Podcaster and love rat Andrew Huberman is hawking $100 bogus 'unscientific' supplements, top scientists warn
9 May 2024
Experts have accused Andrew Huberman - the popular health influencer and neuroscientist recently embroiled in a sex scandal - of pushing pricey and 'unscientific' supplements.
DailyMail.com has found that Dr Huberman, who has more than 5million subscribers to his YouTube channel, is paid by 15 wellness brands to promote products that make health-boosting promises that experts say are based on 'a nugget of truth.'
These includes the $124 sleep supplements that claim to help people fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer, and a $79 energy-boosting powder that contains excess vitamins, which experts say will end up in the toilet.
Experts accuse Dr Huberman of 'exploitative' marketing tactics, convincing people to spend cash on pills that they say are 'potentially dangerous' due to risks of interactions with other, commonly taken medicines. The concerns come weeks after the Stanford University professor faced claims of 'love rat' behavior - including that he'd dating five women at one time, and passed one a sexually transmitted infection.
'Huberman is exploiting the gaps in science literacy simultaneously with people's desire to want to have control over their health,' Dr Andrea Love, a microbiologist and immunologist, told DailyMail.com.
His deals include a multi-year collaboration with sports nutrition firm Live Momentous, which has a range of supplements endorsed by the podcaster called the Huberman Collection. These include a $185 'Complete Sleep' bundle, a $134 'Focus & Cognition' bundle and a 'Complete Expert bundle' for $356. The 'Focus & Cognition' bundle contains tyrosine (an amino acid involved in production of brain chemicals), Omega-3 (a fatty acid that helps with cell and muscle function) and alpha GPC (a chemical involved in memory and learning). Live Momentous' recommended serving of Omega-3 is 3200mg combined EPA and DHA in a 1:1 ratio, while the amount of tyrosine in Live Momentous' supplements is a quarter of the safe upper limit.
The website claims this bundle can 'improve brain function and enhance mental clarity, focus, and motivation, helping you to achieve your best cognitive performance.' The sleep bundle, meanwhile, claims to contain 'four scientifically proven ingredients' that help people fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.
But Dr Love told DailyMail.com: 'They are saying it's science-backed or it's got evidence or data behind it - they're extrapolating a nugget of truth.'
The nugget of truth is that 'tyrosine is an important amino acid that is also an important brain chemical,' Dr Love said.
But only a handful of animal and human studies suggest that tyrosine supplements may have any impact on cognitive function, with most research focused on memory and performance under psychological stress.
Additionally, because the supplements are unregulated, 'it doesn't guarantee that it's even the version that's bioavailable, meaning that it's able to be used by the body, or it's in a dosage that would be able to be used by the body,' Dr Love said.
Certain chemicals cannot be broken down in the body, which is something the average consumer may not be aware of, she added.
In high doses, tyrosine can also cause adverse effects like nausea, headache, fatigue, heartburn, and joint pain, Dr Love said. The nonessential amino acid can also interact with important thyroid medications and drugs to manage high blood pressure, used by millions of Americans, she added.
Some individuals may also experience diarrhea or indigestion, Dr Love said.
She added that a lack of regulation of these products means it is possible that levels are higher than what is listed on the label.
Within the 'Focus & Cognition' bundle is Omega-3, high doses of which can increase the risk of bleeding, particularly in people taking blood thinners, according to Mayo Clinic. Studies suggest around eight million patients take these. Daily Omega-3s doses of 5000mg should not cause adverse effects for most people. 'Many of the supplements don't disclose the full list of ingredients, or they might be adulterated, because they're not regulated by the FDA,' Dr Love said.
A 2018 study published in JAMA found that between 2007 and 2016, the FDA had identified 746 dietary supplements adulterated with pharmaceuticals, including steroids or erectile dysfunction drugs.
Dr Love said: 'Ultimately, because the supplements aren't regulated, they might say they contain that dosage, but because they lack quality control, they could be incorrectly manufactured and actually contain far higher levels.'
Another study published in JAMA in 2022 found of a selection of 30 supplements tested, the majority were falsely labeled, either containing ingredients that were not disclosed or not containing the substances they claimed to contain.
