0:00

I hear from lots of people every day

0:02

who are concerned about how their diet is

0:05

affecting their health. They need

0:07

answers based on facts, in other

0:10

words, from the peer-reviewed medical literature,

0:12

and that is what

0:14

I'm here for. Welcome to

0:16

the Nutrition Facts Podcast. I'm

0:19

your host, Dr. Michael Greger. Today

0:21

we have the first in a two-part series

0:23

where I offer some of the highlights from

0:25

my latest book, How Not to

0:28

Age, taped in front of a live

0:30

audience. There may be

0:32

no such thing as dying from old

0:34

age. From

0:37

a study of more than 42,000 consecutive autopsies,

0:42

centenarians—those who live to be 100—were

0:44

found to have succumbed to disease

0:48

in 100% of the cases. Though

0:50

most were perceived even by their physicians to

0:53

be healthy just prior to death, that

0:55

one died of old age. They

0:58

died from disease, most

1:00

commonly heart disease. If

1:04

aging kills via

1:06

diseases, why

1:08

wasn't my book How Not to

1:10

Die? All the longevity book anyone

1:12

needs. In it I ran

1:14

through preventing, arresting, or reversing each of our

1:16

top 15 killers, starting with

1:19

heart disease, not only the number one

1:21

killer of centenarians, but of men and

1:24

women across the board and projected

1:26

to main that way in the

1:29

decades to come. But

1:31

is it really? Because

1:35

the single greatest risk factor for

1:37

most of our killer diseases is how old

1:39

you are. One

1:43

could argue that the leading cause of death is

1:46

actually aging. The

1:50

rate of death increases exponentially

1:53

for age-related diseases such

1:55

as heart disease, cancer,

1:57

stroke, dementia. So yes, within

1:59

the study of age, same age bracket,

2:02

having a high cholesterol can increase your

2:04

risk of heart disease up to 20-fold,

2:08

but an 80-year-old may

2:10

have 500 times the

2:12

risk of having a heart attack compared to

2:15

a 20-year-old. Now,

2:17

the reason we focus on things

2:19

like cholesterol is

2:21

because it's a modifiable

2:23

risk factor. But

2:25

what if the rate of

2:28

aging was modifiable, too?

2:32

Instead of our current kind of

2:34

piecemeal approach of focusing on individual

2:36

diseases, what about slowing down the

2:39

aging process itself? When

2:42

I was a nerdy little kid, I

2:45

wanted to cure cancer

2:47

when I grew up. But

2:50

even if all forms of cancer

2:52

were eliminated, the average life expectancy in

2:54

the U.S. would only go up about

2:57

three years. Why? Because

3:01

dodging cancer would just mean delaying

3:03

death from a heart attack or

3:06

stroke. If one age-related ailment doesn't

3:08

get us, another

3:10

will. So rather than playing

3:13

wap-a-mole, by tackling each

3:15

disease separately, slowing down the rate

3:17

of aging could potentially address all

3:19

these issues simultaneously.

3:23

Imagine if there were an intervention.

3:26

They didn't just reduce your risk

3:28

as the leading killers, but also

3:30

arthritis, osteoporosis, sensory impairment, because

3:32

risks tend to double every

3:36

seven years. Like in

3:38

the average, a 65-year-old had the health of

3:40

a 58-year-old. Following

3:42

aging by even just seven years could

3:45

cut everyone's risk of death, frailty, and

3:47

disability in half. That's

3:50

why I wrote How

3:53

Not to Age. The

3:55

problem is that the inter-aging

3:58

field is said to be a fertile ground. for

4:01

cons, scams, and

4:04

get-rich-quick schemes. As

4:06

a former president of the Gerontological Society

4:08

wrote, there have been few

4:10

subjects that have been more misleading

4:12

to the uncritical and more profitable

4:15

for the unscrupulous. Not

4:18

only does the popular literature

4:20

on the subject harbor a huge

4:22

amount of misinformation, but

4:24

most age-researching scientists widely known to

4:27

the public are said to be

4:29

unscrupulous purveyors of useless

4:32

nostrums, according to

4:34

the editor-in-chief of the leading

4:36

Gerontology journal. When

4:39

it comes to something as life and death important as

4:42

to what to feed ourselves and our families,

4:44

we should rely not on anecdote, but

4:47

on evidence. That's

4:49

why I cite everything to the teeth.

4:51

How not to die? How not to die? About

4:54

2,000 citations. How not

4:56

to die? 5,000 citations. How

4:59

not to age? Ended up with 13,000 citations.

5:08

All of which I have hyperlinked

5:10

for you online to access all

5:12

the original sources so you can

5:14

download the studies and read them

5:17

all yourself. My

5:26

aim was to cover every possible angle for developing

5:28

the optimal diet and lifestyle for

5:30

the longest, healthiest lifespan based

5:33

on the best available balance of

5:35

evidence. My inspiration

5:37

for writing the book was a consensus document.

