Joe Rogan has been open about his supplement stack for years. His brain stack has a clear anchor in Alpha Brain, the nootropic he co-created with Onnit, but it doesn’t stop there. Neuro Gum, creatine, and a set of basics he returns to more than any pill all feature in this article.
Let’s analyze all of it, with the evidence where it exists and the caveats where they matter.
TLDR: Joe Rogan Brain Supplement Protocol
- Alpha Brain: The nootropic he co-created with Onnit; reaches for it before UFC commentary, podcasting, stand-up, and any time memory matters. He prefers the Black Label version.
- Neuro Gum: A caffeine-plus-L-theanine gum he has no affiliation with but prefers to eat.
- Creatine: Daily, in gummy form (easier on his stomach). He frames it as a nootropic specifically for blunting the effects of sleep deprivation, which is where cognitive science actually points.
- Brain Health Basics: The things he comes back to more than any pill. Seven to eight hours of sleep, exercise, sauna, and hydration.
Alpha Brain
Alpha Brain is a nootropic supplement made by Onnit, the company Rogan co-founded. The name sits under the “nootropic” umbrella, which covers compounds taken to support memory, focus, or mental energy. Onnit’s pitch is that the formula supplies nutrients the brain uses as building blocks for its own neurotransmitters.
Rogan came to nootropics before Alpha Brain existed. He first tried Neuro1, a product developed by former NFL player Bill Romanowski after Romanowski started having memory problems from years of hits. Rogan heard about it through someone training with Romanowski, tried it, and felt his mind was clearer – “more thought energy,” as he put it. That experience led him to push Onnit to build a cognitive product of their own. The result was Alpha Brain.
How Rogan Uses It
His use of Alpha Brain is specific, not casual. He’s said he takes it any time cognitive function matters, which by his own account covers most of what he does. The standout examples, in his own words:
- UFC commentary: He calls it the most memory-intensive thing he does, because he has to recall techniques and sequences live.
- Podcasting and stand-up: Recalling threads of conversation and material on the spot.
- Talking to experts: He says he takes it every time he has to talk to a scientist.
Hear how the UFC commentary connection led to Alpha Brain and why he calls Black Label the best here.
Alpha Brain vs Alpha Brain Black Label
There are two versions to keep straight. Rogan’s clear about which he prefers.
The original Alpha Brain is the long-standing formula, notable among nootropics for leaving out caffeine. Alpha Brain Black Label is the newer, stronger formulation. Handing a bottle to a guest on the podcast, Rogan called Black Label the top of the food chain and the strongest one he’s tried.
The two share a few ingredients but diverge meaningfully. Black Label adds citicoline (a choline source), Huperzine A, and a low dose of caffeine, among other actives. So when Rogan talks about his current favourite, he usually means Black Label.
Does It Actually Work?
The evidence is real. But it’s narrow. And it doesn’t come from a neutral party.
A 2016 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial tested the original formula. It ran 63 healthy adults aged 18 to 35 through a two-week placebo run-in followed by six weeks on either Alpha Brain or placebo. The result was real but narrow. The supplement group showed a significant improvement in delayed verbal recall and executive function versus placebo (p < .05). The study was conducted with the Boston Center for Memory and Boston University School of Medicine.1A randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel group, efficacy study of alpha BRAIN® administered orally | Solomon et al. | 2015 | Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition
Two things have to sit alongside that result:
- The funding: The study was paid for by Onnit, the maker. The authors called it the first randomized controlled trial of the product and said the results merit further study.
- The scope: The improvement showed up in one memory domain. It didn’t appear across the other cognitive measures the trial looked at.
That single-domain result later became the centre of a lawsuit. A 2024 class action, Lotz v. Onnit Labs, alleged that Alpha Brain’s focus, speed, and memory claims were false. It pointed to the company’s own funded study as evidence that the benefit was slight and limited to one aspect of memory. The case was voluntarily dismissed in April 2025 after a settlement in principle (source).
