Written by Dr Zeeshan Afzal (MBBS) — Medical Doctor & Medical Content Lead, Welzo
Medically reviewed · Evidence-based · Aligned with UK clinical guidance
Last updated: July 2026 · Reading time: ~14 minutes
Everything attributed to Ben Greenfield comes from his own books, podcast, blog and company product pages. Where a claim is widely repeated but not supported by published evidence, we say so.
Ben Greenfield's stack sits at the far end of the biohacking spectrum: a genuinely well-evidenced core wrapped in a much larger layer of experimental compounds, several of which are unregulated in the UK. Separating the two is the entire job of this article.
Ben Greenfield is an American author, coach and podcaster, a former competitive Ironman triathlete, and one of the most prominent figures in biohacking. He wrote Beyond Training and Boundless, hosts a long-running health podcast, and founded the supplement company Kion.
His background matters: unlike most biohacking personalities, he came from genuine endurance sport, and a meaningful part of his protocol addresses real problems that endurance athletes have — gut distress, recovery from very high training loads, and micronutrient depletion.
It is unusually stratified. There is a foundation of well-evidenced, ordinary supplements. There is a middle layer of plausible-but-unproven items. And there is an outer layer of research peptides and clinic-based therapies with essentially no human safety data in healthy people. Most coverage presents all three as one list.
Greenfield founded Kion, which sells the essential amino acid product, coffee, creatine and sleep formula that appear in his own routine. He also works with a range of device and supplement brands.
As with Ferriss and Asprey, this does not make any individual recommendation wrong — Kion creatine is creatine. It does mean each element has to be judged on its own evidence rather than on his using it.
One detail worth noting: Kion coffee is marketed on being low in mould. That is the same premise underpinning Bulletproof, and it does not have good evidential support — we cover why in our wider supplement guidance and in our article on Dave Asprey's routine.
Our own disclosure. Welzo sells supplements and blood tests, including categories discussed here. We apply the same standard to ourselves: where evidence is weak, we say so, including for things we stock.
Strip away the experiments and what remains is sensible and, for an athlete, well justified.
Sixty grams of essential amino acids on a heavy day is a very large amount, and for most people it is unnecessary. If your total daily protein already reaches roughly 1.6 g per kilogram of bodyweight — the plateau identified in the largest meta-analysis on the subject — additional free-form EAAs add cost rather than results. They are most useful when appetite is suppressed, when training fasted, or when whole-food protein is genuinely hard to reach.
This one is more interesting. Probiotic evidence is strain-specific: a trial showing benefit for a particular outcome used a particular strain at a particular dose. Rotating brands and formulations means you are unlikely to be taking the strain that was actually studied for the thing you want. Rotation sounds sophisticated, but it discards the only feature that makes the evidence applicable to you.
Beyond the core sit a large number of items with much thinner support: adaptogenic blends, niacinamide as part of an NAD-focused routine, bitter melon to blunt glucose responses, oregano oil, various nootropic stacks, and CBD before bed.
Greenfield has described taking roughly 25–50 mg of CBD before bed. UK readers should know that the Food Standards Agency advises healthy adults to consume no more than 10 mg of CBD per day — a figure it revised sharply downwards in 2023 on the basis of evidence around liver effects and drug interactions.
That means the reported dose is several times the UK advisory limit. CBD also interacts with a number of prescription medicines through the same liver enzymes that metabolise them. This is not a reason for panic, but it is a reason to check with a pharmacist rather than copy a figure from a podcast.
Greenfield has publicly promoted nicotine gum for cognitive purposes. Nicotine does have measurable short-term effects on attention. It is also among the most addictive substances in common use, and dependence can develop from non-smoked forms. In the UK, nicotine gum is sold as a smoking cessation aid — a use with a clear risk-benefit case. Using it recreationally for focus does not have that case, and we would not recommend it.
