

Zembrin is one I hadn’t heard of, but am impressed by what I’ve learned. It’s a plant extract known to boost mood, improve workout focus, alleviate nervousness, and enhance complex problem-solving.

Approximately 45 minutes after my three-capsule dose, I noticed myself feeling slightly less reactive to urgent emails and other daily stressors. I could also more easily discern wisdom from my intuition. Each time I followed my instinct, I made the right choice.

I do already regularly take Ashwagandha and Ginseng in my own supplement regimen (which I stopped for this experiment), so it’s likely that my reaction is milder than most.

Thesis Logic

The name summarizes it well. Logic supports rational thinking. Making a popular choice among lawyers, bankers, programmers, scientists, academics, and those looking to boost their analytical abilities.

Though I didn’t get it selected for my Starter Kit, I reached out to their customer service to have it swapped in. As a Data Scientist, I knew that this would fit me well.

I was right. My first experience with the original Find My Formula Logic blend quickly took silver (only behind their original Energy). It hit the sweet spot between energetic stimulation and effortless focus. I went from spec sheet to finished product 35 percent faster than normal.

Thesis Logic blend ingredients include:

• Triacetyluridine – 30mg
• Vegan Omega-3 Lysine complex (EPA + DHA) – 200mg
• Phosphatidylserine – 200mg
• Theobromine – 100mg
• Gingko Biloba – 160mg
• Synapsa® (Bacopa monnieri extract) – 320mg

As its name suggests, Triacetyluridine is a more potent version of the nootropic uridine. It’s known to improve learning, memory, energy, mood, and reduce neuroinflammation.

Theobromine is a mild stimulant related to caffeine naturally occurring in cacao. It increases blood flow, and improves focus.

Those interested in memory enhancement may know Bacopa — one of the greatest ancient memory-enhancing herbs. Gingko is another notable natural herb, known to improve alertness, concentration, focus, and memory.

Phosphatidylserine comes from sunflowers. It gently alleviates stress without drowsiness, improves memory, and increases alertness.

Indeed, the Logic formulation improves working memory, offsets stress, and accelerates learning. On days I reluctantly approached tedious work, the two capsule dose of Logic took the edge off within about 20 minutes.

I’m still experimenting with the latest Logic blend, but so far it stacks up with the original. The new Logic feels slightly weaker, but I greatly prefer the new ingredients.

Thesis Motivation

Motivation comes in a lime-green sachet. It’s Thesis’ take on the classic and original CILTEP nootropic stack.

Motivation bills itself as best for:

• Crushing your TODO list
• Building healthy habits
• Increasing discipline and drive

It’s one of the blends that’s most polarizing. You either love it, or you hate it.

I’ve tested this exact formulation produced by several different companies (including NaturalStacks and Find My Formula), and I’ve had bad experiences every single time.

The predominant effect I notice is a headache (which I never get). I also feel slightly spacey. This time I came prepared and used Semax to pull me out of my CILTEP fog.

But just as many people rave about their Motivation.

Thesis Motivation blend ingredients include:

• Forskolin – 250mg
• Methylcobalamin – 1000mcg
• Dynamine – 100mg
• L-Phenylalanine – 500mg
• Artichoke Extract – 450mg

It’s safe to say that after two days of use, you’ll know which Motivation camp you fall into.

Thesis Confidence

Confidence is a newer Thesis blend that came out in mid-2022 after heavy internal research and development. I’ve been using it for the last few weeks and it’s certainly one of my favorites. Perhaps my top non-stimulating Thesis Formula.

Typical use cases for Confidence include:

• Important situations
• Doing uncomfortable or new things
• Times of leadership
• Stopping overwhelm

My experience with Thesis Confidence has been overwhelmingly positive. Within about 30 minutes, I felt a smooth and definite mood boost. The day seemed to flow easily. I didn’t feel jitters or nervousness before overwise stressful no-agenda meetings.

This one is great for social situations. I’m noticing that I feel more comfortable and bold as a newbie Bachata dancer.

Although it’s not very stimulating, I noticed a slight rush kind of like the effect of finishing a good workout. Increased blood flow and slight flushing paired with relaxation (but certainly not any sedation).

Thesis Confidence blend ingredients include:

• Saffron extract (affron®) – 28mg
• Ashwagandha extract (Shoden®) – 120mg
• Sage extract – 333mg
• Magnesium threonate – 50mg
• Magnolia bark extract (DHH-B) – 10mg

This is an excellent formula. I love the synergy between the ingredients. Plus, many of these (like Saffron) are expensive and commonly faked in supplements. By using the patented versions, we’re assuredly getting the real thing.

How to Use Thesis

When the shipment finally arrives in the mail, you might feel overwhelmed.

Here’s what to expect…

Inside the large box, you’ll find four smaller boxes. Each box contains five sachets. Monday through Saturday mornings, you take one full sachet (2-3 capsules).

I suggest you take notes beforehand on what you wish to get out of the experience. Some popular examples include:

• Spending less time distracted on social media
• Output at your main job
• Progress toward hobbies, projects, or other work
• Starting a new skill, language, or health habit
• Finish work faster

Then, at the end of each day, spend 15-seconds jotting down notes in the provided instruction manual. Trust me, this makes a huge difference. After completing week four, you’ll probably forget which blends you loved, the effects they had, and which ones didn’t work for you.

Some of the ingredients last slightly longer in your system, so I take the entire weekend off to allow my neurochemistry to reset. This also ensures you get the most bang for your buck.

After repeating this process for all four boxes, you’ll have discovered your favorite blends. A Thesis coach can help you customize future orders so you’ll only receive the ones you want!

Tips to Get the Most Out of Thesis Nootropics

Nootropics aren’t cheap.

You can skip this entire section, but these tips will help ensure that you get the most out of your experience.

Caffeine-free . If you’re new to nootropics, start with the non-caffeinated versions. I drink coffee most days. Sometimes two cups. But I always get my nootropics caffeine-free. For several reasons. First, nootropics potentiate caffeine. One coffee can feel like 3. If you’re not used to the combo, going caff-free gives you more control. Caff-free also means that I can take nootropics later in the day. Also, the health benefits of coffee don’t come from caffeine but from the polyphenols, flavonoids, and other phytochemicals. Plus, I just like the taste of coffee.

If you like this kind of thing, join my FREE nootropics mini-course where you’ll learn:

• How professionals choose products
• Tips to feel stronger effects and get more out of your supplements
• Money-saving hacks
• Natural cognitive enhancement technologies
• Latest neuroscience-backed strategies to upgrade your brain

Fill out the info below to get started…

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Thesis Nootropics Questions & Answers

Should i take thesis with caffeine.

I recommend taking Thesis without caffeine to start. Caffeine greatly increases the effects of certain nootropics. For some, this can be too much and lead to panic, headaches, and unease. You can always add coffee and more easily control your caffeine dosage later.

What’s the difference between Thesis and Find My Formula nootropics?

Thesis is the latest generation of Find My Formula nootropics. They’ve refined, upgraded, and revamped every single one of their formulas according to the latest neuroscience research. Find My Formula products are no longer available.

Which Thesis blend is best?

Your ideal Thesis stack depends on your neurochemistry, lifestyle, and goals. People either love or hate their Motivation blend. My favorites (in order) are Clarity, Energy, and then Logic.

How much do Thesis nootropics cost?

Thesis offers two different buying options: one-time, and subscription. One-time purchases cost $119.00 and subscriptions cost $79.00 per month. Use code URBAN and save an extra 15 percent! Thesis backs all purchases with a full 30-day no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.

Thesis Nootropics Review: Boosting Your Brain With Precision Formulas

Ignore those that say you’re stuck with a less-than-optimal brain.

According to the latest neuroscience (and countless personal examples), that’s demonstrably false.

That is if you use the right products.

The most popular nootropics today are:

I’m constantly trying the latest nootropic formulas.

I take most of them for a month and see little benefit.

Thesis is one exception, featuring an impressive array of the highest-quality forms of well-researched ingredients. Drawing from their millions of data points, they’ve come up with unique formulas that give you both a quick boost and long-term benefits .

So that one day, should you choose, you can completely stop supplementing and continue enjoying all the fruits of an upgraded brain.

I personally prefer their Clarity, Energy, and Logic. Each serves a role specific to the type of day I have ahead.

Since the original Find My Formula blends, I’m impressed with their improvements. They’ve moved away from some of the man-made ingredients and embraced natural (but effective) bioharmonizing compounds.

As of January 2022, Thesis has amassed a 4.5+ star rating on 7,411 ratings.

Try it yourself with the exclusive Outliyr discount:

Thesis nootropics code URBAN saves you 10%

To the long-term Formula users — what do you think of the update? Have you enjoyed the new Thesis blends?

Let’s have a discussion in the comments below!

Post Tags: Brain & Cognition , Lifestyle , Nootropics , Review , Supplements

12 thoughts on “The Best Nootropics Supplements Personalized to Your Brain?”

Unfortunately, I can not use any of the samples sent by Thesis. Each packet contained the caffeine equal to a cup of coffee.

What a bummer!

I’m not sure how you do with caffeine, but it also includes l-theanine which is a natural amino acid that really smoothes out the negative effects of caffeine (I won’t use any form of caffeine without it). You might want to reach out to their team about this, but last I heard, one of the pills in each sachet is exclusively caffeine/theanine. I’ve received a few caffeinated boxes, and just threw away the smallest white caffeine/theanine pill.

Or you can reach out to them and they will likely make it right.

Hey, I had the same issue. Fortunately, the caffeine portion comes in its own separate capsule (the white capsule in each packet), so you can choose to leave it out!

Correct. It’s the smaller white one if there are multiple white capsules.

I’ll be honest. I think this is a scam, like snake oil.

Hi Andrew. Not sure what you mean. Have you ever used nootropics? Or botanicals/herbals? What makes you think this is a scam?

This is my first time visiting the website although I’m no stranger to nootropics. I don’t remember where or how I discovered acetyl choline—AGP?—but it was a game changer for me. I’d been taking phosphatidylserine for memory enhancement for at least 2 decades, L-Tyrosine to boost dopamine, PEA, for the same reason. All on my own initiative, as a result of my own independent research. What disturbs me about Thesis is: 1). I suffer from a congenital disease for which there is no cure—Lipedema—and this is allegedly at the root of the fatigue which has blighted my entire life and which I have been attempting to overcome for most of it. The disease afflicts about 10% of women and as one doctor blithely informed me, “you;d be better off with cancer. At least there’s a chance you might recover.” As a result of the quiz I took, Thesis informed me I was in the bottom 4% of applicants and never investigated further. Well, Hello. 2). Quiz had questions about exercise but nothing about diet or meditation, Since I follow functional and integrative Medicine, these gaps disappointed me. I still haven’t made up my mind about becoming a member, but I am grateful to Andrew Huberman for drawing my attention to this range of products.

Hi Jacqueline, sorry about the super slow response here! Glad you’ve found things that work for you. That’s strange. When I took the quiz, they didn’t show percentiles. I agree, diet and meditation are essential. Impossible to overlook really, especially when we’re discussing nutraceuticals. I’ll let them know when I talk to them next.

Update on “the ingredients are not evenly distributed throughout the pills.” I spoke to a Thesis rep this week, and after a detailed conversation regarding the caffeine pills (the small white pill in each caffeine line of products), she clarified that the other pills (not the 100mg of caffeine + 200 mg of L-Theanine small white pill) have the remaining blend evenly distributed between the pills.

Loved your article, how you spelt it out, and agree strongly with the feelings on Clarity being “clear, calm yet alert, steady, and mentally sharp. All without overstimulation.”

Good correction! The caffeine/theanine pill is easy enough to spot.

Thanks for the feedback. Which are your favorite(s)?

Nick, this is an awesome intro to nootropics and Thesis, thank you for breaking this down! I was a Formula customer for years and my favorite blends were Clarity and Creativity. With the new Thesis formulations Energy has been added into my routine! I feel like I have tools at my disposal for any occasion… Creativity is great for social situations or other experiences that would otherwise leave me mentally fatigued, Clarity is great when I have a ton I want to accomplish without interruption, Energy is great when I haven’t had great sleep or need to do more physical stuff. I don’t use it every day, but it’s there when I need a lift. Great read, thanks for the knowledge!

Thanks! How often do you use Thesis? Do you combine it with anything else?

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Nick Urban  is the Founder of Outliyr, an expert Biohacker with 12+ years of experience, a Data Scientist, a Certified CHEK Practitioner, Host of the Mind Body Peak Performance Podcast, and a High-Performance Coach. Click  here  to read how Nick went from struggling pre-diabetic, to collegiate rugby national champion. To send Nick a message, visit his  Contact Page .

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Nick Urban is the Founder of Outliyr, an expert Biohacker of 10+ years, Data Scientist, Certified CHEK Practitioner, Host of the Mind Body Peak Performance Podcast , and a High-Performance Coach. Click here to read how Nick went from struggling pre-diabetic, to collegiate rugby national champion. If you want to send Nick a quick message, then visit his Contact Page .

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Table of Contents

About Thesis Nootropics

Hands up if you guzzle five coffees a day to stay awake, have tried all the supplements in the book desperate to improve your headspace, and aren’t interested in prescribed medications. Designed to increase focus , Thesis nootropics might be for you. 

Thesis offers a customized blend of ingredients designed to optimize your cognitive function , with personalized details that tackle your specific needs. Nootropics boost brain performance in the same way a stimulant would, without the common negative effects. 

A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that nootropics may help improve cognitive function in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Interested in finding out more about the brand and how it works? Leaf through our Thesis Nootropics review. We’ll be your guide through the company and the process, as well as details on the treatments, highlights from customer reviews, answers to important FAQs, and more, to help you decide if it’s worth the try.

Pros and Cons

• Multiple cognitive benefits: Thesis Nootropics offers a variety of blends that cater to multiple aspects of cognitive function.
• Long-term effects: On top of short term benefits for daily life, Thesis nootropics ingredients are designed to impact the brain in the long-term.
• Personalized recommendations: Thesis Nootropics makes personalized recommendations based on your goals and unique brain chemistry.
• Potential side effects: The most common side effects to watch out for when you start taking Thesis Nootropics include heartburn, headaches, confusion, dizziness, loss of appetite, and digestive issues.
• Need to stop taking if issues arise: If you experience a headache or an upset stomach that won’t go away while taking their nootropics, Thesis recommends that you stop taking them.

What is Thesis Nootropics?

Nootropics are nutrient compounds and substances that are known to improve brain performance , such as caffeine and creatine. They help with issues that affect motivation, creativity, mood, memory, focus, and cognitive processing.

Nootropics are the ideal addition to an already healthy lifestyle that consists of exercise, proper nutrition, and enjoyable activities.  Thesis nootropics are carefully formulated to target specific needs, ranging from energy to creativity. The brand focuses on safety, ensuring that all supplements adhere to FDA guidelines and go through multiple clinical trials. 

How Thesis Nootropics Works

With all that being said, you may be wondering how Thesis provides users with an option that is specific to their needs. Fortunately, the process is simple and hassle free. Here’s how it works:

• Take the Thesis nootropics quiz
• Answer questions about your basic information
• Receive personalized recommendations 
• Get your starter kit for $120 , or $79 monthly when you subscribe 

After that, you’ll select one formula to take each week, taking one day off in between each different option. You’ll also track your results in the daily journal over the month to see how they affect your daily life. 

From there, it operates as a subscription service. Users will be able to optimize their next shipment by telling the brand which formulas worked best.

If you don’t like any of the blends in your box, let the company know and they’ll switch it for something that’s a better fit for your lifestyle, genetics, and goals.

Thesis Nootropics Ingredients

Thesis Nootropics is a brand that offers personalized nootropics designed to enhance cognitive function and overall brain health. Their blends contain a variety of ingredients that are carefully chosen for their cognitive-boosting properties. Here are some of the key ingredients in Thesis Nootropics:

• Cognizin (Citicoline) : Cognizin is a type of choline that is known for its ability to enhance cognitive function, including memory and focus.
• L-Theanine : L-Theanine is an amino acid that is found in green tea, and is known for its ability to promote relaxation and reduce stress and anxiety.
• Lion’s Mane Mushroom : Lion’s Mane Mushroom is a type of medicinal mushroom that is believed to have cognitive-boosting properties, including improved memory and focus.
• Rhodiola Rosea : Rhodiola Rosea is an adaptogenic herb that is known for its ability to reduce stress and fatigue, and improve mental clarity and cognitive function.
• Ashwagandha : Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb that is known for its ability to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve memory and cognitive function.
• Phosphatidylserine : Phosphatidylserine is a type of phospholipid that is found in high concentrations in the brain, and is believed to support cognitive function, including memory and focus³
• Alpha-GPC : Alpha-GPC is a type of choline that is known for its ability to enhance cognitive function, including memory and focus.
• TAU (uridine): TAU is a blend of uridine, choline, and DHA, which is believed to support brain health and cognitive function.
• Artichoke extract : Artichoke extract is believed to enhance cognitive function by increasing levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that is important for memory and learning.
• Dynamine : Dynamine is a type of alkaloid that is believed to enhance cognitive function by increasing levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is important for mood and motivation.