5:41

Interventions to slow

5:43

aging in humans compiled by

5:45

the top researchers in the anti-aging

5:47

field. Their

5:50

likes of doctors, Longo, Sinclair,

5:52

Fontana. They were brought together

5:55

to identify the most promising strategies

5:57

to combat aging. list

6:00

of essential pathways, for

6:03

example, drugs that

6:05

can block the hormone IGF-1,

6:08

or drugs to block the

6:10

pro-aging enzyme tour. But

6:13

I realized as I looked at this way,

6:15

every single one of these pathways could

6:17

be regulated through diet. That

6:22

became the first section

6:24

of the book. The term,

6:26

you know, anti-aging has been

6:29

much abused in popular culture, attached

6:31

to all manner of unproven

6:33

products and procedures, whereas the term

6:36

should really be reserved for things

6:38

that can delay or reverse aging

6:40

by targeting one of the established

6:42

aging mechanisms, the so-called hallmarks of

6:45

aging. The common denominators of the

6:47

aging process, like, for example, the

6:51

buildup of misfolded proteins that

6:53

can be disposed of through autophagy.

6:57

See, at any given time, most

7:00

of our cells are producing and assembling

7:03

more than 10,000 distinct proteins,

7:05

each of which can

7:07

become misfolded or damaged at any

7:10

time and require a cleanup in

7:12

aisle three. So, but

7:15

during times of excess

7:17

nutrition, our

7:19

body figures, why bother? Right? We

7:21

can just toss it in the corner, make another. Having

7:24

evolved in the context of scarcity, our body

7:26

expects to fall on the hard times any

7:29

day now and can put off spring cleaning

7:31

until then. These days,

7:33

those lean times hardly ever

7:36

come, so our cells just

7:38

continually end up hoarding junk.

7:40

That's where autophagy comes from.

7:44

From the Greek words for

7:46

self-eating, it's a housekeeping process

7:49

by which defective cellular components are

7:51

broken down and scrapped for spare

7:53

parts. This doubles as both kind

7:55

of salvage operation and quality control,

7:58

clearing out some of that damaged debris

8:00

implicated in the aging

8:03

process while renewing ourselves in

8:05

a sort of cellular reset.

8:08

As one review put it, the janitor

8:11

is the undercover boss.

8:15

Our ancient ancestors often went for

8:17

several days without food, so autophagy

8:19

was constantly being switched on. But

8:21

these days, our cells no longer

8:23

need to kind of clean out

8:25

the corners for sustenance, and

8:27

so the tainted heaps just pile higher and

8:29

higher, which isn't good

8:31

because autophagy is essential for

8:34

lifespan extension. It's

8:37

not only necessary, but

8:39

sometimes sufficient for

8:41

increasing longevity. Self-digestion for lifespan

8:43

extension, boosting autophagy alone can

8:46

boost lifespan, at least in

8:48

mice, by an average of

8:50

12%, and it

8:52

also boosts healthspan. Unfortunately,

8:56

our body's ability to

8:58

take out the trash declines with

9:00

age, leading to this vicious cycle.

9:02

Garbage builds up, accelerating aging, which

9:05

leads to more garbage

9:07

buildup. No wonder

9:10

the drug industry is so

9:12

eager to pharmacologically modulate autophagy

9:14

to combat aging, but we

9:17

can do it naturally.

9:20

One way is through fasting. Unfortunately,

9:22

autophagy doesn't really maximally ramp up

9:24

until after a day or two

9:26

of fasting, which may be too

9:28

long to do it unsupervised. Fasting

9:30

more than 24 hours should probably

9:33

only be done under medical supervision,

9:35

ideally in a kind of live-in

9:37

clinic. In other words, don't try

9:39

this at home. This is not

9:42

just legalistic mumbo-jumbo. For example, normally

9:44

your kidneys dive into sodium conservation

9:46

mode, but

9:48

should this response break down,

9:50

you could rapidly develop an electrolyte

9:53

abnormality, which might only manifest as

9:55

nonspecific symptoms like fatigue or dizziness,

9:58

which could be easily dismissed. until

10:01

it's too late. Thankfully

10:03

there's another way to activate autophagy. You

10:06

can fast or go fast.

10:09

Exercise induces autophagy.