Greenfield has discussed using BPC-157 in both oral and injectable form, and a longevity-focused peptide stack that has included Epithalon, Thymalin, GHK-Cu, MOTS-c, Humanin and FOXO4-DRI.
Some of these compounds may eventually prove useful; several are being studied seriously. That is a different statement from "it is reasonable to buy them online and inject them." We are not providing dosing information, and we would advise against use outside a properly regulated clinical trial.
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| Creatine around 5 g daily | Confirmed |
| Collagen 10–20 g daily | Confirmed |
| Essential amino acids, 20–60 g depending on training load | Confirmed — his own product |
| Rotating probiotics plus colostrum | Confirmed — his own description |
| Red light, sauna, cold immersion | Confirmed |
| Peptide use including BPC-157 | Confirmed — discussed publicly |
| CBD 25–50 mg at night | Reported |
| Exact current doses across the full stack | Partly reported — many figures online are inferred |
| Coffee mould as a meaningful health problem | Not supported by the evidence |
Greenfield rises very early, around 4am, and deliberately does not start work until mid-morning — the first hours go to reading, writing, meditation, training and family. That ordering is arguably the most valuable thing in his routine and costs nothing.
His training has shifted from competitive endurance volume towards a mixed approach: strength work, mobility, and lower-volume cardiovascular training. This is a sensible evolution. Very high endurance volume sustained over decades carries real costs, and moving towards strength as you age is well supported.
Red light therapy, infrared sauna, cold immersion, and ozone therapy. The evidence is uneven: sauna has reasonably encouraging observational cardiovascular data; cold immersion has decent short-term mood evidence but may blunt strength adaptations if done immediately after lifting; red light has real evidence for specific dermatological uses and much less for systemic claims; ozone therapy is not an established medical treatment and carries respiratory risk.
Broadly whole-food, lower-carbohydrate, with periods of fasting and a strong emphasis on food quality. The unglamorous parts of that — mostly whole foods, adequate protein, plenty of plants — are the parts with the best evidence behind them.
Creatine monohydrate. The International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand describes it as the most effective nutritional ergogenic aid available for high-intensity exercise capacity and lean mass, and concludes it is safe and well tolerated at 3–5 g daily.
Adequate total protein. Morton and colleagues (2018) pooled 49 randomised trials and 1,863 participants, finding gains in strength and fat-free mass plateau at roughly 1.6 g per kilogram of bodyweight daily.
Collagen. Trials on skin elasticity and joint comfort have generally used 2.5–15 g daily over eight to twelve weeks. The effects are real but modest, and collagen is an incomplete protein — low in tryptophan — so it should supplement rather than replace your protein intake.
Magnesium, omega-3, vitamin D. Reasonable, with effect sizes smaller than the marketing implies.
Adaptogen blends, NAD-precursor routines, rotating probiotics for general wellbeing, bitter melon, ozone therapy, and the entire research-peptide category in healthy people.
Unregulated injectables. The peptide layer is the most serious. Unverified sterility, unverified content, no human safety data, and no legal supply route in the UK.
Nicotine dependence. Taking up nicotine for focus, having never smoked, is a poor trade.
Interaction load. A stack this large multiplies the chance of an interaction with prescription medicines. CBD in particular affects the liver enzymes that metabolise many common drugs.
Analytical studies summarised in a 2023 review of supplement adulteration found that between 14% and 50% of sampled sports supplement products contained undeclared prohibited substances. For anyone who competes, third-party batch testing is not optional.
What to look for on a label
A single named ingredient rather than a proprietary blend. The dose stated in the form that matters. And third-party batch testing with a published certificate of analysis.
Collagen is one of the few items in Greenfield's stack that is both well-defined and low-risk. If you are adding it for connective tissue and joint support, this is the equivalent from our own range — note that his 10–20 g intake is at the upper end, and most trials used 2.5–15 g, so two servings of a 5 g product sits comfortably inside the studied range.