Overall, the ingredients in Thesis Nootropics are carefully chosen for their cognitive-boosting properties, and are designed to work together to enhance overall brain health and cognitive function.

Thesis Nootropics Health Benefits

Thesis Nootropics is a brand that offers personalized nootropics designed to enhance cognitive function and overall brain health. Their blends contain a variety of ingredients that are carefully chosen for their cognitive-boosting properties, and offer numerous health benefits. Here are some of the health benefits of Thesis Nootropics:

• Increased cognitive energy : One of the key benefits of Thesis Nootropics is increased cognitive energy, which can help improve productivity, mental alertness, and motivation, as it contains cognizin .
• Enhanced mental clarity : Another benefit of Thesis Nootropics is enhanced mental clarity,given from Lion’s Mane Mushroom which can help reduce brain fog and improve focus.
• Improved memory and learning abilities : Thesis Nootropics contains ingredients that are believed to improve memory and learning abilities, like Phosphatidylserine , which can help users retain information more effectively.
• Elevated mood : Thesis Nootropics may help elevate mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, thanks to ingredients like L-Theanine and Ashwagandha .
• Lowered stress levels : The adaptogenic herbs in Thesis Nootropics, such as Rhodiola Rosea and Ashwagandha , are known for their ability to lower stress levels and promote relaxation.
• Boosted focus : Thesis Nootropics contains ingredients like Alpha-GPC and Artichoke extract , which are believed to boost focus and concentration.

While Thesis Nootropics offers numerous health benefits, it’s important to note that the long-term effects of nootropics are not yet fully understood and more research is needed.

3 Thesis Nootropics Bestsellers

Thesis energy review.

If you’re constantly struggling to keep up with the demands of your busy life, it might be time to try a natural energy booster like Thesis Energy. This powerful nootropic blend is specifically designed to increase energy, overcome fatigue, and build mental stamina.

Thesis Energy is caffeine-free, making it a great option for those who are sensitive to caffeine or looking for a natural alternative to traditional energy drinks. The Energy formulation is designed to help improve focus and mental clarity, increase cognitive energy, and reduce fatigue. Whether you’re facing a busy day at work, recovering after a night of poor sleep, or gearing up for an intense workout, Thesis Energy can help you power through.

Each ingredient in Thesis Energy is carefully chosen for its energy-boosting properties. The specific ingredients can vary depending on your needs, but they work together to help increase energy, improve mental clarity, and reduce fatigue.

To get the most out of Thesis Energy, take it every morning on an empty stomach. You can also take it again after lunch if you need an extra boost. It’s designed to help you tackle busy, hectic days, recover from poor sleep, and power through intense workouts.

If you’re tired of relying on coffee and energy drinks to get through the day, it might be time to give Thesis Energy a try. Check availability and start boosting your energy naturally today!

Thesis Creativity

If you’re someone who struggles with creativity or finds yourself feeling stuck in your creative endeavors, Thesis Creativity may be worth considering. This nootropic supplement is designed to help spark inspiration, enhance verbal fluency, and boost confidence in your own great ideas.

So what’s in Thesis Creativity? The ingredients may vary depending on your specific needs, but these ingredients work together to support stress management, memory function, mood regulation, and energy production.

By supporting stress management, memory function, and mood regulation, Thesis Creativity can help free up mental space for more creative thinking. Additionally, the caffeine and L-theanine combo can provide a boost of energy and focus without the jitters and crash that can come with caffeine alone.

To get the most out of Thesis Creativity, it is recommended to take it every morning on an empty stomach and again after lunch if you need an extra boost. This nootropic blend is particularly helpful for brainstorming and creative thinking, writing and creative projects, and public speaking and social situations.

As with any nootropic supplement, it’s important to note that the long-term effects of Thesis Creativity are not yet fully understood and more research is needed. It’s always a good idea to speak with a healthcare professional before adding any new supplements to your routine.

In summary, if you’re looking for a little extra help in the creativity department, Thesis Creativity may be a valuable addition to your nootropic lineup. Its unique blend of ingredients can help support mental clarity, mood regulation, and energy production, making it a valuable tool for any creative individual.

Thesis Logic

If you’ve been having trouble with your memory lately, such as forgetting what you had for lunch yesterday or struggling to recall common words, then Thesis Logic may be just what you need. This formula is designed to help enhance your processing speed, boost your memory, and deepen your thinking.

Thesis Logic is caffeine-free, making it a great option for those who are sensitive to caffeine. The formula is ideal for use during deep, focused work, complex problem-solving, research projects, and completing tedious tasks.

Taking Thesis Logic is easy – simply take it every morning on an empty stomach, and take it again after lunch if you need an extra boost. By incorporating Thesis Logic into your daily routine, you may notice improvements in your cognitive function and overall mental performance.

Who Is Thesis Nootropics For? 

Thesis nootropics are designed for a number of different specific needs, including anyone who wants to focus better, have more energy, and maintain mental clarity. All in all, the products are specifically formulated to improve day to day life and target your specific needs .

Thesis Nootropics Side Effects

While Thesis nootropics are designed to enhance cognitive performance and provide a range of benefits, it’s important to be aware of the potential side effects that can occur. As with any supplement, individual reactions can vary, and some people may experience side effects while others may not.

Some of the potential side effects of Thesis nootropics include:

• Insomnia : Some nootropics contain caffeine or other stimulants that can disrupt sleep patterns and lead to difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
• Blurry vision : Certain nootropics, such as those containing alpha GPC, have been linked to temporary blurry vision.
• High blood pressure : Stimulant-based nootropics can increase blood pressure, which can be dangerous for people with hypertension or other heart conditions.
• Fast heart rate : Similarly, stimulants can also increase heart rate, leading to palpitations or a rapid pulse.
• Circulation problem s: Certain nootropics, such as vinpocetine, can affect blood flow and circulation, leading to issues like dizziness, nausea, or headaches.
• Addiction : Some nootropics, such as those containing racetams, have been associated with the potential for addiction or dependence if used long-term.

It’s important to remember that not all nootropics will produce these side effects, and the severity of any reactions will depend on individual factors such as dosage, duration of use, and underlying health conditions. However, it’s always wise to discuss any potential risks with a healthcare professional before starting any new supplement regimen.

Additionally, it’s important to follow dosage instructions carefully and not to exceed recommended amounts, as this can increase the risk of side effects. By being mindful of potential risks and using nootropics responsibly, users can reap the benefits of these supplements without experiencing adverse effects.

Thesis Nootropics Reviews: What Do Customers Think?

At this point in our Thesis nootropics review, it’s time to turn to what customers are saying. So, we sourced testimonials from the brand’s website, Reddit, and ZenMasterWellness. And spoiler alert, the Thesis nootropics reviews we came across have nothing but good things to say.

On takethesis.com , the brand earns 4.4/5 stars out of 7,956 reviews. One patron describes their particular blend as the perfect alternative to prescription meds :

“ I have been off stimulants for months now and these formulas are far superior. My husband and daughter both noticed the change and said I have been more productive, focused, less anxious, and more “thinking outside the box”. I have tried for years to get off stims and nothing would work .”

On Reddit, many reviewers share similar sentiments about how effective the products are. One buyer shares that they tried tons of different nootropics on the market, and Thesis stands out amongst the crowd . 

On ZenMasterWellness, one reviewer states that their blend provided the exact results they were looking for :

“ They offer notable improvements to how well I’m able to focus, stay on task, and grind when it’s time to grind. In practice, this usually looks like a clearer mind and an improved ability to just… chill. With the Clarity and Creativity blends, in particular, I just feel leveled out .”

Backed by clinical trials and real customer experiences, Thesis stands out in the world of nootropics and supplements. The personalized selections prove effective, while the quality ingredients live up to expectations. 

Is Thesis Nootropics Legit?

If you’re wondering if this brand offers products that are too good to be true, this Thesis nootropics review is here to say that it is the real deal .

The brand is backed by numerous clinical trials, which highlight how 86% of customers reported improvements in a wide range of cognitive challenges, while 89% noticed an improvement in their ability to reduce stress and maintain energy.

Is Thesis Nootropics Worth It?

Thesis is an appealing choice in the world of nootropics because it provides a completely customized selection based on your needs and goals. Plus, the ingredients are potent and ensure the best effects—and you only end up paying for the benefits you actually need.

With that in mind, this Thesis nootropics review deems the brand worth the try.

Alternatives

Here are some alternatives to Thesis Nootropics that you might find interesting:

• Mind Lab Pro – This nootropic supplement is designed to improve cognitive function and mental performance. It contains 11 ingredients that work together to enhance memory, focus, and overall brain health.
• Thorne Supplements : If you’re looking for high-quality, science-based supplements, Thorne is a great choice. Their products are designed with the latest research in mind and are rigorously tested for quality and purity. Some of their popular offerings include multivitamins, protein powders, and omega-3 supplements.
• WeAreFeel Supplements : WeAreFeel is a supplement brand that offers a variety of products designed to support different aspects of your health. Their supplements are vegan-friendly and free from artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. Some of their popular offerings include multivitamins, probiotics, and omega-3 supplements.
• Neuro Gum : If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to boost your focus and energy levels, Neuro Gum is a great option. This gum is infused with caffeine and other natural ingredients that can help improve mental clarity and alertness. Plus, it’s sugar-free and comes in a variety of delicious flavors.
• Neuriva Plus : Neuriva Plus is a brain supplement that’s designed to improve memory, focus, and cognitive performance. It contains a blend of natural ingredients, including coffee fruit extract and phosphatidylserine, that have been shown to support brain health. If you’re looking for a natural way to boost your cognitive function, Neuriva Plus is worth considering.

Thesis Nootropics Promotions & Discounts 

There aren’t currently any Thesis promos or discounts available. That being said, if you subscribe for recurring shipments of your recommended products, you’ll save $40 monthly .

Where to Buy Thesis Nootropics

At the time of this Thesis nootropics review, the products are exclusively available on the brand’s website, takethesis.com .

Is Thesis Nootropics vegan?  

Thesis nootropics are made with only vegan ingredients . That being said, while the brand has taken precautions to protect against cross contamination, the products are not certified vegan.

Is Thesis Nootropics gluten-free? 

On top of being vegan, Thesis products are made without gluten, eggs, or nuts . Again, while the brand strives to protect users against cross contamination, the products are not certified gluten free. 

What is Thesis Nootropics’ Shipping Policy?

If you’re anxiously awaiting your order from this Thesis nootropics review, you’ll be happy to hear that the company offers speedy shipping, sending orders out within 1 business day. After that, packages should arrive within only 1-3 business days . Costs are calculated at checkout.

At this time, Thesis is not able to offer international shipping. This Thesis nootropics review recommends following the brand on social media and signing up for the newsletter to stay up to date with shipping policies. 

What is Thesis Nootropics’ Return Policy?

If you find that your Thesis formula isn’t working out, the company requests that you contact them to make changes and adjustments to ensure you are able to receive the proper help.

If you would still like to make a return, follow these simple steps for a refund:

• Submit your refund request
• Ship the items back within 30 days of the original delivery
• Send an email with your tracking number to the brand
• Return any remaining product in their original packaging to: 

Thesis Returns 902 Broadway

6th Floor New York, NY 

Once your return has been received, a refund will be processed and email confirmation will be sent. It’s also important to note that the brand can only refund one month’s supply per customer and return shipping is the customer’s responsibility. 

How to Contact Thesis Nootropics

We hope you enjoyed this Thesis nootropics review! If you have any further questions about the brand or its products, you can contact them using the following methods:

• Call 1 (646) 647-3599
• Email [email protected]

902 Broadway Floor 6 New York, NY 10010

If you’re looking for other ways to boost your productivity via supplements, check out these other brands we’ve reviewed:

Thorne Supplements Review

WeAreFeel Supplements Review

Neuro Gum Review

Neuriva Plus Review

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What is Thesis and its discount code?

Thesis offers custom nootropics tailored to individual goals and biology. You can take a three-minute quiz to receive personalized formulas matched to your needs. For a discount, use the code "Huberman" at checkout to get 10% off your first order on their website, takethesis.com/huberman 1 .

Personalized Nootropics

Huberman lab.

Read Andrew Huberman

Andrew Huberman Thesis Discount Code

Discount link : https://takethesis.com/huberman

Thesis, a nootropics company, creates targeted supplements for specific brain functions like focus, creativity, and motivation, using high-quality ingredients like DHA and ginkgo biloba.

They offer personalized kits based on individual brain chemistry and goals. Visit takethesis.com/huberman for a personalized starter kit and get 10% off with the code ‘huberman’.

Our first sponsor is thesis thesis. Nootropics, which means smart drugs. Now, to be honest. I am not a fan of the term nootropics. I don’t believe in smart drugs. In the sense that I don’t believe that there’s any one substance, or collection of substances that can make us smarter. I do believe based on science.

However, that there are particular, neural circuits and brain functions that allow us to be more focused, more alert access creativity, be more motivated at cetera. That’s just the way that the brain works different, neural circuits for different brain States.

And so the idea of a nootropic that’s just going to make us Smarter all around fails to acknowledge that. Smarter is many things, right. If you’re an artist, you’re a musician, you’re doing math, you’re doing accounting a different part of the day. You need to be creative. These are all different brain, processes thesis understands this.

And as far as I know that the first nootropics company to create targeted, nootropics for specific outcomes. They only use the highest quality ingredients, which of course is essential. Some of those I’ve talked about on the podcast, things like DHA, ginkgo biloba, phosphatidyl serine. They give you the ability to try several different blends over the course of a month.

Discover which nootropics work best for your unique brain, chemistry and genetics and goals. And with that personalization design, a kit of nootropics that’s ideal for the different brain and body States. You want to access.

I’ve been using thesis for more than six months now and I can confidently say that their nootropics have been a total Game Changer. My go-to formula is the clarity formula or sometimes I’ll use their energy formula before training to get your own personalized. Nootropic starter kit.

Go online to take thesis.com huberman, take a Three-minute quiz and thesis will send you four different formulas to try in your first month. That’s take thesis.com huberman and use the code huberman at checkout for 10% off.

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Thesis Nootropics Review

Thesis has a range of targeted nootropics you can combine to optimize your results. our team will help you decide which ones are right for you..

Daniel is a senior editor and writer at Innerbody Research. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in writing, he attended post-graduate studies at George Mason University and pursued a career in nutritional science.

Dr. Segar is a cardiology fellow at the Texas Heart Institute and a member of Innerbody Research's Medical Review Board.

In this Review

Nootropics in general offer the potential to improve cognitive abilities and regulate mood without the need for a prescription. And while more research is necessary, current data suggests that they consist of ingredients that are generally safe and effective for healthy adults. 35 However, Thesis isn’t the only provider of high-quality nootropics, nor do they offer especially low prices. In this review, we'll compare and contrast Thesis’ six formulas and see how they stack up against a growing field of competitors.

Our Findings

• You can feel most results within an hour
• Products are third-party-tested for purity
• All options available without stimulants
• Outstanding phone support
• Subscriptions include complimentary wellness coaching
• Free shipping on all orders
• Use code INNERBODY for 10% off your first order
• Somewhat more expensive than competitors
• Up to four large pills per dose

Despite the somewhat high price, we recommend Thesis to anyone looking for a nootropic subscription that can be tailored to their specific needs. The formulas from Thesis provide tangible benefits with minimal ingredients, and each formula is available with or without caffeine. Thesis also offers stellar customer service and delivers their product in individually packed doses you can take just about anywhere.

Special Offer: Take 10% OFF with code INNERBODY

Why you should trust us

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions about staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles. As nootropics have become more important players in the supplements landscape, we’ve taken a serious look at the key players to see which ones are worthwhile.

Thesis exists in a class of nootropics that combines multiple nootropic ingredients to achieve specific goals. We’ve spent hundreds of hours researching and testing various nootropics, including both individual ingredients and combinations like Thesis offers. In researching Thesis and their competitors, our team has read more than 100 clinical studies examining the efficacy and safety of nootropic ingredients, and we’ve combined all of that knowledge with our experiences to create this review.

If you're curious about our team's experience using Thesis nootropics and wondering how the products will arrive at your door, we made this handy, 5-minute video summarizing those details:

Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this review was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

How we evaluated Thesis

To evaluate Thesis, we examined the extensive research available on each ingredient the company uses and compared them to a growing marketplace of nootropics, many of which our testing team has tried over the past few years. Specifically, we assessed how effectively Thesis' formulas work, as well as their safety, cost, and the convenience of acquiring and taking them.

Ultimately, we found Thesis to be one of the more reliable companies in terms of product quality and customer care, even if they are among the more expensive nootropic brands. For any nootropic, you’re looking to create a noticeable effect in brain performance, and altering anything to do with that sensitive chemistry likely warrants a fair investment. The bargain bin is not typically where you want to shop for mind-enhancing substances.

We’ll get into a more direct comparison between Thesis and their competitors a little later, and you’ll see that the balance between their price and overall value is quite reasonable. For now, let’s look at each criterion in more detail.

