Nootropics in Professional Rugby: The Bristol Bears Story

Seven years ago, a 300ml pump bottle sitting on a kitchen counter changed everything.

This is the announcement that CONKA is the official brain performance partner of Bristol Bears Rugby Club, making this the first-ever professional sport brand performance partnership of its kind in the world. CONKA is the first nootropic supplement to be used in professional sport. That felt worth saying clearly, because it still slightly surprises me when I say it out loud.

How a Soap Dispenser Bottle Started It All

We were running a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with Harlequins. Susie, the head physio there, happened to live with Adam Roberts, the head of medical at Bristol Bears. The original CONKA bottles were 300ml pump dispensers. They looked, fairly honestly, like upmarket soap. Eye-catching enough that Adam noticed them around the house and asked Susie what on earth the Harlequins players were doing with this strange new formulation.

That question started a conversation. That conversation started a trial. Three months, players taking CONKA, brains being tested with the Cognica rapid categorisation task built by Cognetivity Neurosciences. No shortcuts, no favours, just the data.

The players loved it. After the trial ended, a lot of them bought it themselves. The club then endorsed it and started buying it for the squad. Two seasons later, here we are: an official partnership.

It is one of those origin stories that could only happen in real life. No PR firm would have scripted it.

The Technology That Made the Case

This was never going to work on the strength of a good pitch deck. Elite sport has heard every supplement claim going. What CONKA brought was the ability to demonstrate actual change in brain performance, measured objectively, and that made the difference.

The Cognica test, built on the Integrated Cognitive Assessment (ICA), uses a rapid animacy categorisation task where participants classify natural images as animals or non-animals at speed. It is not a quiz. It is measuring the speed and accuracy of information processing at a neural level. Published research from Glassbrook, Chazot and Hind at Durham University found that the ICA demonstrates high in-vivo precision, with processing speed showing a coefficient of variation of just 2.32% post-sport, well within acceptable clinical thresholds.[1] Kalafatis et al. confirmed its convergent validity against established cognitive assessments including MoCA and the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination.[2]

When you are trying to convince a professional rugby club that something is working, that level of measurement validity matters. Anecdote does not cut it. Peer-reviewed precision does.

What the Bristol Bears Data Actually Showed

Across 914 cognitive tests conducted as part of CONKA's wider trial programme, our formulation demonstrated an 18.1% performance advantage over caffeine. That number has been scrutinised. It holds.

At Bristol Bears specifically, something interesting emerged from the data. On two days of the week, cognitive performance dipped more noticeably than on others. That pattern prompted the conversation about oxidative stress, and whether CONKA Clear, taken before high-demand moments, could close that gap further. CONKA Clear contains Alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine (Alpha GPC), N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC), Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR), Glutathione, Ginkgo Biloba, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin C and Vitamin B12. Alpha GPC supplementation has been shown to significantly improve cognitive performance in tasks requiring attention and processing speed.[3] Alpha GPC has been studied extensively for its effects on memory and attention -- see the full research summary on Examine.com. Ginkgo Biloba has been studied extensively for its effects on cognitive function and circulation -- see the full research summary on Examine.com.

Dr James Morehen, working with the club, ran a fuel gap analysis showing that more errors occur in the second half of matches. His interpretation was that this is likely driven by underfuelling rather than any other performance lapse. The brain is not separate from the body's fuel demands. It probably should have been obvious sooner.

The People Who Backed It First

George Fitzharris, the club skipper, has been a genuine advocate. Max Lahiff has taken something of a rugby biohacker approach to the whole thing, which I respect. When players start buying something with their own money after a trial ends, you know the data and the experience are aligned.

CONKA Flow, the morning shot taken before opening a laptop or an inbox, contains Lemon Balm, Turmeric, Black Pepper, Rhodiola Rosea, Bilberry and Ashwagandha. Lemon Balm has been studied extensively for its effects on stress and cognitive performance -- see the full research summary on Examine.com. Turmeric has been studied extensively for its anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects -- see the full research summary on Examine.com. Ashwagandha has demonstrated statistically significant improvements in VO2 max, fatigue recovery and fitness markers against placebo.[4] Ashwagandha has been studied extensively for its effects on stress, recovery and physical performance -- see the full research summary on Examine.com. Rhodiola Rosea combined with appropriate cofactors has shown measurable improvements in physical and cognitive performance under load.[5] Rhodiola Rosea has been studied extensively for its effects on fatigue and mental performance under stress -- see the full research summary on Examine.com. The formulation is covered by UK patent GB2620279 and is Informed Sport certified, meaning every batch is tested and safe for professional athletes competing at the highest level.