10:12

As one of the researchers said I've always

10:14

known exercise was good for you but when

10:17

we found out it increases autophagy I

10:19

finally got a treadmill. You

10:23

have to do it enough though. Autophagy is

10:25

activated after 60 minutes

10:28

of moderate intensity exercise but only

10:30

20 minutes fails

10:33

to move the needle. What

10:35

about diet? Any foods

10:37

to avoid? In 2021 we found

10:39

out that acrylamide

10:41

can inhibit autophagy, at least the

10:44

cells in a petri dish. Acrylamide

10:47

is a toxin concentrated in

10:49

french fries and potato chips

10:51

that's formed during the frying

10:53

process. The fact that

10:55

high acrylamide exposure is associated with

10:58

as much as double the risk

11:00

of premature death would be consistent

11:02

with an anti autophagy effect. Though

11:05

diminished lifespans among eaters

11:08

of fatty salty snacks isn't exactly

11:10

a revelation, you

11:12

can't know if it's causing effects

11:14

until you put it to

11:17

the s... very nice! Before

11:22

being asked to eat a pack of potato chips

11:24

every day for a month, study

11:26

subjects were given weeks of boiled

11:28

potatoes mixed with the same amount

11:30

of fat and salt as the

11:32

chips. Compared to the fatty salty

11:34

boiled potatoes, their C-reactive

11:37

protein levels shot up

11:39

50% on the chips

11:41

suggesting chronic ingestion of

11:43

acrylamide containing products induces

11:45

a pro-inflammatory state. However,

11:48

deep frying causes the

11:50

formation of all matter of undesired

11:53

foodborne toxicants so we can't

11:55

be sure it was

11:57

the acrylamide. As one of the

11:59

earliest geriatric medicine textbooks presently

12:01

concluded back in 1849, frying

12:03

is an abomination. If

12:14

you just must have your french fry

12:16

fix, air frying

12:18

produces about 90% less acrylamide.

12:25

Anything that can help? Well,

12:27

you know, starving yourself generates

12:29

discomfort, but there is something

12:31

that activates autophagy that many

12:34

people find comforting. Coffee.

12:42

At a human equivalent dose, both regular

12:45

and decaf rapidly induce autophagy within hours

12:47

in mice, and coffee can extend the

12:49

life spans of some rats. But what

12:51

about people? Well, in humans, we only

12:54

have observational research, but to date about

12:56

20 studies have followed more than 10

12:59

million people over time, and those drinking three cups

13:01

of coffee a day, 13% lower risk of dying

13:06

from all causes put together. And

13:10

decaf appears to be

13:12

just as protective, so it's not the caffeine.

13:16

Coffee contains more than a

13:18

thousand bioactive compounds. The

13:21

polyphenol chlorogenic acid is the

13:23

most abundant antioxidant in coffee,

13:25

so researchers started there, and

13:27

indeed was found

13:29

to enhance autophagy in

13:31

human cells. More

13:33

than a hundred coffees have been tested, and

13:36

the chlorogenic acid levels vary by more than

13:38

30-fold. Interestingly, the major

13:42

contributor to this wide

13:45

range is Starbucks, with

13:47

its extremely low chlorogenic

13:49

acid content, thought

13:51

to be because they

13:53

roast their beans so

13:55

dark that they destroy

13:57

it. Freeze

14:00

drying is okay, and

14:04

brood has more than

14:07

espresso. Paper

14:09

filtered is the best because

14:11

it traps the cholesterol-raising compounds

14:13

in coffee, perhaps explaining why

14:16

those drinking filtered coffee had

14:18

even lower mortality rates than

14:21

those drinking unfiltered coffee.

14:24

Any food components that can

14:26

activate autophagy? Spermidine.

14:29

The longevity elixir...

14:33

Spermidine. Don't be put off by the

14:35

name. Spermidine

14:43

and its by-product spermine are actually

14:45

found throughout the body when it

14:47

was later independently discovered in the

14:50

brain and the muscles. They called

14:52

it neurodine and musculamine until they

14:54

found out, although it was all

14:57

the same compound, so naming rights

14:59

defaulted to the less palatable original.

15:02

Our body can make it from

15:05

scratch, but we can boost levels

15:07

by eating spermidine-rich foods, which

15:09

is good news because spermidine

15:11

levels tend to decline with

15:14

age, dropping more than half by

15:16

the time we reach our 50s. This

15:18

decline is seen across the

15:21

biological spectrum with one

15:23

remarkable exception, naked

15:26

mole rats, also

15:28

known by their more cuddly

15:31

nickname, sandpuppy, considered

15:33

to be a non-aging

15:35

mammal without any visible

15:38

signs of aging, almost

15:40

no decline in physiological function

15:43

over decades, no typical signs of aging like

15:46

loss of muscle mass or fertility,

15:48

perhaps in part because they're able to

15:51

maintain their high levels of spermidine something

15:55

that you also see

15:58

in human centenarians. To

16:00

prove cause and effect, extra spermidine

16:02

was fed to animals, and induction

16:04

of autophagy by spermidine promotes longevity,

16:06

increasing life ends of mice, for

16:09

example, by as much as 25%.

16:12

In a database of more than

16:15

a thousand life-extending compounds, among

16:17

the small subset with the fewest side

16:20

effects, spermidine has the largest

16:22

documented lifespan extension. Spermidine

16:26

can be improved even when started late in life,

16:28

kind of the equivalent of changing your diet when

16:30

you're already in your 50s. Anti-aging

16:33

effects were found in the heart

16:36

and kidneys, rejuvenating immune function, delaying

16:38

brain aging, and improving cognitive function.

16:40

Yeah, but this was in animals

16:43

like fruit flies and mice. I

16:45

mean, who cares if spermidine cures

16:48

flies? I've seen your moments. What

16:52

about in people? Women

16:55

and men and women, their 40s through 80s, were followed

16:57

for 20 years, and after looking at 146 different

17:00

components of their diets, the

17:02

single most predictive of longevity

17:05

was spermidine. How much spermidine they were eating?