Effectiveness

Nootropic companies have a plethora of ingredients at their fingertips when they formulate their products. Some companies take a modern approach, focusing on the latest research into established Western medicines. Others look to the past, where ancient Chinese and Ayurvedic practices employed various botanicals to achieve cognitive effects. The best companies combine these approaches, using potentially beneficial ingredients that science supports.

Thesis takes this combined approach, employing just under three dozen ingredients from amino acids to ancient herbs across their six products. The company scores highly in effectiveness thanks to the ingredients they choose and the doses they offer for each, making it likely that you can notice their combined effects.

Individual results will vary due to everything from sleep patterns to diet, but most people should find benefits in at least one of Thesis' six formulas. Caffeinated formulas generally have more pronounced effects than stimulant-free versions, but the value of Thesis offering every formula with or without stimulants cannot be overstated.

One minor knock against Thesis is that, unlike some of their competitors, Thesis does not have a nootropic blend designed for improved sleep. Better sleep supports cognition and mood, so some companies offer formulas designed specifically for sleep promotion with ingredients like melatonin. That said, some of Thesis’ formulas contain lion’s mane or Zembrin (a branded form of Sceletium tortuosum that’s been shown to reduce anxiety and promote sleep). 2 3 And the amount of Zembrin used in Thesis’ Creativity and Confidence blends is the exact same amount used in these successful studies — 25mg.

Good nootropics are, unfortunately, a bit expensive. You can find less expensive options than Thesis, but their $79 monthly rate is right in the middle of what the market demands. You could also argue that the ingredient quality, customization options, and overall efficacy Thesis offers make it a superior value to many less expensive alternatives. Still, the price remains a sticking point for some.

Let's compare the monthly and per-dose costs with some of Thesis' closest competition. The prices below reflect subscription savings where available.

Three of the seven competitors included in the chart above are more expensive than Thesis, and another three are no more than $15 less expensive, revealing their generally average cost. Focus Factor — consistently our top budget pick among nootropics — costs much less than others in the field and includes many ingredients with associated clinical research. The downside is that increasing the number of ingredients (even when they seem to work) increases the odds of an adverse reaction.

TruBrain is the only company that truly compares to Thesis from a quality and variety standpoint. Other companies offer only one or two formulas, whereas Thesis and TruBrain each offer several more targeted products. TruBrain allows you to spend just $69 on your first jar when you subscribe — $10 less than Thesis — but that price shoots up to $119 every month after that, making Thesis the superior value.

When we consider the safety of any supplement, we look at available research into individual ingredients and compare those dosages with what the supplement offers. Whenever possible, we also test the product ourselves to observe its effects on us. Additionally, we look for safety standards in manufacturing that can provide added peace of mind, like third-party testing and compliance with the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

Thesis manufactures their products in GMP-compliant facilities and has third-party testing performed to assess the purity of each ingredient and formula. And the clinical research involving the lion's share of their ingredients reveals minimal risk profiles with few to no adverse effects reported. That said, ashwagandha isn’t safe for pregnant or breastfeeding individuals, and it can stimulate thyroid activity, so anyone with thyroid concerns (hyper- or hypothyroidism) or on medication to regulate thyroid function should be careful. 36 37

Thesis also limits their formulas to a handful of ingredients, which reduces the likelihood that any one of them would cause an adverse reaction. This is pretty typical of nootropics in Thesis’ class, but less expensive nootropics might try to convince you of their value by stuffing a single blend with several dozen components. That might increase the chances you feel some positive effect, but the side effect risk goes up by the same token.

Convenience

Our convenience rating considers various aspects of a user's experience. It usually starts with the quality of a product's website design and whether or not its pages are easy to navigate. We also consider the presence of subscription systems that make reordering easier and money-back guarantees that protect your investment. A company's customer service is another vital aspect of convenience, especially if you need questions answered. The quality of an FAQ section, the availability of representatives via chat or phone call, and the responsiveness to email inquiries all play a part here.

Our convenience rating is also informed by the steps required to actually take the product. Nootropics often consist of large capsules, and doses can contain anywhere from 1-7 capsules, which is awful for anyone with difficulty taking pills. Smaller capsules, fewer capsules per dose, and simple dosing schedules are ideal. Thesis’ capsule count varies per formula, ranging from 2-4 mid-size capsules you can take 30 minutes before you might want or need their effects.

To summarize some important aspects of nootropic company convenience, let's look at which companies have large capsule counts, good money-back guarantees, and subscription systems.

Thesis also provides a service that few other companies offer: free consultations with in-house nootropic coaches. These experts can help you figure out the best time to take specific Thesis formulas and guide your experience so you can tell whether or not they're working for you. Follow-up consultations are also free as long as you subscribe to the product.

What are nootropics?

Nootropic is a term most people use to refer to any non-prescription supplement that can boost brainpower. 4 The technical definition is a little more nuanced — encompassing prescription medications like Ritalin and Adderall — but the supplement industry has largely co-opted it to categorize the new class of non-prescription products. The word loosely translates from its Greek origins to mean mind-changing, and the majority of ingredients in a given nootropic seek to alter the brain’s cognitive abilities, as well as its governance of mood and energy.

Most nootropic supplements contain botanical ingredients, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that boast at least some clinical research connecting them with improvements in any of the following:

Compared to their prescription cousins, nootropic supplements aren't particularly strong. Still, limited clinical research indicates a tangible benefit to taking them.

What is Thesis?

Thesis is a supplement company with a focus on nootropics. Their founders each had experiences growing up with what would today be considered learning disabilities, and they credit nootropics for changing their lives. They make six distinct nootropic formulas, each with a specific ingredient profile.

Thesis differentiates themselves from their competitors in several critical ways:

• They offer a starter kit containing a personalized combination of four blends.
• You have the option to remove caffeine by request from any formula.
• They provide some of the best phone support we've ever experienced.
• Their targeted formulas conform to changing needs.

By providing you with a mix of formulas, Thesis gives you the ability to enhance the aspects of your cognitive and emotional life that need it the most on any given day. Maybe you know you have low energy levels on Mondays and Wednesdays, so you can take the Energy formula on those days. Maybe you want to devote your weekends to artistic pursuits. You can use the Creativity blend for that. Or you might find that one of their six blends works well for you in any situation. In that case, you can adjust your order to receive only that formula.

Thesis' customer service — particularly over the phone — is outstanding. While many customers might find chat support more convenient, our testers rarely waited more than a minute to speak to someone, and Thesis employs phone operators who are extraordinarily knowledgeable about the product and nootropics in general. Their email support is fine, and their chat support often redirects to an email inquiry. But that phone support is some of the best our testing team has experienced.

Is Thesis safe?

Most of the ingredients that Thesis uses in their nootropics exhibit minimal side effects in clinical research, so there’s a good chance that Thesis' various formulas will be safe for most people. But Thesis has nearly three dozen ingredients in their catalog, and not all of them will be safe for all users, including those who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Of course, the most important thing you can do is talk to your doctor before taking Thesis.

The most common side effects to watch out for when you start taking Thesis nootropics include:

• Loss of appetite
• Digestive issues

Thesis advises discontinuing their nootropics if you experience persistent headaches or an upset stomach.

Some Thesis products may present contraindications with certain prescription medicines. For example, ashwagandha has been shown to normalize thyroid hormone levels in people with hypothyroidism. 5 This has led some to believe that it could conversely cause thyrotoxicity in people with hyperthyroidism, though it’s worth noting that the study in question employed double the highest ashwagandha dose you’ll find in Thesis nootropics — the study used 600mg, and the ashwagandha dose in Thesis’ Creativity is 300mg.

Still, this should make abundantly clear the case for speaking with your doctor prior to taking Thesis. This is especially true considering the lack of research into the specific ingredient combinations you’ll find in Thesis products. There is also very little research looking into the risks of combining nootropic supplements with prescription stimulants such as Ritalin, Adderall, or Vyvanse.

Some side effects, such as jitteriness, can be attributed to the caffeine in Thesis formulas. The fact that you can elect to remove caffeine from any formula expands the company’s reach to anyone with caffeine sensitivities and those who really don’t want to give up their morning cup of coffee. If you want caffeine in your Thesis formula, we recommend trying it without having had any coffee first, so you can see how it affects you.

Insider Tip: If you’re not sure whether to get your formula with or without caffeine, we recommend getting it with caffeine. Thesis isolates the included caffeine in a single capsule separate from other ingredients. Caffeinated formulas cost the same as uncaffeinated ones, and you can always elect not to take the caffeine capsule (the smallest capsule in any formula, containing a white powder).

What are the ingredients in Thesis?

Thesis uses an impressive set of ingredients, many of which have been part of respectable clinical research. Not all of the effects they hope these ingredients provide have been proven with sufficient statistical significance or over multiple studies in different populations, but what we do know strongly suggests efficacy.

Here's a look at several Thesis ingredients that have encouraging research behind them:

Several studies on mice show that dihydrohonokiol-B (DHH-B) has potent anxiolytic effects. 6 That means it may be able to help combat anxiety. However, we can’t say this for sure since there haven’t been any studies conducted on humans yet, so any potential benefits are speculative at this time. 25 Converting the successful dose used in mice (1mg) to the equivalent human amount (4.86 mg) is about half the amount used in Thesis’ Confidence (10mg). 6

In numerous studies, ashwagandha has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety. 32 Thesis uses a branded KSM-66 ashwagandha, which has a high standardized count of withanolides — the component of ashwagandha responsible for its positive effects. 33 This ensures both efficacy and consistency from doses that align with those used in successful studies.

While every formula is different, you'll notice that each contains caffeine and L-theanine. The nootropic properties of caffeine are well established. 19 L-theanine — a non-stimulant derived from green tea — has been shown to smooth out the jittery effects of caffeine. You can easily have caffeine removed from any Thesis formula for no extra cost, which is unique in the nootropic market. The L-theanine will remain, as it has its own set of cognitive benefits in addition to its ability to tame caffeine. 20

Saffron offers multiple benefits, including increased levels of dopamine and glutamate, that are dose-dependent. Human studies have also shown positive effects on depression symptoms. Thesis’ Confidence uses 28mg, which is 2mg less than what was used in many of the studies on saffron’s antidepressant effects. However, one study did find success with as little as 15mg. 7

A review of more than 120 scientific articles looking into the cognitive effects of phosphatidylserine concluded that it “safely slows, halts, or reverses biochemical alterations and structural deterioration in nerve cells.” The study goes on to say that it “supports human cognitive functions, including the formation of short-term memory, the consolidation of long-term memory, the ability to create new memories, the ability to retrieve memories, the ability to learn and recall information, the ability to focus attention and concentrate, the ability to reason and solve problems, language skills, and the ability to communicate.” 34

Derived from a South African plant, Zembrin appears to provide cognitive and anti-anxiety effects as demonstrated in clinical studies on human participants that used the same 25mg dose found in Thesis Creativity and Confidence. 8

Synapsa is a patented form of Bacopa extract, a traditional Ayurvedic memory enhancer. Studies on humans resulted in statistically significant improvements in cognitive tests. The study used 150mg twice daily (300mg total), which is only 20mg less than the 320mg used in Thesis’ Logic. 9

7,8 DHF is a small molecular TrkB agonist that can easily cross the blood-brain barrier. It can increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that improves neuroplasticity, learning, and memory. BDNF deficiencies are connected to numerous cognitive ailments as well. However, no human studies have been conducted. 26 In mice, 7,8 DHF appears to enhance spatial memory. When converting the effective dose for mice to humans, Thesis’ Clarity offers roughly 6mg more (about 24mg compared to Thesis’ 30mg). 27

Choline is a precursor to acetylcholine, a powerful neurotransmitter in the peripheral, autonomic, and enteric nervous systems. 10 One study on older adult human participants found that taking 187-399mg per day of choline reduced the risk of low cognitive functioning by nearly 50% compared to an intake under 187mg per day. 28 The CDP choline content in Thesis’ Energy is 300mg.

A 2010 clinical study on 485 older adult (over 55 years old) subjects found that 900mg per day of DHA improved memory and learning in those with age-related cognitive decline. 11 And another study in healthy adults 18-90 years old found that 580mg per day helped improve memory. 29 Unfortunately, the amounts used in many studies to improve cognitive function are quite a bit more than the 200mg (which is DHA and L-lysine combined) found in Thesis’ Logic.

Like choline, Alpha-GPC acts as an effective acetylcholine precursor. Studies also show that supplementation with Alpha-GPC can stave off exercise-induced reductions in choline levels. The effective amount used in the mentioned study is 200mg, which is less than half of what you’ll find in Thesis’ Clarity (500mg). 12

In addition to being an effective treatment for neuropathic pain, agmatine appears to have potent effects as an antidepressant. A five-year safety case report study concluded that there are no long-term side effect risks. Thesis’ Creativity only contains 250mg, which is well below the amount tolerated by study participants (2.67g per day). 13

Research into epicatechin indicates that it can enhance cerebral blood flow, delivering more oxygen to the brain to ensure it operates at its highest efficiency. The most effective dose for cognitive benefits appears to be over 50mg per day, and Thesis’ Clarity contains 278mg. 14

Lion's mane has been shown to increase nerve growth factor and promote neurite outgrowth of specific neural cells. It's a safe and reliable neurotrophic, but studies have debunked claims of neuroprotective properties. 15 A very small study of only 41 participants found that 1.8g of Lion’s mane may reduce stress and improve cognitive performance. 30 Thesis’ Clarity contains 500mg of Lion’s mane.

Hyperphenylalaninemia, a severe deficiency in phenylalanine, results in reduced dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline levels in the brain. 16 It can also alter cerebral myelin and protein synthesis. Supplementing with phenylalanine may provide neuroprotective benefits.

In a 2020 study, phenylalanine was a large component in a mix of seven amino acids that appeared to improve cognitive, psychological, and social functioning in middle-aged and older adults. Effective doses ranged from 0.85g to 1.7g of phenylalanine. A serving of Thesis’ Motivation contains 500mg, a bit under half of the average amount. 31

Examining the six formulas

Thesis has six nootropic formulas in their lineup (even though you can only choose up to four of them per box). Several other nootropic companies like TruBrain and BrainMD boast targeted lineups, as well, but Thesis is the Goldilocks of the bunch. Where BrainMD’s hyper-specific formulas rely on perhaps too few ingredients to make them worthwhile, many of TruBrain’s complex blends lack real specificity. With Thesis, you get targeted effects from numerous ingredients in moderately complex and reasonably priced combinations.

Each Thesis formula has a blend of ingredients that addresses specific needs. Their names give you a pretty big clue as to what the company intends each to do, but a closer look at their ingredients will help you understand how they achieve this.

Their formulas are:

Interestingly, the company thinks of its formulas as working well in pairs. You don't have to utilize them as such, but it's helpful to know how they view their most effective combinations. The following list details their purported combined benefits.

Enhances focus, eliminates brain fog, and lets thoughts flow naturally

Gets you going, keeps you going, and never crashes

Sparks new ideas, inspires extroversion, and revels in openness

You'll usually only take one formula at a time, but these pairs may act synergistically for specific personality types or cognitive needs.

Note that your first shipment of Thesis will contain six individually packed doses for four of these six formulas. Thesis chooses these formulas for you based on the results of an intake questionnaire, but you can make adjustments to that shipment on the customer dashboard before the shipment leaves their warehouse.

Let's take a closer look at each formula as they would appear with caffeine included.

Thesis Clarity

Thesis Clarity relies on 7,8 DHF (dihydroxyflavone), Alpha GPC (glycerylphosphorylcholine), epicatechin, and lion's mane to increase blood flow to the brain and stimulate the production of acetylcholine, a powerful neurotransmitter associated with learning, memory, and attention. It's particularly adept at cutting through brain fog.

Here's a look at Clarity's full ingredients list:

• Alpha GPC: 500mg
• Lion's Mane Mushroom: 500mg
• Camellia sinensis tea leaf: 278mg
• Dihydroxyflavone: 30mg
• Caffeine: 100mg
• L-Theanine: 200mg

One dose of Clarity consists of four capsules for the caffeinated formula and three capsules for the stimulant-free formula.

Thesis Logic

Thesis Logic contains triacetyluridine (TAU), which caters to the health of the entire central nervous system. It also uses phosphatidylserine to help facilitate communication between and protection of brain cells. 17

This is Logic’s complete ingredients list:

• Ginkgo Biloba: 160mg
• Theobromine: 100mg
• Phosphatidylserine: 400mg
• High DHA Algae: 200mg
• Triacetyluridine: 30mg
• Bacopa Monnieri: 320mg

One dose of Logic consists of four capsules for the caffeinated formula and three capsules for the stimulant-free formula.

Thesis Energy

Thesis Energy uses cysteine and tyrosine alongside caffeine to deliver a steady energy supply. It also includes TeaCrine, a branded form of theacrine, which partners with caffeine to affect adenosine signaling and prevent fatigue.

Here’s a full list of Energy’s ingredients:

• Citicoline: 300mg
• Mango leaf: 300mg
• Theacrine: 100mg
• N-Acetyl cysteine: 500mg
• Indian trumpet tree: 100mg
• N-Acetyl L-tyrosine: 300mg

One dose of Energy consists of three capsules for the caffeinated formula and two capsules for the stimulant-free formula.