Welzo Ultra Purity Pure Bovine Collagen Peptides Powder
5 g hydrolysed Type I & III collagen peptides per serving · 80 servings · single ingredient, no fillers, flavourings or flow agents · third-party tested with a published certificate of analysis
View product →Creatine at 3–5 g daily, protein sufficient to reach about 1.6 g per kilogram, collagen if you have joint or connective tissue goals, magnesium in the evening, vitamin D through the UK winter. That is the evidenced portion, and it is inexpensive.
Greenfield tests extensively. That part is worth copying and is far cheaper than the supplements. An advanced sports and fitness blood test gives an athlete-relevant baseline; a nutrition and vitamin test covers the common gaps.
Rotating random probiotics is not a strategy. Pick a strain studied for your actual symptom, take it consistently for eight to twelve weeks, and judge it. If symptoms are persistent or severe, that is a GP conversation, not a supplement one.
There is no legal, quality-assured consumer supply in the UK, and no meaningful human safety data in healthy people. This is the clearest line in the article.
The morning structure. Protecting the first hours of the day for training, reading and family before opening a laptop is the highest-leverage, lowest-cost thing in his entire protocol.
His documented core is creatine at around 5 g daily, collagen at 10–20 g, essential amino acids at 20–60 g depending on training load, magnesium at night, rotating probiotics with colostrum, and MCT oil. Beyond that he uses a large experimental layer including adaptogens, CBD and research peptides.
Kion Aminos is the essential amino acid product Greenfield developed and sells. Most people do not need free-form EAAs. If your total daily protein already reaches around 1.6 g per kilogram of bodyweight, additional EAAs add cost rather than results. They are most useful when training fasted or when whole-food protein is hard to reach.
It is not a licensed medicine or an authorised food supplement in the UK, so there is no legal consumer supply route. Human safety data is minimal, products from research-chemical suppliers carry no guarantee of identity or sterility, and it is prohibited in tested sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency. We would advise against use outside a regulated clinical trial.
The UK Food Standards Agency advises healthy adults to take no more than 10 mg of CBD per day, a limit revised down in 2023. Reported intakes of 25–50 mg are several times that. CBD also interacts with liver enzymes that metabolise many prescription medicines, so check with a pharmacist first.
Trials on skin elasticity and joint comfort have generally used 2.5–15 g daily for eight to twelve weeks. Greenfield's 10–20 g is at the upper end. Collagen is an incomplete protein, so treat it as an addition to your protein intake rather than a substitute.
We would not recommend it. Probiotic evidence is strain-specific, so rotating brands means you are unlikely to be taking the strain actually studied for your outcome. Choose one strain matched to your symptom and take it consistently for eight to twelve weeks.
No. Nicotine has short-term effects on attention, but it is among the most addictive substances in common use and dependence can develop from non-smoked forms. In the UK it is sold as a smoking cessation aid, where the risk-benefit case is clear. Using it for focus does not have that case.
The evidence does not support the premise. Mycotoxin contamination of coffee has been studied since the 1980s and found to be infrequent and low-level, with roasting destroying most of it. Ordinary coffee is fine.
It is not an established medical treatment for healthy people, evidence is limited, and ozone is a respiratory irritant. It is not something we would recommend.
The morning structure, the testing habit, the small evidenced core of creatine, protein, collagen and magnesium, and the shift towards strength training with age. That is most of the benefit at a fraction of the cost and risk.
Medical disclaimer. This article is for general information and is not medical advice. It is not a substitute for consultation with a qualified healthcare professional. Ben Greenfield has no connection to Welzo and does not endorse Welzo or any product mentioned. Nothing here should be taken as a claim that any supplement prevents, treats or cures any disease, and nothing here is a recommendation to obtain or use any unlicensed, unauthorised or prescription-only substance.
Speak to your GP or pharmacist before starting a supplement or a new training programme if you take prescription medication, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have kidney, liver, heart or respiratory disease, or compete in tested sport.
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