6 Months of Biohacking Supplement Research. Here's What's Actually Worth Buying.

Everyone I know who got into biohacking supplements started the same way. Bryan Johnson video. Slight existential panic. Eleven things ordered off Amazon at 1am on a Tuesday.

I did the same thing.

But then I did the thing Étienne says makes me "profoundly annoying," which is I spent six months reading the actual studies before I opened most of the bottles. And I kept hitting the same wall. Some podcast host would rave about a compound, I'd go pull the research, and it would be like three mouse studies and one trial with 22 participants funded by the company selling it. The biohacking supplement market is over $20 billion now, growing almost 19% a year, and most of what you'll find online is affiliate roundups pretending to be science.

Étienne, by the way, is the friend who tracks his bloodwork quarterly and once spent forty minutes explaining zone 2 cardio to a bartender. He did not ask the bartender if she was interested first. She was not.

Anyway. Here's what I found after six months of going through this stuff. Not a stack of 40 compounds. Not Bryan Johnson's 100-pill protocol. Just the biohacking supplements where I looked at the evidence and thought okay, this one's probably doing something.

The Biohacking Supplements That Every Expert Actually Agrees On

This surprised me more than anything else I found. Huberman and Attia disagree about plenty. Johnson's whole approach is different from Rhonda Patrick's. But there are four supplements where literally all of them converge. Same four things. Over and over.

Omega-3s: The One Nobody Argues About

I almost didn't include omega-3s because they felt too obvious. Like telling someone to drink water. But then I actually read the meta-analyses and I kind of understood why every longevity researcher on earth takes these.

The short version: EPA and DHA reduce chronic low-grade inflammation. Not in a vague "wellness" way. They literally produce compounds that downregulate your inflammatory response at the cellular level. A 2021 study found DHA may have a broader anti-inflammatory effect than EPA alone, which most people don't know. There are extensive meta-analyses supporting cardiovascular benefits, improved lipid profiles, brain structure support especially as you age.

Étienne's the one who got me to take this seriously. He'd been tracking his bloodwork, as Étienne does, and his inflammatory markers dropped after three months on high-dose fish oil. Could be other stuff. Probably is other stuff. But Peter Attia has called omega-3 supplementation one of the easiest high-ROI health interventions out there, and honestly when that guy and Huberman agree on something I just listen.

250-500mg combined EPA/DHA is the minimum. Most people in this space take way more, like 1,000-2,000mg.

For brands: I settled on Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega because a nutritionist friend recommended it unprompted, and it's about $30/month for 1,280mg combined per serving. Wild-caught, Friend of the Sea certified, publicly available COA. Carlson makes a liquid version if swallowing horse-pill-sized capsules isn't your thing. And Momentous has an NSF Certified for Sport version if testing standards matter to you, which, if you're spending money on this stuff, they probably should.

Magnesium L-Threonate: The Sleep One That's Also a Brain Supplement

Right, so. Magnesium. Over 600 enzymatic reactions, about half the US population is deficient, you've heard this before. What you probably haven't heard is that there's one specific form, magnesium L-threonate, that's the only version clinically shown to actually cross the blood-brain barrier in a meaningful way. A neuroscientist at MIT named Dr. Guosong Liu developed it. The patented version is called Magtein.

Why does that matter? Because a placebo-controlled study, 109 healthy adults, found improvements in learning, memory, and cognitive abilities specifically with this form. Not magnesium in general. This form.

My friend Céleste started taking it for sleep last spring. She's the kind of person who will research a restaurant for forty-five minutes before booking it but somehow bought a $400 water bottle because her yoga teacher had one. Anyway. She kept texting me that her "thinking felt cleaner" and I rolled my eyes about it for weeks. Then I tried it. And I genuinely couldn't tell you whether it's the magnesium or whether I just sleep better now and that's what's helping everything else. Probably the sleep thing. But either way, I haven't stopped taking it.

The forms matter and this trips everybody up. Glycinate is relaxation and sleep. Citrate is basically a digestive aid. L-threonate is the brain one. You can't just grab whatever magnesium is on sale and expect the cognitive effects.

Momentous sells the L-threonate version for about $40/month, uses the Magtein patent, NSF certified. Life Extension Neuro-Mag is the same active ingredient for $20-25/month if you're watching the budget. Take it 30-60 minutes before bed, 2,000mg.

Oh and women specifically. Magnesium needs fluctuate with your hormonal cycle, which means a lot of women are way more deficient than standard blood panels suggest. Céleste's gynecologist actually told her to supplement magnesium years before biohacking was a thing anyone talked about. She loves bringing this up.

Vitamin D3 + K2: The Pairing That Changed How I Think About Supplements

I took D3 by itself for years. Years! Turns out that's kind of pointless without K2.