Thesis Motivation

Blood flow and cellular function are at the core of Thesis Motivation . It employs artichoke extract, forskolin, and B12 to achieve these goals, with a healthy dose of phenylalanine for added focus and motivation.

Here's Motivation's full ingredients list:

• L-Phenylalanine: 500mg
• Methylliberine: 100mg
• Vitamin B12: 1000mcg
• Forskolin: 250mg
• Artichoke: 450mg

One dose of Motivation consists of three capsules for the caffeinated formula and two capsules for the stimulant-free formula.

Thesis Creativity

Thesis Creativity aims to realign you with your inspiration by removing barriers caused by stress, anxiety, and depression. It contains ingredients with powerful anxiolytic properties and 5-HT reuptake inhibition.

Here's a look at Creativity’s ingredients list:

• Alpha GPC: 150mg
• Agmatine sulfate: 250mg
• Panax ginseng: 200mg
• Ashwagandha root: 300mg
• Sceletium tortuosum : 25mg

One dose of Creativity consists of three capsules for the caffeinated formula and two capsules for the stimulant-free formula.

Thesis Confidence

Confidence is designed to work hand-in-hand with Creativity, using saffron and DHH-B from magnolia bark to increase dopamine levels and decrease anxiety. One fascinating ingredient in this formula is sage extract, which one 2021 study showed can help with various memory tasks, including name and face recognition. 18 It’s worth noting, though, that this study employed a 600mg dose compared to Thesis’ 333mg dose.

Here is Confidence's complete ingredients list:

• Saffron: 28mg
• Magnesium bisglycinate: 500mg
• Sage: 333mg
• Magnolia Bark: 10mg
• Ashwagandha leaf & root: 120mg

One dose of Confidence consists of three capsules for the caffeinated formula and two capsules for the stimulant-free formula.

Our Thesis testing results

Our testing team has tried every Thesis formula (with and without caffeine) to determine their short- and long-term efficacy, at least at an anecdotal level. Here’s a quick summary of our experiences:

Clarity provided our testers with a combined sense of focus and mental ease, though we mostly found that it worked best from its second day forward. The very first dose is mildly effective, but it served us better as a loading dose. We had no crash from either caffeinated or uncaffeinated formulas.

Our testers found that Logic provided a similar experience as Clarity, increasing focus and mental acuity, but the caffeinated formula caused a crash in two of our testers. By excluding the caffeine, that crash can be avoided, though that comes at the expense of some efficacy.

We were very curious about how this formula would perform without the caffeine. Our testers had a noticeable increase in energy without jitteriness about one hour after taking Energy. The caffeinated version caused the worst crash of all the formulas, but we were pleased to find that the formula without caffeine still provided noticeable energy increases without a crash.

Our testers are generally a pretty motivated bunch, so we might not have been the best group to evaluate this particular formula. The testers who felt an uptick in a sense of motivation described it more like a feeling of being able to follow through on tasks with less distraction and completion anxiety.

Creativity, like Clarity, seemed to work better for our testers on its second and third days than on its first. Testers generally described a sensation similar to Motivation but without the feeling of being “on rails,” as one tester put it. It seems to allow for more curiosity and exploration, though not necessarily as much follow-through.

This is Thesis’ newest formula, so fewer of our testers have tried it. Among those who have, one tester with a mild case of social anxiety described feeling a bit more relaxed among groups of people. Testers preferred this formula without caffeine.

Thesis pricing, shipping, and returns

Thesis keeps their price structure decidedly simple. This is refreshing, considering the range of nootropics they offer. You don't have to worry about one formula costing you more than another. However, Thesis doesn't make a non-subscription approach economically feasible.

Every Thesis shipment — including the starter pack — consists of four small boxes, each containing six doses of a single formula. That’s 24 doses/month.

Here's how it works:

• Any one-time purchase of a one-month supply, including the starter kit, costs $119.
• When you subscribe, that monthly cost is only $79.
• You can take an extra 10% off your first order with the coupon code INNERBODY

Subscriptions require an account with Thesis, which gives you access to a well-designed customer dashboard. This is where you can easily make formula adjustments, alter your shipping schedule, or cancel your subscription entirely.

Shipping from Thesis is free in the U.S., and the company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. In our testing experience, we attempted a return on a second shipment into the subscription. While it isn’t the company’s policy to do so, they refunded our money and let us keep the product. This is similar to some other “Keep it” guarantees we’ve seen from competitors, and we appreciated it.

Getting started with Thesis Nootropics

Thesis' website is easy to navigate, but it is inconvenient that you must complete the signup questionnaire before accessing formula-specific pages. There are ways around this — like direct searching or just knowing the formula URLs — but we think reviewing formulas should be a little easier when you first get to the site. And you won’t be able to place an order for anything until you complete the questionnaire.

The user interface for managing your subscription is exceptionally intuitive. You can quickly adjust your formula combinations, specifying whether or not you want specific formulas to contain caffeine.

Setting up a subscription with Thesis is a straightforward process. Here are the basic steps:

• Take the Thesis quiz . This will create a starter kit specific to your results. (You can also build a box from scratch if you know which formulas you want to try.)
• Order your starter kit. We recommend going with the kit Thesis creates after your quiz, but if you change your mind, you can use the customer portal after placing your order to make any changes to the formula combination before it ships.
• Set up a coaching consultation. This is an optional step, but we recommend it and encourage you to have your first consultation before your kit arrives.
• Take your nootropics as needed. Most people can experience some of Thesis nootropics' benefits within a few hours of ingestion. Some ingredients and formulas may take a few days to produce results.
• Refine your order. As you near the end of your first month, you can head over to the Thesis website and customize your next order to include the formula or formulas you like most.
• Set up follow-up consultations as needed. These will help you refine your future orders and maximize your results.

When you subscribe to the starter kit, you will continue receiving that kit every month until you customize your order. Thesis divides their boxes into four six-dose supplies, and you can mix and match those supplies to suit your needs. For example, you could boost energy on the weekdays and creativity on the weekends by getting a one-month supply with 18 servings of Energy in three packages and six servings of Creativity in a single package.

Personalized insights and coaching

When you take the quiz on the Thesis website, you'll get personalized insights comparing your results to other quiz-takers and a data set developed from nearly 500 scientific studies. The parameters in your results cover don’t completely line up with their formulas, but they include:

These results inform the system to make recommendations for your starter kit. After you order, you can set up a consultation with a Thesis coach. These consultations are free, and you can have as many follow-up sessions as you like. Other companies have apps or online resources like blogs or courses to help you on your nootropic journey, but Thesis’ personalized coaching offers a unique approach and execution.

Consultation calls last around 15 minutes, though some of our testers had their sessions go longer as their coaches' schedules allowed. We received best practices information about taking nootropics that covered dose timing, formula application, and more. Some of our testers also received diet and exercise advice that coincided with their formulas.

Alternatives to Thesis

There are generally two tiers of products in the nootropics landscape. The lower tier consists of products that cost between $20 and $40. Many of these nootropics contain proprietary blends that obscure the exact quantities of ingredients, presumably so companies can use more of the least expensive components. Some companies in this tier disclose their ingredient quantities but may not source them from the highest quality suppliers or perform third-party testing of any kind.

Top brands in this tier include:

• Onnit Alpha BRAIN
• Moon Juice Brain Dust
• Focus Factor

The second tier — where you'll find Thesis — consists of more expensive nootropics that spell their contents out clearly, use high-quality ingredients, and often perform third-party testing to ensure safety and potency. Top brands in this tier include:

• Qualia Mind

Hunter Focus

We have a comprehensive breakdown of our top nootropics , but here's a concise breakdown of Thesis' most comparable competition.

TruBrain offers one of the widest varieties of nootropics of any company — one of the few catalogs that rivals the variety Thesis offers. They also have some novel and beneficial delivery methods for their nootropic ingredients. Those include energy bars and liquid shots that are outstanding for anyone with difficulty swallowing pills.

TruBrain offers their nootropics in a targeted fashion, not unlike what you get from Thesis. They formerly offered their targeted blends in shot form only, but now you can get any of these targeted blends in capsule or liquid shot form. The shots come in small 1oz pouches that make them easy to take anywhere.

TruBrain's targeted blends include:

This is TruBrain's original blend. It contains seven nootropics, including Noopept, a branded form of N-phenylacetyl-L-prolylglycine ethyl ester. This blend is caffeine-free.

The Strong blend is identical to the Medium formulation in contents and doses, but it also contains 100mg of caffeine.

The Extra Strong formula builds on the Strong blend by adding 150mg of adrafinil (2-(diphenylmethyl)sulfinyl-N-hydroxyacetamide). 21 This wakefulness-promoting substance may also help with weight loss and athletic performance.

TruBrain's Sleep formula contains just four nootropic ingredients: GABA, melatonin, 5-HTP, and a blend that TruBrain calls "functional oils."

Mellow is identical to the medium strength formula, but it adds the functional oil combination used in Sleep.

This formula contains Lion's mane, a mushroom that may promote neural growth , though human studies are necessary to determine if this is true. 22 Its other nootropic ingredients are rhodiola, guayusa, and rosehips.

A 30-day supply of TruBrain nootropic shots costs $89. That's $10 more than the subscription cost for a one-month supply of Thesis. Some of their shots contain caffeine, and others don't. If it already contains caffeine, there's no way to alter a TruBrain formula to be stimulant-free.

The first month of TruBrain capsules costs a bit less, coming in at $69. After your first month, however, the price goes up to $119. That makes Thesis the better value, but if you want the best possible nootropics for sleep support, it might be worth the extra money to check out TruBrain.

Qualia Mind is a brand under the Neurohacker Collective, a company that offers several products to address things like sleep quality, skin health, and vision. They have three nootropics available:

• Qualia Mind Caffeine-Free
• Qualia Mind Focus

Their original blend is comprehensive, consisting of nearly 30 ingredients in high doses. That means it's liable to provide you with noticeable effects. It also means you might not know which of those effects are coming from which ingredients, and some of the less beneficial components in your body may also have side effects you'd rather avoid.

The caffeine-free version is identical to the original formula but leaves the caffeine out. Qualia Focus is a more streamlined offering with only seven nootropic ingredients, including caffeine, L-theanine, and L-ornithine. 23

Initial shipments from Qualia Mind are significantly discounted, but after the first month, the price makes theirs one of the most expensive nootropics we've tested. For example, the first month of a subscription to Qualia Mind costs just $39. After that, it costs $139/month. And a one-time purchase is $159.

One inconvenient aspect of Qualia Mind is that a single dose consists of seven capsules, which can get tiresome even for people who don't have trouble swallowing pills. On the bright side, Qualia's 100-day money-back guarantee allows you to try it for a little over three months to determine if you can handle that kind of daily dosing.

Hunter Focus is one of three supplements in the Hunter stack alongside the company's Test and Burn supplements. The stack is intended for male use — Test is a testosterone supplement — but Focus and Burn are suitable for men and women.

Like Qualia Mind, Focus has a long list of ingredients in generous doses. In fact, one serving of Hunter Focus is like taking all six of Thesis' formulas at once. That said, the serving itself is difficult to swallow, as it consists of six large pills.

Another knock on Hunter is that they don't offer a subscription system. That means you can't get an extra discount, and you must remember to reorder when you're running low (theoretically, a nootropic like this should boost your memory). There's also no money-back guarantee to speak of, only a return policy with a relatively short window that only applies to unopened products.

One bottle of Hunter Focus costs $90, and shipping is $8.95 unless you buy more than one bottle at a time. The company will throw a fourth in for free if you buy three bottles at once. That's the only way to get any savings through Hunter.

Individual nootropic components

Many companies offer combinations of nootropic ingredients to perform specific brain-related tasks or even provide globally positive cognitive benefits. However, the scientific research behind most of these ingredients almost always includes just one rather than a combination. Some people prefer to try one at a time to minimize the potential for side effects and determine if one particular ingredient works for them. A few companies offer single-ingredient nootropic supplements for this specific purpose.

Our favorite company dealing in individual nootropic components is Nootropics Depot. They offer a wide variety of single-ingredient supplements and a few targeted blends. The prices are generally fair, with an average range running from $16-$70. A 30-day money-back guarantee covers every purchase, and you get free shipping on orders over $50.

Nootropics FAQ

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Specific nootropics affect different parts of the brain in their own ways. Some — like caffeine — reduce fatigue by blocking adenosine receptors, while others act to protect neural connections that are already present while possibly contributing to new neural growth. 24 Some also mitigate depression and anxiety, which frees up the brain to perform at its best.

Are nootropics safe?

The safety of a nootropic depends on the specific ingredients involved. Many are perfectly safe in the doses commonly employed by nootropic companies, but some can cause reactions like increased heart rate, gastrointestinal discomfort, headache, and even tremors. The smartest thing to do is to talk to your doctor before introducing any new supplement to your regimen.

Do nootropics really work?

Many nootropic supplements are noticeably effective — caffeine is a great example. Efficacy varies depending on the specific component or combination. Fortunately, a lot of companies offer money-back guarantees, so you can try their products to see if they work for you without much financial risk.

Will nootropics make me smarter?

Nootropics won't necessarily make you smarter, but many can increase your alertness, improve short-term recall, and promote neural growth and protection. That creates a great environment for learning if you apply yourself while using nootropics, and many ingredients can help you with the motivation it takes to do so.

How do you pronounce nootropics?

The 'noo' in nootropics comes from the Greek nous , which philosophers use to mean mind or intelligence. The 'tropic' in nootropic comes from the Greek tropikos , which relates to turning or changing. So, nootropic roughly translates to mind-changing. You pronounce the 'noo' like 'new' and the 'tropic' with a long O sound, like 'toe pick.'

Innerbody uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Mayo Clinic. (2022). Memory lapses: Normal aging or something more? Mayo Clinic Press.

Reay, J., Wetherell, M. A., Morton, E., Lillis, J., & Badmaev, V. (2020). Sceletium tortuosum (Zembrin®) ameliorates experimentally induced anxiety in healthy volunteers . Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, 35 (6), 1-7.

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Nutrients For Brain Health & Performance

Listen or watch on your favorite platforms.

In this episode, Dr. Huberman describes science-supported nutrients for brain and performance (cognition) and general nervous system health.

He describes ten tools for this purpose, including specific amounts and sources for Omega-3 fatty acids, which make up the “structural fat” of neurons (nerve cells) and allow them to function across our lifespan. He also reviews data on creatine, phosphatidylserine, anthocyanins, choline, glutamine and how they each impact brain function in healthy people seeking to reinforce and improve their cognition and in those combatting cognitive decline. Dr. Huberman describes both food-based and supplement-based sources for these compounds and their effective dose ranges based on peer-reviewed literature.

Then he reviews the three factors: gut-brain signaling, perceived taste, and learned associations that combine with the metabolic and blood-sugar-elevating effects of food to determine what foods we seek and prefer. Amazingly, it’s not just about what tastes good to us. Next, Dr. Huberman explores how we can leverage the neural circuits of learned food preference toward seeking and enjoying the right foods for brain health and performance. He also reviews new data on non-caloric sweeteners and why consuming them with glucose-elevating foods can be detrimental, in some cases rapidly leading to insulin dysregulation. This episode covers more than ten actionable tools for those seeking to improve and/or maintain brain function. It explains modern neuroscience underlying our sense of taste, our food-seeking preferences, and brain metabolism.

• Review on anthocyanins and cognition
• Review on creatine and brain health studies
• Review on “Rethinking Food Reward”
• 00:00:00 Food & Brain Function Introduction
• 00:02:08 Summary: Critical Aspects of Time Restricted Feeding/Fasting
• 00:04:19 Sponsors: Roka, Athletic Greens, Headspace
• 00:08:24 Neuroplasticity Super Protocol (Zero-Cost Tools) Online
• 00:09:22 Eating to Enhance Brain Function & Foundational Aspects of Brain Health
• 00:13:00 Eating Fats for Brain Health, EFAs Phospholipids (Tool 1: 1-3g EPA Omega-3/day)
• 00:20:35 Phosphatidylserine (Tool 2: 300mg/day)
• 00:22:15 Choline, Egg Yolks (Tool 3: 1-2g/day Threshold)
• 00:28:26 Hydration & Electrolytes (Tool 4)
• 00:29:50 Liquid Fish Oil/Capsules (2-3g EPA per day; 300mg Alpha GPC 2-4X/week)
• 00:32:22 Creatine for Cognition (Tool 5: 5g/day)
• 00:36:28 Anthocyanins, Dark Skin Berries (Tool 6-10mg/day (Extract), 1-2 cups Berries)
• 00:41:19 L-Glutamine (Tool: 1-10g/day) & Offsetting Apnea & Inflammation
• 00:49:23 Neural Basis of Food Preference, Yum, Yuck, Meh; Taste, Guts, & Beliefs
• 00:55:25 Taste is 100% In your Head
• 00:59:50 Gut Neurons Controlling Food Preference: Neuropod Cells; (Tool 7: Fermented Foods)
• 01:06:14 Capsule Probiotics, Brain Fog
• 01:07:16 Learning to Like Specific Tastes: Sweetness & Brain Metabolism
• 01:12:11 Hard-Wiring & Soft-Wiring
• 01:13:25 Artificial & Non-Caloric Sweeteners: Safe or Harmful Depends on (Glucose) Context
• 01:18:15 Non-Caloric Sweetener & Insulin; (Tool 8: Don’t Have w/Glucose Elevating Foods)
• 01:22:17 Beliefs & Thoughts; The Insula; (Tool 9: Pairing-Based Reshaping Food Preferences)
• 01:30:42 Liking Neuro-Healthy Foods & Bettering Brain Metabolism (Tool 10); Food Wars
• 01:36:05 Food Reward & Diabetes, Obesity; Important Review Article (See Caption)
• 01:38:28 Synthesis, Zero-Cost Support, Future Topic Suggestions, Sponsors, Supplements

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Andrew Huberman:

Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today we are talking all about food and the brain. We are going to talk about foods that are good for your brain in terms of focus, in terms of brain health generally, and the longevity of your brain, your ability to maintain cognition and clear thinking over time. We are also going to talk about why and how you prefer certain foods to others. I'm going to talk about the three major signals that combine to drive your food choices. I'll give you a little hint of what those are. One of those signals comes from your gut and is completely subconscious. This is not the gut microbiome per se. These are neurons in your gut that are sending signals to your brain that you are unaware of about the nutrient contents of the foods that you are eating.