17:07

Higher spermidine intake is linked

17:11

to lower mortality. Those

17:13

who consumed the most spermidine had a reduced

17:15

risk of death from all major causes, which

17:17

is what we'd expect from an anti-aging compound.

17:20

Critically, this survival advantage persisted even

17:22

after controlling for dietary excellence, meaning

17:24

it wasn't just because they were

17:26

eating healthier foods in general, but

17:28

specifically spermidine-rich foods

17:30

in particular. How big of an effect

17:32

are we talking? Well, the reduction in

17:34

mortality risk between getting more than 12

17:37

milligrams of spermidine today compared to getting less

17:39

than nine was as if those

17:41

eating more spermidine were 5.7 years

17:44

younger. It's

17:47

as if by eating certain foods they were able

17:49

to kind of effectively turn back the clock nearly

17:51

six years. The

17:53

findings were so extraordinary, the researchers

17:55

sought to replicate their results in

17:57

a whole new set of individuals.

18:00

indeed arrived at

18:02

the same conclusion. This

18:06

led some to propose that

18:09

spermidine may be an

18:11

anti-aging vitamin. When we're younger,

18:13

we seem to be able to make

18:15

enough, but as we

18:17

get older, we may need to

18:20

start ensuring we're getting enough

18:22

in our diet to

18:25

maintain autophagy into old age. Well, spermidine

18:27

is going to be considered an anti-aging

18:29

vitamin. Where is that vitamin found? Beans

18:32

are said to have the highest natural

18:34

amounts, but I

18:36

compiled a list of the top

18:38

spermidine sources and pig

18:41

pancreas. Beat up bean burritos for the

18:43

bronze. As

18:45

a certified dark green

18:48

leafy snob, I was begrudgingly

18:50

impressed to see lettuce. Score

18:52

so high. Although

18:55

lettuce is so light, 100g serving will be

18:57

about 3 cups of lettuce, but even the

18:59

spermidine and little side salads can certainly really

19:02

add up. In the book,

19:04

I spent a lot of time going through

19:06

the entire list, but the single most concentrated

19:08

source is wheat germ. With

19:11

2.5mg of spermidine in just the

19:14

7g and a tablespoon, it's also

19:16

the cheapest source, costing

19:18

as little as 2 cents per

19:20

milligram. You can't get a lot of pancreas

19:23

for 2 cents. Does

19:28

wheat germ actually do anything?

19:31

Let's randomize people to some dinner rolls

19:34

and find out. A randomized

19:36

double blind pilot in which older

19:38

adults were secretly slipped some spermidine

19:40

in the form of wheat germ

19:42

baked into dinner rolls versus placebo

19:44

rolls with wheat brian instead and

19:46

those with mild dementia improved way

19:49

beyond all available anti-dementia drug treatments

19:51

so far. Admittedly

19:54

that's not saying much, but what's

19:58

the harm? A sprinkling little wheat germ.

20:00

on your food. You know, the latest

20:02

Alzheimer's drugs don't appear to work at

20:05

all. All you get

20:08

for your $56,000 is a dramatically increased risk of

20:10

swelling or bleeding

20:13

into your brain. When

20:21

the FDA approved it anyway, the head

20:24

of the American Geriatric Society

20:27

replied, my head

20:29

just exploded. Maybe

20:33

they just got to slip the dose of the drug. Anyway, lots of

20:38

other clinical spermidine studies, but just to

20:40

wrap up this section, autophagy is considered

20:43

the primary system for cleaning the body

20:45

from the inside out. And

20:47

we can boost autophagy with aerobic

20:50

exercise, skipping fries and chips,

20:53

drinking coffee, and eating specific foods to

20:55

reach a target of 20 mg of

20:57

spermidine a day. For similar diet and

21:02

lifestyle takeaways for each of the

21:04

other 10 anti-aging pathways, but don't

21:06

have time to touch on them

21:08

because there are three other major

21:11

sections to the book. Part

21:14

2 focuses on the diets and

21:16

lifestyles of the healthiest

21:18

and long-lived populations around the

21:20

world. The odds of

21:22

living to 100 have risen from approximately 1 in 20

21:24

million to as high as 1 in

21:26

50. Why do some people make it and others

21:28

not? It's not just

21:31

a matter of picking better parents.

21:34

Studies following identical twins

21:36

suggested only about 25% of the

21:40

variation in lifespan is explained by genetics.

21:42

So what can we do for the

21:44

majority over which we may have some

21:47

control? The media

21:49

loves stories of hard-living centenarians

21:51

who attribute their longevity to

21:53

some combination of lard, vodka,

21:55

and favorite brand of cigarette,

21:58

but... How do

22:00

the oldest and healthiest really

22:03

eat and live? That's

22:06

what we have the blue zones for.