Author’s Note: One more thing worth flagging is that this trial hasn’t been independently replicated, so the usual check on a maker-funded result is missing. Readers weighing it up may want to treat it as a promising early signal rather than a settled case. The full paper is here: Solomon et al., 2016.
Neuro Gum and Neuro Mints
This is the one Joe Rogan goes out of his way to flag as unaffiliated. He’s said plainly that he’s got no connection to Neuro, which makes it a cleaner read on what he actually rates.
Listen to him flag the Neuro Gum affiliation point himself here.
He keeps it in the studio in volume, joking that they go through four or five boxes of the Neurogum. He chews it before kick-boxing workouts. Each piece pairs caffeine with L-theanine (roughly 40 mg and 60 mg respectively per the manufacturer panel), plus vitamins B6 and B12. L-theanine is an amino acid found in tea that many people use to smooth out the jittery edge of caffeine.
Controlled studies suggest caffeine and L-theanine together improve sustained attention and reduce mind-wandering.2The combined effects of L-theanine and caffeine on cognitive performance and mood | Owen et al. | 2008 | Nutrition Neuroscience
If you want caffeine and L-theanine without the gum, a few capsule options from reputable brands are worth a look, whether you want them together or dosed separately:
- Nutricost Caffeine with L-Theanine – Both ingredients in one capsule at 100 mg each, the closest match to the gum’s pairing without the chewing
- Momentous L-Theanine – A clean 200 mg dose from a brand with NSF Certified for Sport products, ideal if you want to dial in the theanine yourself
- Nutricost Caffeine Pills – A straightforward 200 mg caffeine cap you can split or take whole depending on how much of a lift you want
Creatine
Most people talk about creatine under gym supplements. Joe Rogan places it under both, and he’s specific about why.
He takes it every day, and these days in gummy form. He’s switched to gummies for one simple reason. They’re convenient. He’s said they’re so easy that he now takes creatine more consistently than he ever has, and he likes the taste too.
His framing is the interesting part. He calls creatine one of the best supplements for blunting the effects of sleep deprivation (source). He describes it as a nootropic as much as a muscle-builder. The science backs the nuance rather than the hype:
- When you’re well rested, creatine shows little measurable cognitive effect in healthy young adults.
- When you’re under stress, such as sleep deprivation, supplementation can improve cognition.3Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation | Gordij-Nejad et al. | 2024 | Scientific Reports
In other words, Joe Rogan’s view that creatine helps most when he’s short on sleep lines up reasonably well with where the evidence points.
Catch the creatine-as-sleep-deprivation-fix explanation in his own words here. This clip starts at ≈2:49.
Sleep is only part of why he rates it, though. Rogan describes creatine as a genuine nootropic, something he takes for everyday cognitive function and not just for training. As someone who makes a living using his brain, he calls it one of the safest supplements you can take and a nutrient that enhances brain function. For a fuller look at creatine’s brain benefits, see our piece on Rhonda Patrick and creatine.
If you want to try creatine for cognitive support, creatine monohydrate from a reputable brand is the way to go. Here are some common options you can consider:
Capsules - Creatine Monohydrate
| Brands | Quantity | Price per gram | Discount Code |
| Nutricost | 500 x 750 mg capsules | $0.07 | - |
| California Gold Nutrition | 240 x 750 mg capsules | $0.10 | (see 20% off iHerb coupon) |
| Momentous | 150 x 1000 mg capsules | $0.33 |
Powders - Creatine Monohydrate
| Brands | Quantity | Price per gram |
| Nutricost | 500 g | $0.04 |
| NOW | 500 g | $0.06 |
| Momentous | 450 g | $0.09 |
For a deeper look at how he uses creatine in his routine, see our Joe Rogan creatine article
Brain Health Basics
For all the talk about nootropics, the things Joe Rogan returns to most aren’t supplements at all.
- Sleep: He stresses a solid seven to eight hours, and he’s particular about darkness, pointing out how much stray light from devices and clocks builds up in a bedroom. He’s described elite athletes taping hotel curtains shut to get full blackout.
- Exercise and blood flow: His shorthand is that keeping the body moving keeps the brain supplied. If the body works better, the brain works better.