The second signal is how metabolically accessible a given food is, meaning how readily that food can be converted into energy that your brain, not your body, but that your brain can use. The third signal is perhaps the most interesting one. It's the signal of belief. It's the signal of what you perceive and believe the food that you're eating to contain and what you think it can do for you healthwise and energywise. That might sound a little wishy-washy or vague, but we're going to provide mechanistic data to support the fact that you can change what you eat, so much so that you can drive your brain and your body to crave foods that are good for you, or at least better for you than the foods you might currently be eating. This is an incredibly powerful mechanism that we all have. It's one that I think is very underappreciated. Today I'm going to review the data from both animal models and fortunately, more recently, human studies that really do underscore the fact that you can control your desire for particular foods.

Before we dive into today's topic, I just want to briefly touch on some key takeaways from a previous episode, which is the episode on time-restricted feeding, also called intermittent fasting. The key elements of time-restricted feeding that will benefit your health the most in terms of weight loss or maintenance, fat loss, organ health, quality sleep and cognition are that the feeding window begin at least one hour after waking. You could push that feeding window out to begin later, but at least one hour after waking and that it end at least two, and ideally three, hours before going to sleep. Some people can end that feeding window much further away from the beginning of sleep, meaning they're finishing their last bite of food, for instance, at 6:00 p.m., and they're not going to sleep until midnight. But many people struggle to get quality sleep if that feeding window is set too early relative to when they go to sleep.

Begin the feeding window at least one hour after waking. End the feeding window at least two hours before going to sleep. A key feature based on the scientific research is that the feeding window itself fall more or less at the same period of each 24-hour day from day to day. Meaning if you are going to eat over an eight-hour period, that's your feeding window. You wouldn't want to start that feeding window at 10:00 a.m. one day and end it at 6:00 p.m., and then the next day start at noon and end it at 8:00 p.m., and the next day start it at 2:00 p.m. and end it at 10:00 p.m., and so forth.

As much as is reasonably possible, if you want to extract the maximum benefit from time-restricted feeding, the idea is to keep that feeding window at more or less the same phase, as it's called, of each 24-hour day. If it slides around a little bit for social reasons, or whatever reasons, doesn't seem to be a big deal, but you don't want it sliding around by many hours from day to day because of the way that that feeding window impacts other genes called clock genes that regulate a bunch of other processes in the body.

Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is however part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost-to-consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Some of the most frequent questions I get are about food and the brain. Everybody seems to want to know what they should eat and what they shouldn't eat in order to have peak brain function, to be able to focus and memorize things, and so forth, and in order to maintain brain health over time, because nobody wants to lose their memory or have troubles with cognition. Fortunately, there are a lot of data now from really good, quality peer-reviewed studies that indicate certain things that we can do, including certain foods that we should eat and perhaps even some foods that we should avoid in order to enhance our brain function.

Of course, when I say brain, what I really mean is nervous system function because how we are able to move and remember things, et cetera, doesn't just depend on the neurons, the nerve cells that are in our head. It also depends on our spinal cord and the neurons that connect to all the organs of our body. In general, there are two categories of things that are going to improve brain health from the perspective of nutrition. The first category is the general category of things that we eat and avoid and things that we do and avoid doing that will modulate brain health and function. What do I mean by modulate? Getting quality sleep on a regular basis, making sure that you are socially connected, making sure that you're not depressed. All these things are vitally important to our overall health, and of course they will impact brain function, but they do it more or less indirectly.

Okay? There are a few things that happen in sleep which directly benefit brain function and repair, et cetera. Today I really want to concentrate not on the things that modulate our overall health but rather the things that mediate brain health directly and, in particular, how certain foods enhance brain function. We are going to talk about how we can change our relationship to food, literally how we can start to prefer certain foods that are better for us than others. Just briefly, I want to touch on the modulatory components because they are vital. First of all, getting quality sleep on a regular basis and ample sleep on a regular basis is the foundation of all mental health and physical health. There's no question about that. We have done several episodes including the "Master Your Sleep" episode, which is episode two of the Huberman Lab odcast, and we've done a lot of other episodes that are all about sleep and how to get better at sleeping.

I just want to make crystal clear that unless you're sleeping well on a regular basis, your brain will suffer. You won't be able to focus very well, learn very well. Indeed, there are data linking poor quality sleep to dementia, or at least exacerbating preexisting dementias and things of that sort. Get your sleep in order. The other of course is cardiovascular health and exercise. The general prescription that's out there in the literature, and I think is well supported, is to get somewhere between 150 and 180 minutes of cardiovascular exercise per week. If you choose to also use resistance exercise, that's great, but the 150 to 180 minutes minimum per week of cardiovascular exercise is crucial for heart health. Heart health directly relates to brain health because the brain consumes a lot of oxygen, glucose and other factors that are delivered via the blood.

If your arteries are clogged up and you've got poor vascular supply to the brain in any region of the brain, your brain will suffer. Get cardiovascular health in order. Now with those two modulatory elements set forth so that we're all aware that they're there and they are vitally important, now I'd like to turn to the elements that have been shown to be vitally important for directly controlling, for mediating neuron function. Neurons, of course, are nerve cells in the brain, and there are other cell types too, of course, that will impact brain function. The most prominent of which are the so-called glia. Glia means glue. Even though for a long time people thought that these cells were just kind of holding things together passively, the glia play a very active role in the metabolism neurons, in brain function, and probably also in cognition, in thinking and so forth.

What are the things that directly impact brain health, and what are the foods that we can eat that will support brain health? Generally when we think about neuron function and brain function, we default to a discussion about fuel. The fact that neurons use glucose, which is blood sugar, and that they require a lot of it. In some cases they'll use ketones, which we will talk about a little bit later, especially in people that are following a low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet. Before we can even consider the fuels that neurons use in order to function, we have to talk about the elements that actually allow those neurons to be there and to stay healthy. What actually makes up those neurons? That brings us to what I would argue is the most important food element for brain function, and that is fat.

That might come as a surprise, but unless one considers the water content of the brain, which is very high, a lot of our brain and a lot of the integrity of the nerve cells, the so-called neurons in our brain, and the other types of cells comes from fat. That's because nerve cells and other cells in the brain have an external layer, sometimes called a double-layered membrane. It's essentially two thin layers that serve as a boundary between those cells. That boundary is very important because how things pass across that boundary actually regulates the electrical activity of neurons, which is the way that neurons fire and communicate and keep you thinking and acting and doing all the good things that those neurons allow us to do. Those membranes are made up of fats. They're not made up of the fats that are around our belly, around the other organs of our body.

They're not made up of storage fat. They are made up of structural fat. Maintaining the so-called integrity of that structural fat, meaning the health of those neurons, is going to come in large part from the foods that we eat. Now, this needs to be underscored. What I'm saying is that the foods that we eat actually provide the structural basis, the building blocks of the very neurons that allow us to think over time. As I mentioned earlier, the fat that makes up those neurons in other nerve cells is different than the other types of fat in the body. What type of fat is it, and what should we eat in order to support that fat and those neurons? The answer is the so-called essential fatty acids and phospholipids. Now, those are more or less the same thing, but I just want to make a very large literature very crystal clear.

Essential fatty acids can include the so-called EPA variety. or DHA variety. You hear about omega-3s and omega-6s. Most people are getting enough omega-6s from their diet. Not everybody, but most people are getting enough omega-6s. However, most people are not getting enough omega-3s in their diet to support healthy brain function in the short and long term. I've talked before about the benefits of elevating the levels of omega-3s in one's diet for sake of offsetting depression and for enhancing mood. Indeed, there's a wealth of literature now pointing to the fact that ingesting at least one or two, or even three grams per day of EPA form of essential fatty acid can have positive effects on mood and well-being that are at least on par with some of the major antidepressant treatments out there, but without similar side effects to those antidepressant treatments.

And that for people that are already taking antidepressants, that supplementing with one to two to three grams of EPA essential fatty acids can actually allow a lower dose of antidepressant treatment to be used and still be effective. That's depression, but just in terms of maintaining normal cognitive function in people that aren't depressed, the EPAs and omega-3s seem to play a very important role. Of course, you can supplement EPAs through various fish oils, and it could be liquid fish oil or capsule fish oil. Some people, if they're not interested in eating fish for whatever reason, they're allergic or for ethical reasons, they can take krill oil and if they don't want to use krill oil, they can use algae and other forms of EPA. However, I think it's clear that one can get a lot of EPA from the proper foods. It turns out that those foods, not surprisingly, don't just contain high levels of EPA, but they also contain other things that are beneficial for brain health.

What are foods that are high in omega-3s that we should all probably be consuming at least on a daily basis? The number one is fish. Things like mackerel and salmon and herring and oysters and sardines and anchovies, and perhaps the heavyweight champion of EPAs per unit volume is caviar. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not eating a lot of fish. I'm not eating a lot of caviar, I don't think. I can't remember the last time I had caviar unless it was sprinkled on a little bit of sushi. I'm not a big fish eater, personally. I will from time to time, but that's one reason why one might want to supplement with EPAs from another source. Also, EPAs are found in chia seeds and walnuts and soybeans and other plant-based foods. You can look these up online and you'll immediately see that there are a lot of sources of EPAs. Many of the foods that I listed off might be appetizing to you.

Some of them might be unappetizing to you or some of them you might be sort of neutral about. It's very clear that eating foods that are rich in omega-3s, and/or supplementing with omega-3s, to get above that 1.5 grams and ideally up to two or even three grams per day of EPA can be very beneficial for cognitive function in the short and long term. Later in the episode I'm going to talk about how to actually change your relationship to particular foods so that foods that you don't particularly like, you can actually start to like more. That might be important for those of you that are thinking mackerel, sardines. I'm making this face because frankly those are not foods that I naturally like. Again, I want to emphasize that you don't have to consume fish and animal products in order to get sufficient EPAs.

You can get them from plants, but I do believe, based on the quality peer-reviewed research, that everybody should be striving to get a minimum threshold of at least a gram and a half of EPAs per day, one way or the other. The great thing about omega-3s is that they are also thought to be beneficial for things like cardiovascular health. Although there's some controversy there as to whether or not two grams or three grams or six grams is ideal for cardiovascular health, I think the bulk of evidence points to the fact that getting sufficient omega-3s in the diet is going to support cardiovascular health. Certainly not the only thing people should be doing to support their cardiovascular health, aerobic exercise and so forth being important also, but it does seem to support cardiovascular health, and in doing so, supporting brain health.

However, what I'm emphasizing is ingestion of omega-3s to support the very cells within the brain that make up our cognition, that allow for cognition and for movement and memory and all the other marvelous things that the brain does. The other compound that has been shown to be directly supportive of neuronal function is phosphatidylserine, which is abundant in meats and in fish. Here we are again, back to fish being an important source of brain-supporting food. Phosphatidylserine is something that nowadays people are supplementing. It's a lipid-like compound that, at least in three studies, have been shown to improve cognition. These weren't huge effects, but they were statistically significant effects. As well, in more than three, at least, at least five studies, to reduce cognitive decline. This is interesting. In every case it was 300 milligrams supplemented phosphatidylserine, but one, again, doesn't need to supplement phosphatidylserine. Phosphatidylserine can be derived, as I mentioned, from meats and fish and to some extent from cabbage, of all things.

I don't know how much cabbage people are ingesting, but later when we talk about gut health and the relationship between gut health and brain health, I'll mention fermented foods. Of course one of the most readily available fermented foods out there that at least many people find appetizing is sauerkraut, which is of course made from cabbage. It's fermented cabbage. For those of you that do consume meat and fish, provided you're getting enough fish, you're probably getting enough phosphatidylserine. For those of you that are interested in supplementing phosphatidylserine to get these effects that were reported in these various manuscripts, which by the way, I've read, and looked solid. I mean, I don't think we've seen the landmark study showing that supplementing with phosphatidylserine at 300 milligrams per day is going to create a huge offsetting of a massive cognitive decline or a massive increase in brain function.

These seem to be modest effects, but the effects do appear to be real. For those of you that are interested in supplementing with phosphatidylserine, it's a relatively inexpensive supplement that, again, is lipid-like. It's mimicking some of the same things that you would get from food, but in higher concentration. Now after EPA, fatty acids and phosphatidylserine, I would say third on the list of things that come from food that can readily support brain function would be choline. That's because of the relationship to choline in the biosynthesis pathway for acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a neuromodulator, not a neurotransmitter, but a neuromodulator in the brain. A neuromodulator is a chemical that modulates the function of many brain circuits and also circuits within the body. I'll mention what those are in a moment, but acetylcholine as a neuromodulator tends to enhance the activity, the electrical activity and chemical activity, of certain sets of neurons and downplay the activity of other neurons.

It's sort of a conductor of sorts leading to enhanced function and activity in certain brain areas and circuits and not in others. For instance, the brain areas that are involved in focus and alertness. We have multiple clusters of neurons in our brain that make acetylcholine. Two of the most prominent and well-known are the so-called nucleus basalis, which is a cluster of neurons deep in the basal forebrain that highlight particular areas of our brain. Highlight meaning when acetylcholine is released from those neurons at their nerve endings and particular areas of the brain, those particular areas of the brain can undergo enhanced levels of activity relative to surrounding areas. It's kind of an electrical highlighter pen, if you will, by analogy. That is the basis of much of what we call focus or our ability to concentrate on a particular batch of information that's coming in through our eyes, our ears, our nose, or even things that we're just thinking in our head.

Having ample choline for production of acetylcholine allows for focus through, of course, many intervening steps. There are also regions of the brain in the so-called back of the brain, the hindbrain, that release acetylcholine that are involved in general states of alertness. Not surprisingly then, many of the treatments for Alzheimer's disease, which is an inability or challenges with remembering things and focusing, are drugs that impact the acetylcholine pathway and are aimed at enhancing the amount of acetylcholine that's available to neurons. It can do that through a number of different mechanisms. You can do that by enhancing the amount of acetylcholine that's created, or you can do that by taking a drug that can reduce the amount of enzyme that gobbles up the acetylcholine, and in doing so leading to more net acetylcholine. Outside of the scenario where somebody has cognitive decline due to Alzheimer's, all of us are able to focus to some degree or not, or are able to be alert to some degree or not, based on the amount of acetylcholine that we have.

Now, other processes of course are involved, but what this means is that making sure that we have enough of the substrates to create acetylcholine is vital if we want to be able to focus. That's why dietary choline is so vital. The primary source for dietary choline would be eggs and in particular egg yolks. This, again, has a very interesting relationship to our evolution as well. We're always referred to as hunter gatherers, but when one hears "hunters," we often think about meat and animal sources. Indeed, as a species, we hunted many, many other species of animals to consume them and still do. We also fished — we talked about that earlier — and consumed a lot of fish, and we consumed a lot of eggs. Eggs are an incredibly rich source of nutrients for the brain. That's because the egg actually, if you think about it, contains all the nutrients that are required in order for an organism to grow.

A bird that's in an eggshell — it's got the yolk there, and it's using that yolk for a reason. It's using that yolk as a source of fuel. It's using that yolk as a source of literally building blocks in order to create its nervous system. Many years ago I worked on chick embryos, and as these amazing experiments, you could actually take an egg and you could create a little window in the top. These were fertilized eggs. You'd see over time, you could peer in there, literally look in with a microscope or even with the naked eye, and you would see this little chick embryo sitting on top of that yolk, growing and growing and growing and growing and the yolk getting smaller and smaller. It's really incredible. They're using that as a source for all the building blocks of the body, but in particular, the nervous system. Eggs are a rich source of choline.