22:08

Areas of exceptional longevity

22:11

around the world where

22:13

there may be 10 times the rate of

22:17

those reaching those triple digits,

22:20

actually named for a color that

22:22

a demographer used and a kind of

22:24

heat map of mortality around the

22:26

globe. What lessons can we learn? Well,

22:30

the Blue Zones organization distilled findings from

22:32

more than 150 dietary surveys from the

22:34

world's longest living people to create a

22:37

set of 10 food

22:39

guidelines. The foundation of

22:41

the Blue Zones Food Guidelines is making your

22:43

diet at least 95% plant-based, avoiding

22:47

highly processed foods, emphasizing beans as

22:49

the healthiest source of protein, water

22:51

as the best beverage, and nuts

22:54

as the healthiest snack. That's the foundation.

22:58

The final five guidelines are Go Easy

23:00

on Fish, Eliminate Eggs Slash Sugar, Reduce

23:02

Dairy and Retreat from Meat, noting

23:05

that Blue Zone centenarians only eat about two ounces

23:08

of meat or less about five times a month.

23:11

Historically, there have been five

23:14

recognized Blue Zones, but only

23:16

one survives and thrives

23:18

to this day. The

23:21

Red, White, and Blue Zone,

23:23

the seven-day Adventist in Loma

23:26

Linda, California, with perhaps the

23:28

longest life expectancy of any

23:30

formerly studied population in history.

23:34

There are a number of shared Blue Zones lifestyle

23:37

characteristics, family coherence, avoiding

23:39

smoking daily, exercise, social

23:41

engraagement, but plant-based

23:43

nutrition appears

23:46

to be the principal component alone,

23:48

accounting for about half the difference

23:50

in lifespan. No surprise, since the

23:52

number one risk factor for death

23:55

in the United States Is

23:58

the American diet. So.

24:01

Unsafe Sex. Bad.

24:04

Sedentary lifestyle. Bird.

24:09

Alcohol And drugs. Especially

24:11

tobacco. That. With.

24:13

Cigarettes only killing about a half

24:15

million Americans every year. Where's our

24:18

diet? Kills. Many more we

24:20

are what we eat, Which

24:22

is good news because it

24:25

means we have the power

24:27

changing from are more typical

24:29

died two more optimized. I

24:31

started age twenty be expected,

24:34

increase life and women by

24:36

about eleven years and member

24:38

thirteen years. The largest life

24:40

expectancy game would be made

24:43

by eating more legumes, been

24:45

split, peas, chick peas, and

24:47

longevity. So there's. One thing we

24:49

can eat. Late

24:52

goals for longevity.

24:55

Some. As well. Then

25:00

times holdings a nurse

25:02

and eating less meat.

25:05

Now for the few of you

25:08

who aren't twenty anymore, not to

25:10

worry. Start eating

25:12

healthier. It eight sixties could still

25:15

mean adding eight or nine years

25:17

A to your life spans even

25:19

starting And leaders age eighty could

25:22

add years scenes in your health

25:24

destiny. Can start

25:26

tomorrow morning. At breakfast.

25:29

And it doesn't take much. The.

25:32

And I ha or Pcs

25:34

the largest forward looking study

25:36

on diet and health in

25:38

history based on it's six

25:40

million person years of observation

25:42

replacing just three percent of

25:44

daily caloric intake. From.

25:47

Animal protein with plant protein.

25:50

Was. Associated with a. Ten. percent

25:52

decrease risk of overall mortality both

25:55

men women just sloppy swapping three

25:57

percent of all the animal protein

25:59

sources eggs were found to be

26:01

the worst. Swapping in 3%

26:04

of plant protein for egg protein was

26:06

associated with twice the benefit, 20% lower

26:09

mortality, for you know

26:11

swapping in a few British beans

26:13

for breakfast instead. Harvard

26:16

researchers found that when it comes to

26:18

premature death processed meat was the worst

26:20

followed by eggs. In essence they found

26:22

that tuna salad may be better than

26:24

egg salad or a BLT but a

26:26

bean burrito beat out the bunch. When

26:29

it came to death from all causes put

26:31

together, plant protein beat

26:33

out every type of animal protein

26:36

including dairy, fish, and chicken. A

26:38

3% swap from chicken to chickpeas

26:40

or fish to falafel was linked

26:43

to a 6% decreased risk of

26:46

premature death. But

26:49

does eating healthy actually

26:52

slow down aging, randomize

26:55

hundreds of women to a diet

26:57

centered around healthy plant foods, or

27:00

exercise or neither, and

27:03

though the physical activity

27:06

failed those in

27:08

the plant-based dietary intervention group

27:10

had a significant slowing of

27:12

biological aging. Of

27:15

course it isn't just about adding

27:17

years to your life but life

27:19

to your years. An unhealthy aging

27:21

index was devised to measure

27:24

functional impairments, vitality, mental health,

27:26

physical health, substituting

27:29

even just 1% of

27:33

calories from plant protein for animal

27:36

protein appeared to lead to significant

27:38

less deficit accumulation and substituting 5%

27:42

may reduce the risk of dying from

27:44

the greatest deficit dementia.