- Sauna: A regular part of the routine he mentions alongside sleep and exercise.
- Hydration: He’s blunt about this one, saying that being dehydrated and tired leaves you working on something like 50% brain capacity. He points to the sloppy mistakes athletes make late in games as the visible version of it.
Joe Rogan’s own framing is that the pills sit on top of the basics, not instead of them. His broader approach to food sits alongside this in our look at the Joe Rogan diet.
Roundup
Alpha Brain is the spine of Joe Rogan’s brain stack: a nootropic he co-created, takes before anything memory-intensive, and rates most highly in its Black Label form. The honest read is that one maker-funded trial found a real but single-domain benefit, that result hasn’t been independently replicated,
Around it sit supplements he’s named himself: Neuro Gum, and creatine, plus the unglamorous basics he repeats most, sleep, exercise, sauna, and hydration. What he takes is well documented in his own words.
If you have questions regarding Joe Rogan’s brain supplements, please leave them below.
Further Reading
If you found this useful, you might also enjoy these:
- Joe Rogan’s TRT Protocol: How he approaches testosterone and growth hormone to stay in shape well into his fifties, including his reasoning and the doses he’s mentioned.
- Andrew Huberman Supplements List: A neuroscientist’s full stack with brands and dosages, spanning his sleep cocktail, creatine, magnesium threonate, and the foundational supplements he takes daily for focus and recovery.
- Dr Rhonda Patrick Supplements List: A longevity-focused stack centred on micronutrients, omega-3s, vitamin D and K, and sulforaphane, covered ingredient by ingredient with her reasoning for each.
- David Sinclair Supplements List: The anti-aging protocol built around Resveratrol, NMN, Fisetin, and Spermidine, along with the lifestyle habits he pairs them with to slow the aging process.
FAQs
Alpha Brain is a nootropic supplement made by Onnit, a company Joe Rogan co-founded. It’s marketed to support memory, focus, and mental processing by supplying nutrients the brain uses for its neurotransmitters. A 2016 Onnit-funded trial found it improved delayed verbal recall and executive function, though the gains didn’t extend to the other cognitive areas it measured.
The evidence is real but limited. A single randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 63 adults found a significant improvement in verbal memory and executive function after six weeks, but the study was funded by the maker, hasn’t been independently replicated, and the benefit appeared in just one cognitive domain. A 2024 false-advertising lawsuit cited those same limits before being dismissed in 2025.
The original Alpha Brain is the long-standing, caffeine-free formula. Alpha Brain Black Label is the newer, stronger version, adding citicoline, Huperzine A, and a low dose of caffeine. Rogan has called Black Label the strongest one he’s tried.
Rogan keeps Neuro Gum in the studio and chews it before kick-boxing workouts. He goes out of his way to say he has no affiliation with the brand. Each piece pairs caffeine with L-theanine, a combination that controlled studies suggest improves sustained attention and reduces mind-wandering compared to caffeine alone.
Yes. He takes creatine monohydrate daily, currently in gummy form, and frames it primarily as a way to blunt the cognitive effects of poor sleep rather than as a gym supplement. The science supports that framing: creatine’s cognitive benefit is most pronounced under sleep deprivation rather than in well-rested adults.
He’s consistent about four basics. He gets seven to eight hours of sleep a night, exercises for blood flow, uses the sauna, and stays well hydrated (source). He’s said that being dehydrated and tired alone leaves you working at around 50% brain capacity, and he treats these as the foundation his supplements sit on top of.
Thumbnail: “Joe Rogan” by Steven Crowder, licensed under CC BY 3.0. Cropped and edited into a thumbnail.
References
- 1A randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel group, efficacy study of alpha BRAIN® administered orally | Solomon et al. | 2015 | Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition
- 2The combined effects of L-theanine and caffeine on cognitive performance and mood | Owen et al. | 2008 | Nutrition Neuroscience
- 3Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation | Gordij-Nejad et al. | 2024 | Scientific Reports
Disclaimer: The above information is for research and educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. See full medical disclaimer.