Some people will supplement with choline. However, food sources seem to be the best source of choline. As with the EPAs and the omega-3s, there are plenty of foods that are nonanimal based that contain choline. If you're somebody who doesn't eat eggs or doesn't want to eat eggs, things like potatoes, nuts and seeds and grains and fruit, they don't have as much choline as eggs, but they do contain choline. You can look up the values of choline that are present in those various foods and make sure that you're reaching the threshold amount of choline for you. In general, most people should probably strive to get somewhere between 500 milligrams and a gram per day, so a thousand milligrams. Some people rely on supplementation in order to hit those levels because they're not eating a lot of egg yolks or they're not eating a lot of other foods.

Certain fish contained choline, for instance, and the other foods I listed off a few minutes ago from plant-based sources. Some people will supplement with 50 to 100 milligrams or whatever amount is necessary to get them up to that one gram, or even a two-gram dose per day. We have three things that we know can support nerve cells: EPA, in particular omega-3 fatty acids; phosphatidylserine and choline. Those three things I would list off as the top three things for enhancing neuron function and the integrity of neurons in the short and long term. This, again, is setting aside the vitally important factors of hydration and electrolytes. I've said it before on other podcasts, but if you're not ingesting enough water and you're not getting enough sodium and magnesium and potassium, then obviously your neurons can't run, because a lot of the brain is water. You need to maintain proper hydration, and sodium, potassium and magnesium are important in order for nerve cells to function. In fact, they are...

... are important in order for nerve cells to function. In fact, they are actually the components, the ions that pass across those lipid membranes, those little fatty membranes that we were talking about earlier, that allow the neurons to generate electrical activity and communicate with one another. So, definitely, you want to hydrate enough. We will do an entire other episode all about hydration and electrolytes.

But omega-3s, the EPAs, phosphatidylserine, and choline, it's obvious are going to improve brain function. How much they will improve brain function probably depends on how well your brain was working previously. In fact, many of the studies that have looked at the effectiveness of these compounds have looked in people that are suffering from mild, or even severe, cognitive decline. While the outcomes of those studies vary, given the interest in maintaining brain function, given the fact that we don't make new neurons throughout our entire life, and given that everybody has to eat, these are quality healthy foods that we should all be ingesting anyways, and it's clear that they can support brain function to some degree or another.

Many people ask what I do in light of this information. While I can only talk about what works for me, I choose to ingest fish oil, mainly in liquid form, because that turns out to be the easiest way and the most economically affordable way to do it for most people. There are various forms of liquid fish oil out there. Some of them include some lemon flavoring so it doesn't taste like fish oil, because frankly, fish oil to me is sort of noxious tasting, and I'll take a tablespoon of that or two per day. If I'm traveling, I'll use the capsule form in order to hit that threshold of, for me, about two, sometimes even three grams per day of EPA. So, not just two or three grams per day of fish oil, but two or three grams per day of EPA. Now, if I'm eating fish, which as I mentioned earlier is not often, then I might reduce the amount of fish oil that I take. But that's my major source of fish oil.

Currently, I do not supplement with phosphatidylserine. A number of people that I know and trust, and indeed several colleagues of mine, do take phosphatidylserine. I don't have any good explanation for why I don't take it yet, but I have not tried supplementing with it yet. Maybe if some of you have, you can place your experience in the comment section. That would be of interest.

And then in terms of choline, in order to get choline in my diet, I do pay attention to the various foods that contain choline and I try and get those foods on a semiregular basis. I do supplement with something called alpha-GPC, which is essentially in the acetylcholine pathway, or biosynthesis pathway. I don't take it very often, but I will take 300 milligrams of alpha-GPC from time to time. From time to time, I mean anywhere from two to three times per week. I'll generally do it early in the day because it, for me, can have a little bit of a stimulant effect, although it's not nearly as stimulating, say, as a double espresso or triple espresso. But that's one way in which I enhance my choline function. Some people choose to get it from supplementation because it's straightforward. There are a lot of supplements out there that contain alpha-GPC. Some people are taking dosages as high as 900 milligrams per day. That sounds very high to me. The studies of offsetting cognitive decline using alpha-GPC did use quite high dosages of 600 to 900 or even 1,200 milligrams per day. So, it has been used at those much higher concentrations. But because fortunately, at least not yet or not to my awareness, I'm not suffering from any cognitive decline, I will supplement with 300 milligrams every now and again.

Next on my list of compounds that have been shown in peer-reviewed research to improve neuronal and brain function is creatine. Creatine can be derived from meat sources. It can also be supplemented. Some of you are probably familiar with creatine or have heard about creatine from the context of the health and fitness world, where creatine is used to bring more water into muscles, which can enhance the strength of those muscles, as well as bring water into other tissues. So, it doesn't just draw more water into muscle, it can draw more water into the body generally.

Creatine has also been shown to have an important role in brain function. Once again, this is something that came up during the discussion about depression a few episodes back. Creatine can actually be used as a fuel source in the brain, and there's some evidence that it can enhance the function of certain frontal cortical circuits that feed down onto, or rather connect to, areas of the brain that are involved in mood regulation and motivation. That's where creatine plays a role in depression, or rather where creatine supplementation seems to be able to assist in some forms of mild depression. That's an emerging literature. It's still not well-established.

However, there is now ample evidence that creatine supplementation can enhance brain function in certain contexts. If you're interested in learning more about what those contexts are, there's an excellent review that just came out. The first author is Roschel, R-O-S-C-H-E-L. We will provide a link to this review in the caption. This was published just very recently in 2021.

One thing to make clear is that creatine supplementation has been shown to be especially useful for people that are not consuming any meat or other sources of foods that are rich in creatine. What is the threshold level of creatine to supplement in order to get the cognitive benefit appears to be at least five grams per day. Now, the most typical form of creatine is so-called creatine monohydrate. There are other forms of creatine as well, some of which are thought to not draw as much water into nonmuscle tissues. For some people, that's attractive to them. They don't want water sitting below their skin, et cetera. I should emphasize that the responses to creatine in that sense can differ. Some people get a little bit of water retention, some people experience more. There's some evidence that creatine can impact some of the hormonal pathways, that it might enhance levels of so-called dihydrotestosterone, DHT. And therefore, because DHT is involved in hair loss, there are these theories that creatine can cause hair loss. And indeed, for people that are very DHT-sensitive, it might. There's going to be a lot of variation person-to-person in terms of how much creatine impacts DHT and how many DHT receptors they have on their scalp, and therefore whether or not they experience hair loss.

I'm just giving you all this information so that you're aware of the various things that creatine can do. But nonetheless, I think it's interesting that creatine supplementation of five grams per day, that's creatine monohydrate, has been shown to improve cognition in people that aren't getting creatine from animal sources. There's some evidence detailed within the review that I just described that creatine supplementation can also enhance cognition in people that are also eating animal products.

I personally take creatine, five grams per day, and have for a very long time. I can't say that I've noticed a tremendous benefit because I've actually never really come off it. And so I've never done the control experiment. I take it more as kind of a baseline insurance policy. For me, I'm certainly losing some of my hair. Whether or not that's due to creatine or not, I've never done the analysis. But what I can say is that I generally consume these things like EPAs, creatine, alpha-GPC, to set a general context of support for my neurons for my brain. And of course, I also pay attention to the foods that contain these various compounds. So, I don't actively eat additional meat just to obtain creatine. I eat a fairly limited amount of meat; I don't restrict it, and I do eat meat, but I don't actively seek out creatine in my diet, rather I use supplementation in order to hit that five grams per day threshold.

Next on the list of foods that are beneficial for brain health is one that you've probably seen pictures of online, because there seems to be a practice of putting pictures of blueberries and other dark berries next to any title that says, "Foods that benefit your brain." There are a lot of foods out there that have been purported to improve brain function. The interesting thing about blueberries and other berries, blackberries, dark currants, any of these thin-skinned berries that are purplish in color, is that they contain what are called anthocyanins. Anthocyanins actually have some really nice data to support the fact that they improve brain function. Now, whether or not it is direct effects on neurons or whether or not it is by lowering inflammation or some other modulatory effect isn't quite clear. But by now, there's enough data to support the fact that eating a cup or two of blueberries pretty often, every day, or maybe you have blackberries or maybe it's blackcurrants, that these anthocyanins are good for us, that they are enhancing our overall well-being at a number of different levels.

Just to give you a couple examples of where there are actually peer-reviewed studies to support those statements: the anthocyanins, of which blueberries and other dark berries are rich in, have been shown to reduce the amount of DNA damage, [have] been shown to reduce significantly, although albeit slightly, cognitive decline. And that particular study was supplementation of a blueberry extract. I'll talk about the difference between extract and actual blueberries in a moment, but supplementation of blueberry extract in offsetting cognitive decline in elderly people. So, what constitutes elderly is always a little bit of a debate and a discussion, but in this case, what they did is they supplemented with somewhere between 428 — I don't know why they selected 428 — and 598 milligrams of anthocyanins daily for 12 weeks; was associated with improvements on verbal learning and memory. They had some other beneficial changes that were within the bodily organs and blood glucose regulation, and so forth, positive changes. But that's one study. In this case, elderly meant 65 or older.

That study and a number of studies like it, looking at things like mildly enhanced memory, reduced insulin levels, reduced oxidation of LDL, these sorts of things, have basically created a situation where any time you Google or look up foods that enhance brain function, you're going to see a picture of a blueberry or some other berry because of these anthocyanins. I personally don't supplement anthocyanins. I do like blueberries. I eat blueberries when they're in season. I love them. I'm what you would call a drive-by blueberry eater. If there are blueberries in a bowl on a table and I'm walking by, I just have to scoop them up, like some sort of bear or other animal, and pop them in my mouth. So, blueberries don't last long around me.

One of the issues with berries like blueberries and blackberries, and so forth, is that quality sources of them can be pretty expensive. And then of course, when they're not in season, they're hard to get. And so that's why some people will supplement with them. So, that range of about 400 to about 600 milligrams per day seems to be the minimum threshold for getting a cognitive effect in these elderly patients. In that case, they were patients.

A good review about the anthocyanins potentially contributing to offsetting cognitive decline in things like Alzheimer's, and also enhancing brain function in people that don't have Alzheimer's, is a review by Afzal, A-F-Z-A-L, that was published in 2019. We will also provide a link to that study in the caption.

When one looks across the total batch of studies that are out there on this, it appears that if one is going to supplement with blueberry extract to get the anthocyanin effect on cognition, dosages of somewhere between five and a half or about 11 grams seem optimal, with the higher end closer to 10 or 11 grams being more beneficial. The blueberry eaters out there, like me, who prefer to get their anthocyanins from the actual berries, it appears that somewhere between 60 to 120 grams of fresh blueberries each day is the way that you can get sufficient anthocyanins to [at] least shift your system, or bias your brain, towards these enhanced cognitive effects.

So, we've got EPA fatty acids, we've got phosphatidylserine, we've got choline, we've got creatine, and we have the anthocyanins. The last item that I'd like to place in this list of food-derived things that can enhance brain function is glutamine. Glutamine is a very interesting amino acid. I've talked about glutamine on here before. There's some evidence, although somewhat scant, there's some evidence that glutamine can enhance immune system function. So, people will supplement with glutamine or people can get glutamine from foods. Foods that contain a lot of glutamine are things like cottage cheese. There are also other sources of glutamine. Glutamine is rich in protein-rich foods, things like beef, chicken, fish, dairy products, eggs — but also for you nonanimal-food-consuming people out there — vegetables, including beans; cabbage, once again; spinach; parsley — things of that sort. So, those foods contain glutamine.

For people that supplement with glutamine, generally, they will take anywhere from a gram, as much as 10 grams per day. Why would they want to do that? Well, there's also some evidence starting to emerge that glutamine can help offset sugar cravings. I've talked about this on the podcast before. We're going to talk more about the basis for this a little bit later. But in brief, we all have neurons in our gut that sense the amino acid content, the fat content, and the sugar content of the foods that we eat and signal in a subconscious way to our brain whether or not the foods that we are eating contain certain levels of certain amino acids. And so we actually have glutamine-sensing neurons in our gut that actually have their little processes, their little axons and dendrites, as we call them, in the mucosal lining of the gut. They're not just sensing glutamine, but when they do sense glutamine, they respond and they send signals to the brain that are signals of satiation, of satisfaction. In doing so, can offset some of the sugar cravings that many people suffer from.

Now, here, we're talking about glutamine for sake of enhancing cognitive function. This is interesting because it's been shown that glutamine supplementation can offset some of the negative effects on cognition caused by altitude and oxygen deprivation of other sorts. Okay, well, that's kind of a strange and unique situation. If you're going up to altitude, should you supplement with glutamine in order to be able to think more clearly? Well, it appears that there's good rationale for doing that, but the reason I bring this up, assuming that most people, including me, are not going up to high altitudes very often, is that it's been well-established that apnea, failure to breathe properly during sleep, can contribute to age-related and even nonage-related cognitive decline.

There are a lot of reasons for apneas, ranging from obesity to obstruction of the airways for other reasons. There are tremendous number of underlying causes of apnea, and it's something to be taken seriously. I mean, heart attacks, all sorts of metabolic issues are caused by apnea. Apnea is a serious issue that disrupts the depth of sleep, and it's a serious health issue in general. In any event, apnea is associated with cognitive decline and cognitive dysfunction, even in young people. And it does appear that glutamine supplementation can offset some of the cognitive deficits that are associated with reduced oxygenation of the brain.

If you'd like to learn more about how apnea can negatively impact cognition, there's an excellent paper that was published on this in 2018. The first author is Sharma, S-H-A-R-M-A. It should be easy to find. The title of the paper is "Obstructive sleep apnea severity affects amyloid burden in cognitively normal elderly." This was a longitudinal study. Amyloid burden is a correlate of Alzheimer's and other forms of neurodegeneration and cognitive decline associated with memory deficits. So, obstructive sleep apnea, excuse me, is a very serious issue for which glutamine appears to be able to offset some of the negative symptomology.

So, how is it that glutamine, either from food or through supplementation, can offset some of these so-called hypoxic effects caused by sleep apnea? Hypoxic being a lack of oxygen for the brain, that relate to cognitive decline. It appears to have this positive impact by way of reducing inflammation. If you want to look more deeply into the various biological pathways and the supplementation regimes for this, the paper that I think is really spectacular is a paper, last author is Quaresma, Q-U-A-R-E-S-M-A, that's Q-U-A-R-E-S-M-A. It's a review: "The possible importance of glutamine supplementation to mood and cognition in hypoxia from high altitude." And even though the paper is about high-altitude-induced hypoxia, it does seem to have direct relevance to the sorts of apnea that are related to Alzheimer's and other forms of cognitive decline.

Now, I've been taking glutamine as a supplement, gosh, since I was in college, mostly because I felt, either by superstition or by reality, that it protected me from various flus and colds and things of that sort because of the purported immune-enhancing effects. Again, those immune-enhancing effects have some data to support them, not a ton. However, I got into the habit of taking glutamine, and now that I've learned that glutamine seems to also have some cognitive-enhancing effects, possibly, it's a supplement that I continue to take. I take very small amounts of it, but I do take it on a regular basis.

So, that more or less completes the list of things that, at least by my read of the literature, are things that are supported by at least three, and in some cases as many as hundreds of studies in various populations that have been explored, in mouse studies often but also in a number of human studies.

I want to emphasize again that all of the things I listed out, whether or not it's EPAs, whether or not it's phosphatidylserine, whether or not it's choline, whether or not it's the various compounds that are in berries, et cetera, all of those can be extracted from food. There is not any law that says that you have to get them from supplementation. Supplementation can help you get to the very high levels of those things if you want to work on the higher end, if that's right for you. Obviously, check with your doctor before taking anything, or removing anything, from your diet or supplement regime. But in general, you can get these things from foods. It just so happens that for some of these compounds, the foods that they're contained in, like fish, are not foods that I particularly enjoy. And so I rely on supplements in order to get sufficient levels for me. But again, you can get these levels from food.

The reason I made this list, the reason that I emphasize these things in this particular order, is that they support the structure of neurons. They support the structure of the other cells of the brain that make up our cognition and that are important for our focus and our ability to remember things, and so forth. And they are less so in the category of so-called modulatory effects. They will also have modulatory effects on sleep, on inflammation, or reducing inflammation throughout the body, on cardiovascular function, all of which I believe are positive effects. At least, what the literature tells us is that none of these compounds are harming other systems of the body, provided they are taken at reasonable levels. But everything in this list is directed towards answering the question, what can I eat? What can I ingest by way of food and/or food supplement that can support brain function in the short-term and in the long-term. So, I hope you find that list beneficial for you, if not for use, at least for consideration.

So, now, having talked about some of the foods and micronutrients that are beneficial to our immediate and long-term brain health, I'd like to shift gears somewhat and talk about why it is that we like the foods that we like. We've all heard before that we are hardwired to pursue sugar and to like fatty foods and that calorie-rich foods are attractive to us for all sorts of reasons, surviving famines and things of that sort. While that is true, the actual mechanisms that underlie food-seeking and food preference are far more interesting than that.

There are basically three channels in our body and nervous system by which we decide what foods to pursue, how much to eat, and whether or not we will find a particular food attractive, whether or not we will want to consume more of it, whether or not we want to avoid it or whether or not it's just so-so. What I refer to as the yum, yuck, or meh analysis. And indeed, that's what our nervous system is doing with respect to food. It's trying to figure out whether or not, yum, I want more of this. Yuck, I want to avoid this. Or meh, it's so-so. Now, while that may seem like an overly simplified version of food-seeking and food preference, it's actually not that far from the truth. It actually correctly captures much of the biology of food preference.