27:47

That may help explain why those who

27:50

don't eat any meat at all may

27:52

be up to three times less likely

27:54

to become demented. But again it's

27:56

not all or nothing. In fact the worst

27:58

thing about humanity is diet is neither

28:01

animal nor vegetable but mineral,

28:05

sodium. Here are the top

28:07

five fatal flaws of our diet. Millions

28:09

of deaths may be attributed every

28:12

year to knocking in of whole grains. Not

28:14

eating enough fruit, not enough nuts and

28:16

seeds, not enough vegetables, but the

28:18

single deadliest ingredient in humanity's diet

28:20

is something we get too much

28:22

of. And that's

28:25

salt, our number one dietary risk factor

28:27

for death. A recent whopping

28:29

study, for example, more than a half million people

28:31

found that those who salted their food at age

28:33

50 appeared to have

28:37

about a two year lower life

28:39

expectancy compared to those

28:42

that didn't. So

28:44

just swapping out the salt shaker for some

28:46

salt free seasonings or salt subs could potentially

28:48

add years to your life. How do we

28:50

know its cause and effect? Five

28:53

kitchens at a veterans retirement

28:55

home were randomized into

28:58

two groups for a few years offering

29:01

meals salted either with regular

29:03

salt or unbeknownst to them,

29:05

a 50-50 blend of regular

29:08

salt sodium chloride with a

29:10

salt substitute like these potassium

29:12

chloride. The kind

29:14

of salt was the only difference between

29:16

the meals and cardiovascular disease death rates

29:19

plummeted by 40% in

29:22

the folks getting the reduced sodium blend. The

29:25

new difference in life expectancy between

29:27

the two groups at age 70

29:30

was equivalent to that which would

29:32

have occurred naturally in 14 years.

29:36

Meaning simply switching to even just half

29:38

potassium salt which you wouldn't even be

29:40

able to taste the difference of appeared

29:43

to effectively make people more than a decade

29:45

younger when it came to the risk of

29:47

premature death. What

29:50

are the likes of the salt

29:52

Institute have to say about public

29:54

health recommendations to reduce sodium intake?

29:57

Well in testimony before congressional

30:00

Committee, the presumption that healthier

30:02

diets would cut healthcare costs

30:04

was challenged. Indeed, one

30:07

processed food defender testified,

30:10

healthcare expenditures increased

30:13

if lifespan is prolonged. I

30:17

mean, if people eat healthier and live

30:19

longer, it could be more expensive. Noting

30:23

that if tobacco were banned, the

30:25

increase in expected lifespan would increase

30:27

the cost of care of old

30:29

people. Think

30:36

how expensive it would be if people

30:38

started taking care of themselves and didn't

30:40

conveniently die on time. Ultra-processed

30:46

foods, often packed with added salt,

30:49

sugar, and fat, consistently account for

30:52

more than 50% of

30:55

our dietary caloric intake. Over

30:57

than half of our

30:59

diet is junk. Not

31:03

surprisingly, those foods are associated

31:05

with significantly increased risk

31:07

of dying prematurely, so just

31:10

cutting back on animal

31:12

foods isn't enough. Healthy

31:15

plant-based diets are associated with significantly

31:18

lower risk of dying, but unhealthy

31:20

plant-based diets are not. In

31:23

the Harvard cohorts, the more you minimize

31:25

meat, eggs, and dairy, the lower your

31:27

risk of death falls. But

31:30

that's only if you're eating healthy

31:32

plant foods. If you instead

31:34

just pile on the junk like chips and

31:36

soda, you can increase your

31:39

risk of death overall, even if

31:41

animal product consumption remains low. Same

31:45

in the Million Veteran Program study. Healthy

31:48

plant foods reduce their risk of death, but

31:51

if your idea of a plant-based diet

31:54

is fries and a Coke, you're

31:58

not doing your body any favors. Same

32:01

with the risk of cognitive impairment, only

32:04

healthy plant foods reduce

32:07

risk. The same

32:09

with dementia and depression. The

32:11

same with frailty. Healthy

32:13

plant foods, good. Plant based

32:15

junk, bad. That's

32:20

why Cornell professor emeritus of biochemistry,

32:22

T. Colin Campbell coined the term

32:25

whole food plant based diet.

32:27

But as a physician, terms

32:29

like vegetarian, vegan, just tell me what you don't

32:31

eat. I mean, do you actually eat

32:34

vegetables? Professor

32:37

Campbell's physician, son and daughter-in-law tried

32:39

putting a group of vegetarians and

32:42

vegans on a whole food plant

32:44

based diet. In eight

32:46

weeks, they lost 10 pounds, dropped their LDL

32:48

cholesterol 15 points. In other words, vegans

32:51

may benefit from eating a little

32:53

more plant based too. Now

32:58

meat is a

33:00

problem in terms of lifespan. Eating a burger

33:03

may cut one's life as short as smoking

33:06

two cigarettes. So

33:08

if it wouldn't even occur to us to light

33:10

up before and after lunch, maybe

33:12

we should choose the bean

33:14

burrito instead. There

33:17

are certainly ways to make meat safer though.