Here's the deal. D3 does the immune function and bone health and hormonal balance stuff you've heard about. But calcium is involved and without K2, specifically the MK-7 form, that calcium can end up in your arteries instead of your bones. K2 is basically the traffic director. Bryan Johnson includes it, Rhonda Patrick includes it, the research on the pairing is solid.

Get your 25(OH)D levels tested. I cannot stress this enough. Most people walking around have no idea where they are. Optimal is 40-60 ng/mL. Dosage depends on your levels but 2,000-5,000 IU D3 paired with 100-200mcg K2 daily is the standard range. Thorne makes a liquid D/K2 that's about $25 for 600 drops, which works out to basically nothing per day. I honestly forget I'm spending money on it.

Creatine: Not Just for Gym Bros Anymore

Okay this one. This is the one that made me feel stupid for not looking into it sooner.

Creatine monohydrate has decades of safety data. Decades. It increases ATP production, which is cellular energy, and yes the gym bros were onto something there. But newer research shows it does the same thing for your brain. Improved cognitive function under sleep deprivation. Neuroprotective properties. Tim Ferriss takes it, Johnson takes it, Attia recommends it.

And then I read this: women have 70-80% lower natural creatine stores than men. Which means the relative benefit might actually be larger for women. Biohacking supplements for women should probably start here, honestly, before any of the fancier stuff. Céleste was annoyed when I told her this because she'd been buying expensive nootropic blends for months when $15/month of creatine might have done more.

3-5g daily. No loading phase, doesn't matter what time you take it. Momentous uses Creapure, which is German-made and the highest purity standard, about $30/month. Or you get Bulk Supplements for $15 if you're fine with a bag of white powder and no branding. Which sounds sketchy but it's literally the same molecule.

Biohacking Supplements Worth Considering Once You've Got the Basics Down

This is where I start being less sure about things and I want to be upfront about that. The research below is real but narrower. The use cases are more specific. And the monthly costs start climbing in a way that makes me uncomfortable if you haven't gotten blood work done first.

NMN: The NAD+ Precursor Everyone's Talking About

NAD+ is one of those molecules that does, like, everything. Energy production. DNA repair. Circadian rhythm regulation. Immune response. And your levels crater as you age, roughly 50% decline from your twenties to your forties. NMN is a direct precursor that your body converts into NAD+. If you've been reading about NAD IV therapy, this is sort of the oral version of chasing that same molecule, except you do it at home and it costs a fraction of the IV price.

The study that got my attention: 2023, published in GeroScience, randomized clinical trial. Eighty middle-aged adults. 300-900mg NMN daily for 60 days. Significant NAD+ blood level increases across every treatment group versus placebo. And then in September 2025 the FDA confirmed NMN is lawful as a dietary supplement, which settled this whole regulatory thing that had been making the industry nervous for a couple years.

Vittorio has been on NMN for over a year. Vittorio is the friend who once flew to a clinic in Basel for a blood panel because he didn't trust the labs in his city. He says he has more energy. He also sleeps eight hours, does cardio five days a week, and eats mostly plants. So like. Maybe it's the NMN. Maybe it's the entire rest of his life. I told him that and he got kind of defensive about it which was funny.

Price-wise this is where biohacking supplements get expensive. Renue By Science LIPO NMN is $115/month for liposomal delivery, which theoretically absorbs better. ProHealth Longevity NMN Pro 1000 uses Uthever, which is the actual form from the clinical trials, for about $70/month with a 100-day money-back guarantee. Double Wood has a $30 entry point if you want to try it before committing. Morning dosing, start at 250mg.

I should say: most human trials on NMN have been 8-12 weeks. Nobody knows what happens at year five or year ten. There's a theoretical concern about NAD+ fueling cancer cell proliferation that hasn't been proven but hasn't been disproven either. This is not a starter supplement. Please get your omega-3s and magnesium sorted before you spend $115/month on this.

Berberine: The Metabolic Supplement That Scares Your Pharmacist

Someone on TikTok called this "nature's Ozempic" which is a stretch but I get why it caught on. Berberine activates AMPK, your body's metabolic master switch, and the clinical data on blood sugar is surprisingly strong. Multiple studies showing lowered fasting blood glucose, improved insulin resistance, effects that some researchers have compared to first-line metabolic interventions. It's been used in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine for centuries, which doesn't prove anything scientifically but also isn't nothing.

500-1,500mg daily, split with meals. Start at 500 because the GI side effects will humble you otherwise. Thorne's version is about $40-44/month and uses a phospholipid delivery system that helps with absorption. partiQlar is $26 for 97%+ purity if you just want clean berberine without the fancy delivery tech.