So, let's talk about what these three channels for food preference are. The first one is an obvious one. It's taste on the mouth. It is the sensation that we have of the foods that we eat while we're chewing them. Those sensations which are literally just somatosensory, touch, sensations, the palatability of food as it relates to the consistency of food. That's important.

And as you've all heard before, we have sensors on our tongue, and elsewhere in our mouth, that detect the various chemicals contained within food and lead to the senses of taste, which we call bitter, sweet, umami, salty, and sour. Now, most of us are familiar with the sense of bitterness that comes from something like a raw radish; sweet, which comes obviously from sugars of different kinds — fructose, glucose, et cetera; salty, salty; and sour, think lemon or lemon juice, for instance. And then I mentioned umami. The umami receptor is a receptor that responds to the savory taste of things. So, that's what you might find in a really wonderfully rich tomato sauce. For those of you that eat meat and like meat, a really well-cooked, not necessarily well-done, but properly cooked, I should say, steak, if that's your thing. And umami is present in both plant and animal foods and gives us that sensation of savoriness. It almost has a kind of a little bit of a briny taste to it, or braised taste to it. And indeed, braising of meats and braising of vegetables is done specifically to activate that umami receptor. So, we have those five basic tastes.

Those are chemical sensors on the tongue that, what we call, transduce those chemicals. Those chemicals, literally in food, bind to those receptors. And it is transduced, meaning the binding of those chemicals to the receptors is converted into an electrical signal that-

... those chemicals to the receptors is converted into an electrical signal that travels in from the tongue along what's called the gustatory nerve. The gustatory nerve. Then synapses, meaning it makes connections in our brain stem, in the so-called nucleus of the solitary tract. There are other nuclei back there. Nuclei are just aggregates of neurons. And then it sends information up to the so-called insular cortex, to the insula.

I want to highlight the insula this episode, because we are going to return to the insula again and again in this episode and later. The insular cortex is an incredible structure that we all have that mainly is concerned with so-called interoception, or our perception of what's going on inside our body. It could be the amount of pressure in our gut because of how much food we've eaten. It could be the acidity of our gut, if we're having a little bit of indigestion, for instance.

It can also be the case that neurons within the insula are paying attention to how stressed you are or how alert you are or how tired you are. So, it's really an inward-focusing structure. It focuses on how we feel internally. And not surprisingly, the taste system sends information up to the insular cortex to give us a sense, literally, of what we've ingested, whether or not what we're tasting tastes good or not.

We will return to insular cortex in a few moments. A very important thing to understand is that the neurons in the areas of the cortex, your cortex and mine, that respond to particular tastes are providing an internal representation of an external sense. What do I mean by that? I don't want to be at all abstract. We take these foods; we break them down in our mouth by chewing them or sucking on them, whatever it is the food happens to be. Those chemicals bind to those receptors, and electrical signals are sent into the brain. But they are just electrical signals, just like notes being played on the keys of a piano. There's no unique signature for salty or sweet. It is the relative activation of one set of neurons that was activated by sweet or another set of neurons that was activated by umami.

It's that relative activation traveling into the brain in essentially the same form, the same electrical signals. This is really incredible, right? Electrical signals are sent into the brain, and you say, "Aha. That's sweet, and I want more of it," or "That's bitter. I want less of it," or "That's umami-flavored, and I really, really like that. Really like savory foods," as I happen to. That should immediately strike you as incredible because it means that your representation of what you want more of or less of is electrical in nature.

And to really tamp this issue down, studies that were done by Charles Zuker, Z-U-K-E-R ... He's an absolutely phenomenal neuroscientist at Columbia University, in New York. Studies done by the Zuker Lab have shown that, first of all, they could identify the neurons in the cortex, deep in the brain, that respond to a sweet taste or to a bitter taste. It turns out they are nonoverlapping populations of neurons. And then, using some molecular tricks, they were able to either silence or activate the neurons that, for instance, respond to sweet.

When they do this, they see incredible consequences on perception that indeed occur in your brain, and my brain as well, all the time without these kind of manipulations. Here's the experiment. They have a subject drink water that contains sugar or drink water that contains a salty substance or drink water that contains a bitter substance, for instance. I'm paraphrasing a large amount of work. They identify the neurons that respond to sweet tastes. They see, as many researchers have seen, that subjects prefer a sweet taste to other tastes, and certainly sweet taste to bitter or sweet taste to nothing, so to plain water.

And then they go in, and they are able to selectively silence the neurons that represent sweet. And when they do that, they eliminate the preference for that sweet taste. Now, that might seem obvious. The neurons respond to sweet, you silence those neurons, they no longer seek out sweet. But that should strike you also as incredible because they're not actually changing what's happening on the tongue or in the deeper layers of the brain.

Conversely, they can have subjects drink bitter water or plain water while activating, selectively activating, the neurons that respond to sweet. And what they find is that then subjects will actively prefer bitter or plain water to actual preferences, such as sweet.

What this means is that your perception of what you like is a central, meaning deep within the brain, phenomenon. It's not about how things taste on your mouth. Now, of course, under normal conditions where there aren't these experimental manipulations being done, those things are positively correlated. Sweet tastes trigger the activation of sweet neurons, for instance. Neurons in the mouth that respond to umami trigger the activation of neurons in the brain that respond to umami, and so forth. So they're correlated in a way that makes you seek out the things that you like and avoid the things that you don't like.

But as we'll see in a few minutes, turns out that that is not a direct relationship that is hardwired. You can actually uncouple the preference for a particular taste with the reward systems in the brain, in a way that for instance, would allow you to eat ... or I should use myself as an example because I don't particularly like fish. I've had a few meals that included fish that were pretty good, but none of them were memorable in the positive way, like some other events in my life were memorable. But by way of these circuitries and the way they link up with one another, it's actually possible to rewire one sense of taste and preference for particular foods.

If this is seeming at all vague to you, just hang in with me a little bit longer because I will provide you with the information, tools, and resources with which to navigate this process. But the most important thing to understand is that, like with our hearing, like with vision, like with smell, taste is an internal representation that has particular goals for you. Your sense of what tastes good is related to particular things that are occurring in your brain and body and that are likely to give your brain and body the things that it needs.

It is not simply a matter of what you quote, unquote like or what tastes good or what doesn't taste good. Let me give you a relatively simple example of how your body and your brain are acting in a coordinated way to make you prefer certain foods and indeed to pursue certain foods more. I just mentioned you have neurons on your tongue that respond to different tastes. But of course your digestive tract isn't just your tongue; it's also your throat. It goes all the way down to your stomach and of course your intestines. It is a long tube of digestion.

All along that tube, there are neurons. Some of the neurons are responding to the mechanical size of whatever portion of the digestive tract it happens to be. So for instance, how distended or empty ... or full, rather. It doesn't have to be distended. Depends on how much you ate. But how full or empty your gut happens to be.

Whether or not something you just ate is temperature-hot, is hot in the sense of hot to the touch, or whether or not it's spicy hot, whether or not it's soothing, whether or not it's hard to swallow, this kind of thing. So you have neurons all along your gut that are responding to the mechanics related to food and digestion and that are related to the chemistry of food and digestion.

There's a population of neurons, nerve cells, in your gut that are exquisitely tuned to the chemistry of whatever it is in your gut. And these are neurons called neuropod cells. They were discovered many, many years ago, but really defined with and classified with modern tools by Diego Bohorquez. I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly, Diego. We've spoken many times, but I can't ever seem to quite capture the proper pronunciation just right. But Diego Bohorquez at Duke University, who discovered that these cells reside within the gut and place little processes, their little axons and dendrites, within the mucosal lining of the gut.

And there they are paying attention to, meaning they respond to, amino acids, sugars, and fatty acids. So as your food is digested, as food lands within your gut, neurons there are sensing what types of foods are available and what types of things are making their way through the gut environment.

Now, those neurons aren't actually taking those foods and doing much with them. What they're doing is they're essentially surveying what qualities of food are there. And these particular neurons that Diego and his group discovered send electrical signals up into the brain through a little passage that we call the nodose ganglion. The nodose ganglia is a cluster of neurons that then go send up their own process into the brain and trigger the release of dopamine, which is a molecule that inspires motivation, reward, and more seeking for whatever it is led to their activation.

These are super interesting neurons, because what they're essentially doing is they are providing a subconscious signal about the quality of the food that you're eating, what it contains, and then triggering the release of a molecule within your brain, dopamine, that leads you to go seek more of those foods.

Now, this has profound impact on a number of things. First of all, there's the consideration of so-called hidden sugars. Dr. Robert Lustig, who's a pediatric endocrinologist at University of California, San Francisco, has been among the most prominent researchers to talk about the fact that there are these so-called hidden sugars in foods. Now, these are not just sugars that they sneak in just to be sneaky. These are sugars that are literally snuck in in a way that you can't taste them. That's why they're called hidden sugars. It's not that they just put them in there for fun.

These are sugars that are placed into processed foods that are designed to trigger activation of these mechanisms to lead you to want to eat more of these foods, but not because they necessarily taste sweet or delicious, but because they are activating these subconscious mechanisms that are driving you to pursue more of these foods. Sounds like a very diabolical strategy. And indeed it is somewhat of a diabolical strategy.

However, these neurons are also involved in signaling to your brain when, for instance, you are eating a food that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, the fatty acids that we were talking about earlier. So, why is it that you don't crave salmon? Why is it that I don't sit around daydreaming about mackerel? Well, because there's also the influence of the actual taste on the mouth. Under normal conditions, it's a combination of the taste of the thing on the mouth plus the subconscious signaling from the gut.

And while this isn't a discussion about gut microbiome, I should just mention that it's very clear that having a healthy gut microbiome allows these neurons to function in a way that serves our seeking of healthy foods in positive ways. And without getting into a lot of detail about this, the best way to ensure a healthy gut microbiome, that I am aware of, is not necessarily to take supplemental prebiotics or probiotics, there are actually some reasons why you might not want to do that, but rather to ingest two to four servings of fermented foods that are low in sugar each day.

There is a recent study published in Cell showing that the ingestion of fermented foods, two to four servings each day, can enhance the quality of the mucosal lining of the gut that allows certain gut microbiota to flourish and the gut microbiota that are not good for us to not flourish, because that's the environment that they settle down into.

This is work that was carried out by my colleagues, Justin Sonenberg, which is in the laboratory upstairs from me, as well as Chris Gardner and others at Stanford. They're certainly not the only researchers exploring this, but it does appear that two to four servings of fermented foods each day, these would be things like natto, sauerkraut — low-sugar fermented foods — is great for the gut microbiome. And separate studies, not their study but separate studies, have shown that the correct gut microbiome conditions allow these neurons that signal to the brain to signal at the right times and in the right ways to promote healthy food-seeking.

Many people opt to supplement with capsule-form probiotics. There are some data that suggest that maybe those don't contain the correct prebiotics and probiotics for setting the correct gut microbiota conditions. That's a little bit of a controversial issue.

Nonetheless, getting probiotics from fermented foods is probably the simplest and most straightforward way. It's also the way that we evolved to do that over many, at least hundreds and probably thousands, or even tens or hundreds of thousands of years, people have been ingesting fermented foods, not just for their taste but for their health benefits as well.

Now I've mentioned two of the three mechanisms by which we prefer certain foods. One is from the actual tastes that we're familiar with, the taste on our tongue and in our mouth, and the sensations that make us go, "Mm" or "Ugh" or "Eh," the yum, yuck, meh responses, as I referred to them earlier. And then there's this subconscious signaling coming from the gut that's really based on the nutrient content of the foods. There's a third pathway, which is the learned association of a particular taste with the particular quality or value that a food has.

And this is where things get really interesting and where there's actually a leverage point for you to rewire what it is that you find tasty and that you want to seek more of. The work I'd like to talk about next has been carried out in mouse models and has been carried out in parallel experiments in humans.

This is largely, not exclusively, but largely the work of Ivan de Araujo and Dana Small. Ivan de Araujo is at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Dana Small is at Yale. And they and others in their field have done incredible experiments exploring how taste and food value, the nutritional value of food, and the impact of that food on metabolism in the brain drives our food choices and allows us to change our food choices for the better. Their groups have done some really amazing studies involving ingestion of a particular substance that either contains sugar and thereby can elevate glucose, blood sugar, or not, and varying, meaning changing the taste associated with that ingestion of sugar.

Let me just give you a simple example where they have subjects; these could be mice or these could be humans, because they've done both sets of studies, drink sweet water as an alternative or a choice to nonsweetened water or bitter water or some other flavor. And what they find is that mice and humans will prefer to consume the sweet beverage. Now, it's not always sweet water. Mice like sweet water, but humans will prefer, for instance, a milkshake, a fatty sweet drink. They'll consume more of that. And not surprisingly, dopamine levels in the brain increase in response to that.

So the taste and the nutrient content of what it is that they're ingesting are aligned. They are matched. They've also done experiments where they have no taste, but subjects are being infused with sugar directly into the gut. And not surprisingly, based on everything I've told you up until now, subjects will pursue more of that thing relative to some other taste, either neutral or negative taste, because that sugar in the gut is triggering the activation of the neurons I mentioned earlier, which is signaling to the brain to pursue more of that thing.

This tells us something important. It tells us that we are driven, meaning we have mechanisms in our brain that make us motivated to pursue more of what brings both a taste of sweetness but also that brings actual changes in blood glucose levels up. Okay? We are motivated to eat sweet things, not just because they taste good but because they change our blood sugar level; they increase our blood sugar level. Now, this is important because it needn't be the case. It could have been that we were just wired to pursue things that taste good. But what this tells us is that we are actually wired to pursue things that increase our blood glucose. So much so that when the small lab — it's not a small lab, it's actually a big lab — but when Dana Small's lab and/or Ivan de Araujo's lab have done experiments where they use a compound called 2-Deoxy-glucose ... This is a compound that can prevent glucose from being metabolized by neurons. So blood glucose is going up, but neurons can't use it.

What they find is that the reinforcing, or the rewarding, properties of a food or taste are eliminated. Put simply, it is not sufficient for a food to taste good consciously. It is not sufficient for a food to increase blood sugar. You need blood sugar to go up, and that blood sugar, glucose, has to be utilized by the neurons, even if it's not associated with a good taste.

And to make it even simpler, if this isn't sinking in, this should make it very clear: what your brain, meaning what you are seeking when you eat, is not taste, is not dopamine, is not even a rise in blood glucose. What you're seeking, even though you don't realize it, because it's subconscious, is you are seeking things that allow your neurons to be metabolically active. And this is fundamentally important for understanding why you eat, why you eat particular foods, and how you can change your relationship to those foods.

Now, earlier I referred to circuits that are wired for a particular outcome. And in biology and in particular neuroscience, we refer to things that are either hardwired, meaning immutable and unchangeable, or softwired. A good example of softwiring would be the areas of your brain that are responsible for speech and language are always more or less in the same place in your brain and everyone else's brain. However, they are not hardwired to speak French or to speak English or to speak Chinese or to speak German. Because depending on where you were born and the parents that you're born to, you need to be able to speak one or maybe even more languages.

The taste system and this general system of seeking particular foods similarly is hardwired to obtain certain types of nutrients. It tends to like sweet things. Most children naturally like sweet things, some more than others. But naturally, most people from childhood onward don't particularly crave very bitter substances.

Maybe mildly bitter, but not very bitter. So there's some hardwiring of preference, but there's also some softwiring in the system that allows it to change. The groups I mentioned earlier have done some really beautiful experiments looking at how artificial sweeteners interact with the actual sweet-sensing system. And this gets right down to a number of issues. First of all, it gets to the issue of how we can rewire our taste system in ways that serve us for better or for worse.

Second of all, it gets right down to the issue of whether or not artificial sweeteners are good for us or bad for us. And indeed, as of just this last year, we now have an answer to that question. And turns out, it depends. And I will tell you in a few minutes when it is okay to ingest artificial sweeteners and when it is very detrimental to ingest artificial sweeteners of any kind. Regardless, I'm not going to name off brand names, but there are different forms of these artificial sweeteners nowadays. And there are various forms of noncaloric, plant-based sweeteners for which the same information that I'm about to tell you applies.

Okay. The experiments that were done beautifully illustrate that you seek out particular foods because of the way they taste, because of their impact on blood glucose levels, but also on their impact on the dopamine system, even if your blood glucose levels don't change. Here's the experiment. One group of subjects is given a sweet taste of a substance that also raises blood glucose levels, blood sugar. And dopamine goes up, not surprisingly. Second condition: separate subjects consume an artificial sweetener, or a noncaloric sweetener. It is not preferred much over other substances. But it is sweet, so it's preferred somewhat. And it does not cause an increase in blood glucose levels.