Huberman is also paid to promote Athletic Greens, a nutrition supplement that 'supports whole body health.' The supposed benefits are reducing tiredness and fatigue, supporting the heart and the formation and maintenance of red blood cells. It is a powder and dietary supplement to be mixed into water and drunk daily.
Also called AG1, the $79 drink claims to 'optimize your health with one simple scoop', though the company notes the statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. The powder has 75 ingredients in total, but Canadian scientist Jonathan Jarry pointed out that the vitamins it contains are 'in excess of their recommended daily values.' AG1 contains 467 percent of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C, and 1,000 percent of the recommended vitamin B7. Because both of the vitamins are water soluble, if you are getting an excess of them in your diet, they are not used in the body and are eliminated via urine.
One serving AG1 contains 555 micrograms of vitamin A, which is 62 percent of the daily recommended amount of vitamin A. The FDA recommends around 900 micrograms of vitamin A for men per day and 700 micrograms for women. If you take more than 3,000 micrograms per day, you could be at risk of toxic effects, including bone pain, nausea, vomiting, dry skin, blurry vision and sensitivity to bright light, according to Mayo Clinic.
Mr Jarry, a science communicator working in Montreal, at McGill University's Office for Science and Society (OSS), pointed out that long term, researchers have also connected taking vitamin A and similar forms, like beta-carotene, to an increased risk of lung cancer - especially in ex-smokers.
A 1994 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that after male smokers took beta-carotene for five to eight years, they had an 18 percent higher estimated risk of lung cancer. This was followed by a 1996 study published in the same journal which found a relative lung cancer risk of 1.28 after smokers and former smokers took beta-carotene
Dr Huberman said he has been using AG1 since 2012 'because it's the simplest, most straightforward way for me to get my basis of important vitamins, minerals and probiotics.' Experts say the belief that naturally derived supplements are better can be misleading.
'There's a lot of misconceptions about the formulations of supplements. Often people are like, well, it's natural, or something that your body needs, or it's something from a plant,' Dr Love said. 'But it's a lot more complicated than that, because the supplements are still technically made in labs, so they're really more like unregulated pharmaceuticals.' She added: 'There are a lot of herbs or chemicals that are found in natural things that can interact with actual medications that someone might be taking, they can interfere with the absorption of nutrients that you need to have a healthy to have a healthy physiology, so they can actually be counterproductive.'
Typically, people who are seeking supplements, or who are even seeking Dr Huberman's podcast as a source of information, 'are doing so because they have symptoms that aren't resolving, or had a medical scare, or a family medical scare,' Dr Love said. 'We often find people becoming more concerned about taking control of their health when something demands it - which is why they are often more susceptible to the health claims made by wellness companies,' she said.
In addition to Athletic Greens, Dr Huberman has said he takes approximately a dozen supplements a day. These include NMN and NR, which claim to improve longevity and prevent neurological disease, Tongkat ali and Fadogia agrestis, which are believed to increase libido and enhance sexual performance, as well as a handful of minerals, amino acids and nutrients like zinc, magnesium and boron and l-theanine. His routine also includes Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, grapeseed extract A multivitamin.
Experts have also pointed to Huberman's other bizarre claims.
Dr Huberman claimed you can 'completely change the structure of the face' in just two to three months through not mouth breathing and doing jaw exercises.
Dr Love said: 'It's so outlandish, like you don't even know where to start. 'The whole jaw thing has no science behind it whatsoever. You can't do that - you can't change the structure of your jaw through nasal breathing or mouth breathing or vice versa. 'Your jaw structure is based on how your mandibles are joined and you can correct that through orthodontics or periodontist, or surgery. 'You can strengthen muscles in any part of your body, but it's not going to alter the structure or the function of your jaw your face.'
Whether or not Dr Huberman believes the things he professes is an 'impossible question to answer,' Mr Jarry told DailyMail.com. It may be Dr Huberman doesn't know he is spreading misinformation, nor is he a complete believer of what he says. 'There is also a third option, which I believe is the academic term is bull****, which is that they don't care about the truth value of what they're saying because it is useful, and because it is profitable,' Mr Jarry said. He added: 'Maybe there's some things that are true for them, they really believe in, and maybe there are other things where they're not sure, but they just don't care.'
Dr Huberman has not responded to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
Athletic Greens and Live Momentous refused to disclose financial details of their arrangements with Dr Huberman to DailyMail.com.