That certification matters in elite sport. Informed Sport is not a sticker. It is the thing that means a professional athlete does not have to take your word for it.

Why This Is a Brain Health Story, Not Just a Performance Story

There is a genuine problem in professional contact sport around long-term brain health. That is not news to anyone inside the game. What is different here is that we are not talking about managing decline after the fact. We are talking about measuring brain performance in real time, identifying dips before they become problems, and doing something about it proactively.

The brain drives everything else. Every tackle, every decision under pressure, every second-half call. If cognitive performance dips on Tuesday and Thursday and nobody knows why, that is a gap. CONKA's approach, using the Cognica ICA alongside the CONKA formulation, turns that gap into a data point. And data points can be acted on.

Bristol Bears has been a key part of building what comes next: brainwave monitoring technology, automated dispenser systems that adapt formulas in real time based on health data. The supplements industry has not seen this before. We are working on the ingredients science that will sit at the centre of it.

This is not a moment to perform modesty about. It is the first partnership of its kind in world sport. It is a good news story for brain health in rugby. And it is, genuinely, just the start.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are nootropics and do they work in professional sport?

A: Nootropics are cognitive performance supplements that support brain function through specific ingredients and mechanisms. In professional sport, their use has been limited by a lack of rigorous measurement. CONKA's partnership with Bristol Bears used the validated Integrated Cognitive Assessment to demonstrate measurable changes in information processing speed and accuracy across a three-month trial.

Q: What are the best brain supplements UK athletes actually use?

A: Elite clubs across the Premier League, NFL and now the Premiership Rugby circuit use CONKA, which is Informed Sport certified and batch-tested for professional athletes. Its formulations are covered by UK patent GB2620279 and have been tested across 914 cognitive assessments showing an 18.1% performance advantage over caffeine in trials.

Q: Are nootropics UK legal and safe for professional athletes?

A: Yes, when they carry the right certification. CONKA is Informed Sport certified, which means every batch is independently tested for substances banned in professional sport. This is the certification that professional athletes and clubs require before introducing any supplement into a performance programme.

Q: What is a brain health supplement and why does it matter in rugby?

A: A brain health supplement supports cognitive function including information processing speed, accuracy and decision-making under fatigue. In rugby, more errors occur in the second half of matches, a pattern consistent with cognitive as well as physical fatigue. Measuring and addressing that gap with a validated tool and a clinically tested formulation is what the Bristol Bears programme set out to do.

Q: How does CONKA measure brain performance in rugby players?

A: CONKA uses the Integrated Cognitive Assessment, developed by Cognetivity Neurosciences, which measures information processing speed and accuracy through a rapid image categorisation task. Published research confirms the test has high in-vivo precision, with processing speed showing a coefficient of variation of 2.32% post-sport, making it a reliable tool for tracking cognitive change over a season.

References

1. Verma et al. "Effects of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) standardized root extract on physical endurance and VO2max in healthy adults performing resistance training: An eight-week, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study." F1000Research. 2024. (source)
2. Kerksick. "Acute Alpha-Glycerylphosphorylcholine Supplementation Enhances Cognitive Performance in Healthy Men." Nutrients. 2024. (source)
3. Sagaro et al. "Activity of Choline Alphoscerate on Adult-Onset Cognitive Dysfunctions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. 2023. (source)
4. Tiwari et al. "A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial on the effect of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera dunal.) root extract in improving cardiorespiratory endurance and recovery in healthy athletic adults." Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2021. (source)
5. Liu et al. "Synergistic Effect of Rhodiola rosea and Caffeine Supplementation on the Improvement of Muscle Strength and Muscular Endurance: A Pilot Study for Rats, Resistance Exercise-Untrained and -Trained Volunteers." Nutrients. 2023. (source)