And not surprisingly, dopamine levels don't go up. So initially, we don't tend to like artificial sweeteners that much. That's the simple way of putting it. However, if subjects continue to ingest artificial sweeteners, even though there's no increase in blood glucose level and therefore no increase in brain metabolism, dopamine levels eventually start to rise. And when those dopamine levels eventually start to rise, you've essentially conditioned or reinforced that artificial, or noncaloric, sweetener. And then subjects start to consume more of it, and they actually get a dopamine increase from it. So, that's interesting. It says that consuming more of these artificial sweeteners or consuming them for a longer period of time can start to tap into the dopamine system and lead us to seek out or consume more of these artificial sweeteners.

Many people are probably familiar with this because we tend to, or I should say, people report that when they ingest these artificial sweeteners, at first they don't taste very good, but then over time they seem tolerable and then maybe even pleasurable. And then some people feel quote, unquote "addicted" to various diet sodas and things of that sort. Now, there's another condition that's been explored, and that's the really interesting condition. And it's the condition where an artificial sweetener is paired with a substance that can increase blood sugar, but not because it tastes sugary like a normal sweet substance. So now there's an artificial sweetener that's coupled with an actual increase in blood glucose. The natural-world scenario where this would happen would be drinking a diet soda, which contains no calories and therefore would not increase-

Drinking a diet soda, which contains no calories and therefore would not increase blood glucose, but is sweet, with a food that increases blood glucose. And when that happens, what you're essentially doing is tapping into the dopamine system, this noncaloric sweet taste is paired with it, and there's an increase in neuron metabolism, so you have all of the components for reinforcement, and as a consequence, you get, in a sort of Pavlovian conditioning way, a situation where later when you ingest that artificial sweetener, you actually get not only the increase in dopamine, but you get alterations in blood sugar management.

Now, blood sugar cannot go up if you don't ingest something that makes blood sugar go up. It's not as if you ingest artificial sweetener with some food that contains calories or sugar and then later you remove the food, and you just drink the soda and your blood glucose goes up. Rather, it's a much worse situation. I'll make this in the natural world context. If you ingest an artificial sweetener, say drink diet soda while consuming foods that increase blood glucose, then later, even if you just drink the diet soda, it's been shown that you secrete much more insulin, the hormone that regulates blood glucose, in response to that diet soda.

Studies have been done in both adult humans and in human children — in general, when we say children, we mean human children, but just to be very clear what we're talking about — exploring consuming diet soda with or without food, then later consuming just the diet soda. And what they found was having previously consumed diet soda with food and then later only consuming the diet soda, of course there isn't an increase in blood glucose, because they're not bringing in any calories when they just drink the diet soda. But there is a significant increase in insulin release, and that is serious in a terrible way, because increased release of insulin and so-called insulin sensitivity is the basis for type 2 diabetes.

So much so that in the study with the children, consuming noncaloric beverages in this way, first with food and then on their own, led to increases in insulin that made them prediabetic and they actually had to halt the study. I want to zoom out from this and just really illustrate the major findings and then talk about how this can be applied in the positive sense. I also want to mention what this means in terms of your consumption of artificial sweeteners of any kind.

First of all, the direct takeaway about artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners are not bad for you. I'm not going to say that. What I am going to say is that whether or not you ingest them alone or you ingest them in combination with foods, or as part of foods, that raise blood glucose is vitally important for your insulin management. And the simple extractor tool from this is if you're going to consume artificial sweeteners, it's very likely best to consume those away from any food that raises blood glucose levels. If you're going to enjoy diet soda, be my guest, but do it not while consuming food, in particular foods that raise blood glucose. Because what these studies show, and I will provide references for these, is that they can vastly disrupt blood sugar management by way of the insulin glucose system.

And actually, I'll just give you the reference now. This is a paper from Dana Smalls lab. The first author is Dalenberg, D-A-L-E-N-B-E-R-G. And the title of the paper is "Short-term consumption of sucralose with, but not without, carbohydrate impairs neural and metabolic sensitivity to sugar in humans." This is a paper published in Cell Metabolism, in March 2020. I think it's a very important paper, and similar findings have been addressed in mice and in other studies, and now because of this paper, there's now a bunch of other groups working on this issue.

There's some evidence previously published in Nature, excellent top-tier journal, sort of among the Superbowl of top three journals, being Nature, Science and Cell. Paper published in Nature a few years back showing that particular artificial sweeteners can disrupt the gut microbiome and have deleterious health effects. That result, I think, stands, although there's some results that may not agree with that, depending on whether or not the artificial sweetener is saccharin or sucralose or aspartame or stevia, that's the gut microbiome.

But what we are talking about here is independent of the form of artificial or noncaloric sweetener, because it has everything to do with whether or not there is a match or a mismatch between the perceived taste and the effect of the thing that you are consuming on blood sugar and metabolism. The first takeaway from this is if you're going to consume artificial sweeteners, it's really important that you do that not in conjunction with foods that increase blood glucose. Second of all, it points to the fact that the foods that we prefer and the activation of the dopamine system, both through the gut and at the level of conscious taste ... in other words, what we like is very plastic, it's mutable and we can change it. How can we change it?

Well, earlier I mentioned a structure in the brain called the insula, this incredible structure that's involved in interoception, and interoception of all kinds. In fact, just as an aside, a year or so ago, my lab published a paper showing that activity within certain compartments of the insula of humans is responding to a heightened state of anxiety in the body. It can respond to changes in our respiration, changes in our heart rate. This is, again, it's a readout of our internal state, not just of taste, but of many, many different aspects of the mechanics and chemistry of our internal milieu within our body.

All of the work that I was describing previously has also been addressed at the neural level, and using a broad brush to explain these results, what we can say is when there is dopamine increase, one sees activation of the so-called nucleus accumbens, which is part of the so-called mesolimbic reward pathway. If you'd like to learn more about the mesolimbic reward pathway and dopamine, in general, in humans and in animal studies, and all the various incredible and challenging things that dopamine can do for us, there's an episode all about dopamine that you can look up. It's easy to find at hubermanlab.com.

The increases in dopamine associated with sweet taste and/or blood glucose-elevating foods and drinks, cause activation of the nucleus accumbens. That's not surprising. Also in the circuit is activation of the so-called arcuate nuclei within the hypothalamus. These are areas of the hypothalamus that respond to hormones from the body and respond to hormones and neuropeptides in the brain, as well as neurosignals in the brain, to drive us to eat more or to stop eating. It's hypothalamus, nucleus accumbens. These are sort of the hypothalamus and the arcuate being the motivating to eat or motivating to stop eating. Both sets of neurons are contained there. There are other areas like the lateral hypothalamus, as well, but hypothalamus is sort of the accelerator and the brake on eating.

And then the nucleus succubus and dopamine release can be thought of as kind of a nitro boost, if you will, to, like the kids say ... Do the kids say that anymore? Anyway, a nitro boost to increase what we call the gain or the volume of how much you want more of something. When dopamine is present, it's this kind of generic signal to go seek out more of whatever caused that release. And then there's the insula, this very thoughtful, rational — not really, it's not thinking; it's a brain area. You're thinking, but it's part of the areas of your brain that are interpreting what's going on in your body, whether or not you feel good or not good, whether or not you feel anxious, excited or fearful.

It's integrating all that information and fed into this entire circuit as well are the inputs from your prefrontal cortex, which is your thinking, rational neuronal structure, if you will, informing you, for instance, "Ah well, I don't really like salmon very much," or "I'm not so crazy about kale but it has omega-3s," or "It's rich in these polyphenols that are good for me." And if one decides that they are going to eat these things, not just because they are good for them, but believe it or not, if one takes the perception or adopts the perception that they are both good for you and that in being good for you, they are good for your brain metabolism and that you desire to be healthy, as crazy as it sounds, those subjective signals of what you tell yourself about the foods that you're eating can actually impact how those foods will taste. Maybe not immediately, but eventually, and can impact the way in which your body utilizes those foods.

Now, that might seem like an absolute pipe dream. If I just imagine that I like mackerel, mackerel will start to taste good. I'm not saying that. I didn't say that you could override yuck signals with this mechanism. I didn't say that you could take a food that would be absolutely noxious to you or make you want to vomit and override that. However, foods that are somewhat neutral to you can take on a different value based on the activation of the dopamine system. And now knowing what you know, there are a couple ways that you could imagine doing that. First of all, you could, in this so-called Gedankin, or thought experiment, you could for instance swap out sucralose, because sucralose is just a taste. It's an artificial sweet taste. You could swap that out and insert kale, but eat the kale with something that raises blood glucose to some degree or another.

Now, I'm not encouraging anyone to run out there and spike their blood glucose like crazy. And in fact, blood glucose isn't really the goal. If you recall, the goal is to get neurons to be metabolically active with that blood glucose. That's what's actually rewarded at a sub subconscious level, meaning at a deep subconscious level. But consuming these foods with other foods that increase blood glucose and thereby brain metabolism, or I suppose if you're ketogenic, you're in a ketosis; I don't know what the range of foods that are allowed on ketosis are so I don't want to misspeak here and say cracker, which would probably be a sin in the context of ketosis, and no knock against ketosis. I'm offering this in part because I think that there are a number of people that have and can positively benefit from a ketogenic diet.

But for instance, if there's a food that you want to consume more of but that you find somewhat meh, or mildly yuck even, pairing it with ketones, if indeed you are using ketones for your brain metabolism, because that's what happens on the ketogenic diet, over time that food will be reinforced by the dopamine pathway. We know this from these studies where sucralose was the substance paired with the glucose elevating, in other words, metabolically elevating food substance or liquid substance. So how does one go about doing this? Well, first of all, I want to emphasize that this experiment actually has been done in a slightly different context.

Studies by my colleague Alia Crum in the Psychology Department at Stanford have explored the bodily response in terms of insulin release and the release of other food and eating-related hormones, as well as overall feelings of satisfaction, et cetera, in groups of people that drink a milkshake and are either told that it's a low-calorie shake that contains various nutrients that are good for them, or a higher-calorie shake that has a lot of nutrients, et cetera. And what they found was that the different groups, and here again, I'm being very general with my description of these studies, but what they found is that the physiological response, the insulin response, the blood glucose response, and the subjective measures of whether or not people enjoyed something or not, were heavily influenced by what they were told were in these milkshakes.

Blood glucose would go up, insulin would go up when people were told it was a high-calorie shake with lots of nutrients, less so when people ingested a shake that they were told had less nutrients, and so forth, when in reality it was the identical shake. This is incredible. This is a belief effect. This is not placebo. A placebo effect is different. Placebo effect is in comparison. It's where the control condition actually influences outcomes to a same or to some degree just like the experimental condition. This is not a placebo effect. This is a belief effect, where the belief and the subjective thoughts about what a given food will do has a direct impact on a physiological measure like blood sugar and blood glucose.

Let's zoom out from this for a second and think about how we can incorporate this into adopting consumption of healthy foods that serve our brain health in the immediate and long term. And if you're wondering what those are, I listed them out at the beginning of the episode and their justification for being on that list. What this means is obviously you want to consume foods that you like, but because brain health is very important and many of the foods that promote brain health perhaps are not the most palatable to you or desirable to you. The key would be to ingest the foods that you want to ingest more of simply because they're good for you, and not because they taste good to you, alongside foods that increase whatever fuel system you happen to be relying on. I think that's the most nutritionally politically correct way to say it.

If you're keto, that would mean ketones. If you're not ketogenic, and I think most people probably are not in ketosis or trying to maintain ketosis, but for instance, people that are on a purely plant-based diet, that would be one set of foods. For people that are omnivores, a different set of foods, and for people that are carnivores yet another set of foods. If you want to eat more of a particular food because it's good for you, pair it with something in the same meal, you don't have to hide it physically or in the flavor sense, you don't have to hide it within that other food, but pair it with that other food that provides you a shift in brain metabolism, because that's really what your brain and you are seeking, even though you don't realize it.

How long will this take? Well, according to the data in humans on sucralose and the conditioning for sucralose to have these effects, which in many cases were detrimental because they were increasing insulin. But in this case, you're trying to hijack this conditioning of food preference for healthy purposes, not with sucralose but by ingesting things that are good for you. Then the data really pointed to the fact that even within a short period of time of about seven days, but certainly within 14 days, that food will take on a subjective experience of tasting at least better to you, if not good to you.

Now, I believe this has important implications for much of the controversy and food wars that we see out there. Food wars being, of course, these groups that ardently subscribe to the idea that their diet and the things that they are eating are the foods that are good for us and that are the most pleasurable and the things that everyone should be eating. We see this with every community within the nutrition realm. Now, of course there are studies that point to the fact that certain foods and food components are healthier probably for us and for the planet, but you really see it on both ends of the spectrum. You've got people who are on a pure carnivore diet who are arguing with a lot of biomedical evidence that that's what's best for us and beneficial. And then you've got people that are arguing the same general sets of arguments, but for a purely plant-based diet. And then I think most people fall into the omnivore category.

What's very clear, however, is that what we consume on a regular basis, and what leads to increases in brain metabolism, leads to increases in dopamine and thereby our motivation to eat them. What this really says is that what we tend to do regularly becomes reinforcing, in and of itself, and I think in large part can explain the fact that, yes indeed, for certain people, a given diet not only feels good, but they heavily subscribe to the nutrient and kind of health-beneficial effects of that diet. And they often will provide evidence for that whether or not you ask them for it or not. But that's true of every subcategory within the nutrition realm.

Again, this is not to take away from some of the beautiful data emphasizing that certain foods and micronutrients, et cetera, are better for us or worse for us and for the planet. That's not a debate I want to get into right now. What this emphasizes is that foods impact our brain and its health, but they also impact how our brain functions and response to food. And that is largely a learned response. We can't completely override, for instance, that certain foods evoke a strong ugh, yuck component. Certain foods are truly putrid to us. I should just say certain things are putrid to us, and we should not consume them. And that's at the far end of the spectrum. It's hardwired for us to avoid those because they can be dangerous for us. They can make us very, very sick.

But it's also true that if we continue to eat foods that are progressively sweeter and sweeter, and highly palatable, it shifts our dopamine system because it activates our dopamine system to make us believe that those foods are the only foods that can trigger this reward system and make us feel good, and that they taste good. But after consuming foods that perhaps are less sweet, or even less savory, that are not what we would call highly or, I would say nowadays, it's super palatable foods, we can adjust our sense literally of what we perceive as an attractive and rewarding food. And indeed the dopamine system will reward those foods accordingly.

I can't emphasize enough how much this learning of associated food reward is important for not just understanding why we like the foods that we eat and how to eat more of foods that are healthy for us and enjoy them. But it also speaks to the fact that our brain as a whole is a perceptual device trying to make guesses or estimations about what certain foods are going to do for us. Put simply, we don't just like sweet foods because they taste good. We like them because they predict a certain kind of metabolic response.

This is important also because Dana Small and Ivan de Araujo and others have been exploring whether or not people, for instance, that have type 2 diabetes or that suffer from any number of different metabolic disorders, whether or not somehow these food reward systems are permanently disrupted, and through a beautiful set of experiments that have been done by, mainly by Dana Small's group at Yale, but also by the de Araujo group and others, exploring how the reward pathways are altered in various metabolic disorders, et cetera, people suffering from type 2 diabetes.

We don't have time to go into all those data now, but the takeaway is that food preference and the ability to reshape these circuits is not disrupted in these people to the point where it can't be rewired. And that's very encouraging because what it means is that for people that are suffering from these syndromes, through some simple alterations in dietary choice, provided those are carried out over time and in the correct way by pairing with the foods that will appropriately shift metabolism of the brain, one can actually rewire what they consider not just palatable but attractive as foods.

If you want to learn more about food reward and food reinforcement, because it turns out those are slightly different things, there's a wonderful review written by Ivan de Araujo. They have a middle author, Mark Schatzker and Dana Small, it's called "Rethinking food reward," and it was published in the Annual Reviews of Psychology. You can find it very easily online. It was published in 2019, and it's a beautiful deep-dive, although quite accessible to most people, about how different foods and the way that we perceive them impacts our brain and body, and why we like the things we like and how to reshape what we like.

Once again, we've done a fairly extensive deep-dive into food and your brain, focusing first on how particular foods and compounds within foods, that are available also through supplementation, can impact immediate and long-term brain health. Came up with a relatively short list of what I would call superfoods, only because there are ample data to support their role in enhancing short- and long-term cognition and neuronal health, and so on. And we also talked about food preference and why particular tastes and particular events within the gut and particular events within the brain combine to lead us to pursue particular foods and to avoid other foods, and how you can leverage those pathways in order to pursue more of the foods that are going to be good for you and good not just for your brain, but for your overall body health, and to enjoy them along the way.

If you're learning from and or enjoying this podcast, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's a terrific zero-cost way to support us. In addition, please leave us suggestions for future topics and guests you would like us to host, in the comment section on YouTube. As well, please subscribe to the Huberman Lab podcast on Apple and/or Spotify, and on Apple you can leave us up to a five-star review. If you're not already following us on Instagram, we are Huberman Lab at Instagram. And there I do neuroscience tutorials that sometimes have overlap with the podcast, but often are original content altogether. We are also Huberman Lab on Twitter. Another terrific way to support us is by checking out our sponsors that we mentioned at the beginning of the episode. And last but not least, thank you for your interest in science.

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