33:19

For example, one of the ways whole food

33:21

plant based diets can help is

33:23

by reducing the load

33:26

of Gerontotoxins, age accelerating

33:28

toxins such as

33:30

advanced glycation M-prox, also known

33:32

as glyotoxins or AGEs, an

33:34

acronym intentionally chosen to emphasize

33:36

their toxic role in age

33:38

related disease. AGEs occur

33:40

naturally in animals, but dry cooking

33:42

methods can generate 10 to 100

33:45

times more when

33:47

muscle cells rupture under

33:50

dry heat, highly reactive compounds combined

33:52

with the blood and body sugars

33:55

to form AGEs within the meat.

33:57

So even without cutting down on

33:59

meat, you can significantly cut down

34:01

on glycotoxin intake just by switching

34:03

up cooking methods. The safest ways

34:05

of cooking meat are moist methods

34:07

such as boiling, poaching, steaming, stewing.

34:10

When people are randomized to a meal

34:12

of fried or broiled chicken breast and

34:14

veggies or the same meal with the

34:16

same ingredients including the oil but

34:19

with steamed or boiled chicken

34:21

breast instead, that single high

34:23

AGE meal with

34:25

a fried or broiled breast induced

34:27

a profound

34:29

impairment of artery

34:31

function within hours.

34:34

I mean the steamed chicken still impaired

34:36

artery function but not as much as

34:40

the fried or broiled. So

34:42

we can eat an age-less

34:44

diet by switching to

34:46

moist methods for example but you

34:48

know dietary approaches are

34:51

said to have zero commercial

34:53

value and hey, stewed

34:55

chicken may not be as tasty so

34:57

why not just take a drug to

35:00

block AGE absorption every time we

35:02

eat. I

35:05

mean it does lower your blood

35:07

levels of AGEs is

35:10

just activated

35:12

charcoal like when people are poisoned

35:14

or for like drug overdoses right.

35:17

I'm sure our AGEs would also go down if

35:19

we chased our chicken with some Ipecac

35:22

too. What

35:24

about fish? Unfortunately

35:28

our oceans have

35:30

essentially become humanity's sewer everything

35:32

eventually flows into the sea

35:35

so the consumption of

35:38

contaminated seafood has

35:40

become the main route of

35:42

human exposure to chemical

35:45

pollutants. Yes

35:47

a variety of foods are affected but

35:49

the number one source of DDT fish.

35:54

Number one source of PCBs fish

35:58

salmon is the worst. when

36:00

it comes to PCBs, followed by

36:03

canned tuna. Salmon

36:06

also has the highest levels of

36:08

dioxin-like compounds. So on

36:10

the one hand, fish has long

36:12

been viewed as a healthy dietary

36:14

component because of those long-chain omega-3s.

36:17

But on the other hand, we're

36:19

so polluting our world that we're

36:21

now seeing heavy metals, pesticide, flame

36:23

retardants in fish, forever chemicals, which

36:26

may explain why, despite their omega-3s,

36:28

there's been a failure

36:30

to consistently observe beneficial effects of fish

36:33

consumption. So if we had a time

36:35

machine to go back before the Industrial

36:37

Revolution, that'd be one thing. But now

36:40

we have studies like this, where

36:43

mice fed commercially available farmed

36:45

salmon fillets with common levels

36:47

of persistent organic pollutants were

36:49

found to develop insulin resistance,

36:52

glucose intolerance, abdominal obesity, fatty

36:54

liver, chronic low-grade inflammation. So

36:56

even just background levels

36:58

of pollutants that might be presumed to

37:00

be safe could completely counteract

37:03

the potential benefits of the

37:05

omega-3s, in particular, leading to

37:07

metabolic issues. Now

37:10

for mercury, it's more about

37:12

brain health. Hundreds

37:14

of thousands of babies born

37:17

with brain damage every year,

37:19

seemingly as a consequence of

37:21

their mothers consuming

37:23

mercury-contaminated fish during pregnancy,

37:26

with the resulting loss of intelligence

37:28

estimated to cost billions

37:31

of dollars of lost productivity

37:34

every year. In

37:37

the aging literature, there are

37:39

cases like this. Man with

37:41

progressive memory loss tentatively diagnosed

37:43

with Alzheimer's dementia. His

37:46

friends and families assumed he was

37:48

nearing the end of his life. But

37:52

a detailed history revealed

37:54

that he had consumed swordfish once or twice

37:57

a week when the fish was

37:59

removed from the from his diet, his

38:01

mercury levels fell, and

38:03

his memory bounced back.