But look. I have to be blunt here. Berberine interacts with CYP2D6, CYP2C9, and CYP3A4 enzymes. If that means nothing to you, it means this: if you are on ANY medication, you need to talk to your doctor before taking berberine. Not in a "consult your physician" disclaimer way. In a "this could actually mess with your meds" way. Also not for anyone pregnant or breastfeeding. Étienne wanted to start this and his cardiologist told him to wait until they adjusted his other protocol first. Which is exactly the kind of thing I mean.

Lion's Mane: The Mushroom Supplement for Cognition

Lion's Mane is the one where I feel like the science is genuinely cool even if it's still early. The mushroom contains these compounds, hericenones and erinacines, that stimulate Nerve Growth Factor production. NGF promotes nerve cell growth and repair. Studies show improvement in mild cognitive impairment. Paul Stamets, who is basically the mushroom whisperer if the mushroom whisperer had a cult following and regularly appeared on Tim Ferriss's podcast, has been pushing this for years.

The thing nobody tells you when you start shopping for Lion's Mane: fruiting body extracts and mycelium-on-grain products are NOT the same thing. Real Mushrooms does fruiting body only, $37/bottle, organic, and they actually print the beta-glucan content on the label. If the product you're looking at doesn't list beta-glucan content, it probably doesn't have therapeutic levels. I learned this the hard way after buying a bottle that was mostly rice starch. Host Defense is Paul Stamets' own brand at $47/bottle, but it uses mycelium grown on rice, which is the approach he defends and other researchers question. I tried both. Went with Real Mushrooms.

CoQ10 and Ashwagandha: Two More Supplements Worth Knowing About

I'm bundling these because I don't want this article to be eight thousand words and also because they serve pretty different purposes so you're unlikely to need both unless you're building a full stack.

CoQ10 in the ubiquinol form, which absorbs way better than ubiquinone, is basically the spark plug in your mitochondria. Drives ATP production. Levels decline as you get older. Critically important if you take statins because statins deplete it. Life Extension Super Ubiquinol runs $30-45/month depending on the dose. If you're over 40 or on statins, look into this one.

Ashwagandha is the cortisol supplement. An adaptogen, modulates your stress response, and the KSM-66 extract has actual clinical data: reduced cortisol, better sleep, improved VO2 max even. Johnson includes it. Momentous makes a version for about $30/month. But. It can interact with thyroid medications and it's not for everyone. Céleste takes it and insists it's what finally stopped her waking up at 3am panicking about nothing. She also started a meditation practice around the same time. I asked her if maybe the meditation was doing the work and she told me to mind my own business. Fair enough.

Advanced Biohacking Supplements I'm Still Not Sure About

Resveratrol. David Sinclair's thing. The SIRT1 "longevity gene" activator. Clinical trials have shown reduced inflammatory markers and improved vascular function. A study Sinclair contributed to gave older adults with glucose intolerance 2-3g of resveratrol and found potential vascular benefits.

But overall evidence in humans? Still thin. Bioavailability is poor without specialized delivery. And I notice the people most enthusiastic about resveratrol tend to be the ones selling it. Which doesn't mean it's useless. It means I'm watching and waiting.

Étienne takes resveratrol stacked with NMN and spends about $400/month on supplements total. When I asked him straight up whether he could feel a difference from when he was just on the basics, he paused for kind of a long time and said "I think so." I wrote that down because it felt very honest.

The Bryan Johnson Thing, Because Everyone Asks

You can't write about biohacking supplements without addressing the 100-pill-a-day guy. Johnson's protocol costs about $2 million a year total. His supplement stack alone runs $1,500-2,000 monthly. Results: biological age reversed by 5.1 years, heart of a 37-year-old at 46, aging at 0.69 years per calendar year. The man has data and he shares it, which I respect regardless of how you feel about the approach.

His commercial Blueprint Essential Capsules pack 24 nutrients into about $35/month. A Reddit user who reverse-engineered his full individual supplement stack calculated $880/month. Which sounds insane until you realize some people are spending comparable money at the hyperbaric chamber every month.

What the actual longevity researchers say, and this matters: Dr. Matt Kaeberlein has pointed out that the synergistic effects of taking 40+ compounds simultaneously are completely unstudied. Nobody has run that trial. Nobody is going to run that trial. And for all the disagreement in this space, every expert still circles back to the same foundation. Omega-3s. Vitamin D3. Magnesium. Start there. Étienne thinks I'm boring for saying this. Vittorio thinks I'm being irresponsible for not going further. I think six months on the basics before adding anything else is the most reasonable advice I can give.

Top Biohacking Supplements Compared: Evidence, Cost, and Who Takes Them

If you scrolled here looking for the summary, I get it. Omega-3s and creatine have the strongest evidence, five stars, and cost $15-40/month. Magnesium L-threonate and berberine are strong at four stars, $20-44/month. NMN and Lion's Mane are three stars, promising but still early-stage, and NMN especially gets expensive at $60-115/month. Resveratrol sits at two stars, mostly animal studies and limited human data.

