Andrew Huberman’s new book, Protocols, climbed to the top of the New York Times, USA Today and Amazon bestseller lists within a day of its release. The success wasn’t unexpected. Pre-orders had been building since June 2024, and the book’s release was delayed a full year for reasons that were never officially explained. When it finally launched on September 15, 2026, the backlog alone guaranteed a sales surge.
What followed was an extensive media tour across manosphere podcasts, morning shows and late-night television. Noticeably absent, however, was independent review coverage.
According to journalist Scott Carney, this absence wasn’t incidental. Simon & Schuster, Huberman’s publisher, reportedly enforced a media blackout before release and declined requests for advance galleys, including one from Carney and another from an NPR affiliate host.
Carney’s ongoing analysis of the book focuses heavily on its opening disclaimer, which lists five companies Huberman has financial ties to: AG1, Eight Sleep, Function Health, Reveri and Whoop. But that’s only part of the picture. Carney found that the book references 25 named commercial brands overall, and of those, 11 have a disclosed financial relationship with Huberman himself. These include a mattress company, wearable health trackers, a functional health service, a hypnosis app, a diet app, a sleep supplement, an electrolyte powder and brands he co-owns, including a yerba mate company and a sunscreen line. Roka’s wind down glasses also appear repeatedly.
Where the Disclosures Appear in the Text
A read-through of the book’s protocols turns up 11 inline mentions of companies tied to Huberman, each accompanied by a short disclosure. The opening disclaimer states that he is a paid scientific advisor to AG1, Eight Sleep, Function Health, Reveri and WHOOP, and that he receives compensation from Huberman Lab podcast sponsors generally, with the full list available at hubermanlab.com/sponsors. The inline mentions break down by type of relationship.
Companies where he is a scientific advisor
- Eight Sleep (Sleep Protocol 5): Recommended for temperature-controlled mattress covers to regulate sleep temperature. The disclosure reads: “They are a podcast sponsor, and I am a scientific advisor to Eight Sleep.”
- WHOOP (Exercise Protocol 1): Recommended among wearable step and sleep trackers, with the note “I’m an advisor for WHOOP.”
- Reveri (Learning Protocol 1): Recommended as a focus tool, a hypnosis app developed by David Spiegel, with the note “I’m an advisor for Reveri.”
- Function Health (Nutrition Protocol 5): Recommended for blood lipid testing in the chapter on fats, described only as “a company I’m an advisor to.”
Companies he owns or helped design
- AGZ (Sleep Protocol 9): A sleep supplement powder. Huberman writes that he helped design it and adds, “I am incentivized to say that.”
- ROKA Wind Down glasses (Sleep Protocol 3): Recommended as blue and green light blocking glasses, with the note “I helped design ROKA Wind Down glasses.”
- Mateina (Sleep Protocol 11): Recommended as a yerba maté brand, with the disclosure “I am a partial owner of Mateina.”
- Le Rub (Light Protocol 4): Recommended as a mineral sunscreen. He writes that he became a partial owner of the company.
Podcast sponsors
- Carbon (Exercise Protocol 2 and the Nutrition introduction): A calorie and macro tracking app from Layne Norton. The disclosure reads: “Carbon is a sponsor of my podcast because I believe it to be a terrific product.”
- JOOVV (Light Protocol 5): Recommended for red and infrared light panels, with a note that the company is a Huberman Lab podcast sponsor.
- LMNT (Nutrition Protocol 2): Recommended as an electrolyte supplement. He writes, “I’m a fan of LMNT, a sponsor of my podcast.”
AG1 itself appears only in the front-matter disclosure, with no inline promotional mention in the body text reviewed, though its sleep product AGZ is pitched in Sleep Protocol 9. Notably, five of the inline relationships (Carbon, Mateina, Le Rub, JOOVV and LMNT) are not among the five companies named in the opening disclaimer. The reader learns of them only if they reach the relevant protocol.
Carney points to a pattern in how these mentions surface. In the chapter on sleep supplements, Huberman lists 11 ingredients for a recommended sleep stack, then advises readers to consult a physician before taking them, immediately followed by a pitch for AGZ, a $99-a-month sleep powder from AG1, available at a 20 percent discount with his code.
“Where sponsorships show up in the text, it appears to correspond with a general weakness in his mechanistic descriptions and protocol recommendations. While he often says that many of his protocols are free, somehow there is also a product mentioned just a few sentences later.”
“Every single one of those companies serves a critical role in the book as a shortcut purchase for getting around a deluge of sometimes incoherent scientific information. It transforms the whole project away from a scientific endeavor into a 500-page ad.”
The disclaimer itself states that Huberman serves as a scientific advisor to several of these companies and receives financial compensation from them, along with other entities that sponsor his podcast. Carney notes that in scientific literature, this kind of disclosure is typically labeled a conflict of interest, a signal that findings may be compromised by financial incentive. He argues that wherever a sponsor appears in the text, the surrounding scientific explanation tends to weaken, even as Huberman describes certain protocols as free.
Carney plans to continue examining the book’s citations and claims in future installments of his series.