38:05

No more dimension. So

38:08

it seemed he didn't have Alzheimer's

38:10

after all, but rather

38:12

mercury poisoning from a handful

38:14

of monthly meals of contaminated

38:17

fish. You

38:19

can see the same remarkable reversals

38:21

with hair loss. Here's a

38:23

common story. Paramanopausal woman seeks help

38:26

for hair loss. Blood tests indicate

38:28

elevated mercury levels had no wonder

38:30

because she had a diet high

38:32

in tuna. But within

38:34

two months of stopping fish, her

38:36

hair started growing

38:38

back and eventually her hair regrew

38:42

completely. So

38:44

doctors should consider screening for mercury

38:46

toxicity when they see hair loss

38:49

since there's something we can do

38:51

about it. Instructing patients

38:53

to reduce fish intake could offer

38:55

relief of symptoms and uncovered dietary

38:57

habits that may be a source

38:59

of heavy metal induced hair loss.

39:02

Though admittedly sometimes heavy metal

39:04

can lead to too much

39:07

hair. What about

39:09

alcohol? That's from plants? Sorry

39:13

to be Dr. Buzzkill.

39:16

But alcohol appears to be humanity's seven

39:19

leading cause of death and disability.

39:21

The safest level of drinking is

39:25

none. But

39:28

wait a second. What about the famous

39:30

J curve where light to moderate drinkers

39:32

appear to have lower mortality rates than

39:34

the T totalers at zero drinks a

39:36

day? This may

39:38

just be an artifact of

39:41

the systemic misclassification of former

39:43

drinkers as lifelong abstainers.

39:46

This leads to the so-called

39:48

sick quitter effect where the

39:50

reason a person may be

39:52

a non-drinker is because drinking

39:54

made them sick thereby making

39:57

current drinkers look good in comparison.

40:00

And it's the same reason. Studies

40:03

can find higher mortality among those

40:05

who quit smoking compared to

40:07

those who continue to smoke. It's

40:09

not that abstention led to poor

40:11

health, but poor health, rather, led

40:13

to abstention. When researchers went

40:15

back and controlled for

40:18

the error of misclassifying former

40:20

drinkers, the J-curve disappeared.

40:24

No more apparent benefit to

40:27

moderate drinking. In

40:29

other words, compared to

40:31

true abstainers, the more alcohol,

40:34

the more disease, with

40:37

no apparent protection at

40:39

low levels of consumption. Even

40:43

red wine, unfortunately,

40:45

interventional trials show that wine

40:48

can cause inflammation within hours of

40:50

consumption, both red and white, significantly more

40:52

than just drinking sugar water, and you

40:55

get a surge of fat in

40:57

your bloodstream that you don't get drinking

40:59

the alcoholized red wine, the same wine

41:01

with the alcohol taken out. What

41:05

about just taking supplements of

41:07

the red wine compound resveratrol?

41:10

Oh, you mean the supplement found

41:13

to nearly triple the loss of

41:15

brain tissue compared to placebo? No,

41:18

thank you. The

41:22

healthiest beverages are probably water and tea.

41:24

Increasing tea consumption three cups a day

41:26

may decrease the risk of premature death

41:28

from all causes by 24%. This

41:32

applied to both green and black tea,

41:34

though green may have a slight advantage.

41:37

Part of this protection may

41:39

be a lower risk of

41:41

pneumonia. There have been five randomized

41:44

controlled trials showing that those randomized to green

41:46

tea are about a third less likely to come

41:48

down with a flu, for example. Within

41:51

just one hour of drinking

41:53

a single cup of green tea, we

41:55

can significantly cut down on the rate

41:57

of DNA damage in ourselves because green...

42:00

Green tea significantly boosts the activity

42:02

of DNA repair enzyme in

42:04

our body that can fix DNA damage,

42:06

and within a month, drinking

42:09

too small daily cups of green tea

42:11

can improve DNA resistance to free radical damage

42:13

in the first place, indicating

42:15

that green tea has significant

42:18

genome protective effects or DNA

42:20

protecting effects. Stay

42:23

tuned next week for part 2

42:25

of this How Not to Age

42:27

presentation. We would

42:29

love it if you could share with us

42:32

your stories about reinventing your health through evidence-based

42:34

nutrition. Go to

42:36

nutritionfacts.org/testimonials. We may be able

42:38

to share it on social

42:40

media to help inspire others.

42:43

If you see any graphs, charts, graphics,

42:45

images, or studies mentioned here, please go

42:47

to the Nutrition Facts podcast landing page.

42:50

There you'll find all the detailed information you

42:52

need, plus links to all the sources we

42:55

cite for each of these topics. My

42:57

latest book, How Not to Age, is out

43:00

now, premiering at number 2 on the New

43:02

York Times best solvers list. Check

43:05

it out at your local public library. Of

43:07

course, all the proceeds of the sales of

43:09

all my books go directly to charity. nutritionfacts.org

43:12

is a nonprofit, science-based public service where

43:14

you can sign up for free daily

43:17

updates on the latest nutrition research with

43:19

bite-sized videos and articles. Everything

43:21

on the website is free. There

43:24

are no ads, no corporate sponsorships,

43:26

no kickbacks. Strictly non-commercial.

43:29

I'm not selling anything. I just put up as

43:31

a public service, as a labor of love, as

43:33

a tribute to my grandmother, whose

43:36

own life was saved with evidence-based nutrition.