A starter stack with just the top biohacking supplements runs $60-80/month. An intermediate build with Lion's Mane and CoQ10 hits $150-200. Advanced territory with NMN and the works starts at $300 and goes up from there.

What Biohacking Supplements for Women Actually Look Different

This matters and it frustrates me that most guides don't address it. Women's creatine stores are 70-80% lower than men's. Magnesium needs swing with hormonal cycles. Omega-3s are especially important during pregnancy and postpartum because DHA supports fetal brain development. Vitamin D deficiency is more common in women and connected to hormonal imbalance. Ashwagandha might help with cortisol during perimenopause. If you're looking at biohacking beyond just supplements, the cold plunge research for women looks really different from the protocols most guys follow online.

Berberine: avoid if pregnant or breastfeeding, full stop. NMN research specifically in women is thin. Céleste pointed this out and she's right to be annoyed. Most of these trials enrolled mixed populations but published results without gender-specific breakdowns. If you're spending real money on supplements for biohacking, you deserve to know whether the evidence actually applies to your body. That seems like a minimum ask.

Building a Biohacking Supplement Stack by Budget

Starter stack, $60-80/month: omega-3s, magnesium L-threonate, vitamin D3+K2, creatine. This is where Céleste is. It's where I am, mostly. I think most people should sit here for a while and actually see how they feel before throwing money at NMN.

Intermediate, $150-200/month: add Lion's Mane for cognitive support, CoQ10 if you're over 40 or on statins, berberine if your blood sugar markers give you a reason to. Advanced, $300-500/month: that's NMN territory, maybe resveratrol, ashwagandha. Or you just buy Bryan Johnson's Blueprint Medium Stack at $361/month and let someone else figure out the dosing.

For context, a Reddit user who replicated Johnson's supplement stack individually spent about $880 a month. $20 a day on pills. That is a car payment in a lot of places.

Frequently Asked Questions About Biohacking Supplements

What are the best biohacking supplements for beginners?

Omega-3s, magnesium L-threonate (or glycinate if sleep is the main goal), vitamin D3+K2, and creatine. Strongest evidence, widest safety margin, cheapest per month. $60-80 total. Anything beyond that should come after you've done bloodwork and have a reason.

Do biohacking supplements actually work?

The honest answer is some of them really do and some of them are mostly vibes. Omega-3s, creatine, vitamin D, magnesium: decades of clinical data, real measurable effects. NMN and resveratrol: promising, some good trials, but limited long-term data. The smartest move is bloodwork first, supplements second. Know what you're actually deficient in before you start buying things.

How much do biohacking supplements cost per month?

Starter basics run $60-80/month. A more comprehensive intermediate protocol hits $150-200. Full advanced stacks with NMN and multiple compounds cost $300-500. Bryan Johnson's retail Blueprint stack costs $361/month. His actual personal protocol costs $1,500-2,000/month in supplements alone, which, yeah.

What supplements does Bryan Johnson take?

Over 100 pills daily, 40+ different compounds. The core list includes NMN (he alternates with NR), omega-3s, vitamin D3, magnesium, creatine, CoQ10 ubiquinol, ashwagandha, lithium orotate, and many more. His Blueprint Essential Capsules are the simplified version: 24 precision-dosed nutrients for about $35/month. Much more accessible than the full thing.

What's the difference between NMN and NR?

Both boost NAD+ levels but through slightly different pathways. NMN is one metabolic step closer to NAD+ than NR. Johnson tested both independently and found they each doubled his NAD+ levels, which is why he alternates rather than stacking them. Most people pick one or the other.

Are biohacking supplements safe?

Vitamin D, magnesium, omega-3s, creatine: generally safe for most adults, minimal drug interactions. NMN: limited long-term data but short-term trials look clean. Berberine: significant drug interactions, needs medical supervision. Ashwagandha: may affect thyroid meds. If you're getting into broader biohacking modalities like silent retreats or more intensive interventions, the safety math gets more complex. Always start with blood work. Always.

Where I Actually Landed

Four things. After six months of reading I take four things. Omega-3s, magnesium L-threonate before bed, vitamin D3+K2, creatine. The boring stuff. The basics.

Étienne thinks I wasted my time by not going further. Vittorio keeps sending me his blood panels with little arrows pointing at his NAD+ levels. Céleste says I'll come around eventually, which is what she says about everything she's right about, and she is right about a surprising number of things.

I'm not saying Tier 2 and 3 don't work. I'm saying I don't know yet. And I'd rather just tell you that than pretend I've figured out something that the actual researchers are still sorting through.

What about you? Taking any of these? Found something with good data that I missed? I'm genuinely asking. Because the only thing I'm fully confident about after all this is that most people should probably get their omega-3s and magnesium in order and then stop there until they have a real reason to keep going.