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Lewis HowesLewis Howes

DO THIS DAILY To Increase Your Lifespan & REVERSE AGING! | Dr. Valter Longo & Lewis Howes

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Dr. Valter LongoguestLewis Howeshost
Dec 13, 20211h 42mWatch on YouTube

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Transcript

  1. 0:00 – 0:19

    Should “bad food kills you” warnings be treated like smoking labels?

    1. VL

      So now, if we say bad food kills you, a- a- and we put it in, in, in-

    2. LH

      On labels like in smoking.

    3. VL

      Yeah, and, and, you know, all the television seeing this, this, uh, story, yeah, then you're not gonna see-

    4. LH

      I think you gotta have a dream.

    5. SP

      The School of Greatness.

    6. LH

      Really? [laughs] Yeah.

    7. SP

      Please welcome Lewis Howes.

  2. 0:19 – 1:53

    What makes people die earlier than they should: too little food vs too much

    1. LH

      I read a stat recently that between 150,000 and 180,000 people in the world die every day. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but that's the stat.

    2. VL

      Sounds about right.

    3. LH

      150 to 180,000 people a day die. Um, what do you think is the main cause of people dying earlier than they should be dying?

    4. VL

      Well, th- there are lots of causes, of course, you know, different parts of the world.

    5. LH

      Yeah.

    6. VL

      Very, very different. So some, lots of people die of malnourishment, you know, they don't have enough food, you know.

    7. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    8. VL

      And, uh, but lots of people, maybe now more people, die of too much and too much food and-

    9. LH

      Obesity

    10. VL

      ... too much food that is bad, right?

    11. LH

      Uh-huh.

    12. VL

      Um, and so yeah. So I think that that, you know, even China and the Middle East and, and, and regions that, uh, traditionally, uh, were doing very well, now you're starting to see obesity, obesity, overweight, diabetes, et cetera, et cetera. And, um, and so that certainly is at the center of, uh, uh, just too much food and, and, uh, and the, the wrong kind is at the center of, of almost every disease that you can think of.

    13. LH

      Really? Are, are more people dying from too little food or too much food?

    14. VL

      I don't know the stats on, on too little. I will say more or much more people are dying of too much food.

    15. LH

      An abundance of the wrong foods as well.

    16. VL

      Yeah, yeah.

    17. LH

      Yeah.

    18. VL

      But, but the number of m- malnourished people is still high.

    19. LH

      Yeah.

    20. VL

      So, so I think that, um, that both are, are, are a big problem, yeah.

  3. 1:53 – 3:53

    Aging breakthroughs in the lab: from confusion to genes and the TOR pathway

    1. LH

      What's been one of the biggest... I mean, you've been studying this for 30 years, almost 30 years. You're, um, you know, really obsessed with the data, the research, and doing a lot of these tests in labs. What has been the biggest finding that you've found on extending the lifespan and longevity in the last 30 years?

    2. VL

      Well, it, I think one of the biggest finding- findings, uh, was the, the, the TOR pathway, right? So the, the, these genes that, um, 'cause when I first started working with Roy Walford here at UCLA, very close by, it was 1992, right?

    3. LH

      Wow.

    4. VL

      And, um, and we were just doing comparative biology. You know, you take a old mouse, a young mouse, a old person, a young pers- and you, at the end of it, you knew as much as before, right?

    5. LH

      Okay. [laughs]

    6. VL

      I mean, you're just as confused as before.

    7. LH

      [laughs]

    8. VL

      You knew there was dif- difference, but you had no idea why. And so the, then I went back to the biochemistry department, and I started, it went from humans and mice to, uh, microorganisms, you know?

    9. LH

      Mm.

    10. VL

      And, uh, and that's where I think everything changed because then we were able to identify the genes that control aging to the point where we took, uh, this microorganism and we can make him live 10 times longer-

    11. LH

      Really?

    12. VL

      ... just by, uh, two mutation plus fasting, right? So we fasted them, and then we had two mutation, one in what's called the, the su- what I call the sugar pathway, one is the, the protein pathway, plus the fasting, and we completely reprogram life, right? So yeah. So I think that that was the, the, the, the, the-

    13. LH

      Big breakthrough

    14. VL

      ... the initial central point, the, the, the discovery, the TOR, ISIS kinase pathway in, in aging. Um, and then, you know, we followed it up with, uh, uh, with nutrition and, and the, finding the protein restriction. As long as you don't go too far, too low, uh, that's also central for, for aging and diseases. And then, uh, after that, or at the same time, the, uh, the fasting, the use of fasting and fasting-mimicking diets. And just the, and there was a, um, a sort of response

  4. 3:53 – 6:03

    Calorie restriction’s promise—and its limits: the monkey studies

    1. VL

      to what Walford was doing. So Roy Walford, for those that don't know, was, uh, probably the most famous person in the world for, um, nutrition and aging.

    2. LH

      Okay.

    3. VL

      And, um, and he was a, a medical doctor at UCLA and a professor at UCLA, and he was working on something called calorie restriction.

    4. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    5. VL

      So which it's a s- sort of simple idea. What happens if you take an, a normal diet and you reduce it by 25%?

    6. LH

      Right.

    7. VL

      You just eat less, a quarter less of the, of the, whatever diet. And-

    8. LH

      Instead of, instead of 3,000 calories a day, it's 2,500 or 2,000 or whatever.

    9. VL

      Yeah. So say 2,400 calories instead of-

    10. LH

      Mm

    11. VL

      ... or, or 2- 2,000 calories, 2,200 calories. So pretty restrictive.

    12. LH

      Uh-huh.

    13. VL

      And actually, in most cases, it was more like 18, 1,900 calories-

    14. LH

      Okay. Yeah

    15. VL

      ... like for, for the people that were involved in the trials. And, um, and so, and, and then one of his students was here at UCLA in Walford's lab right before me, Richard Weindruch did a study in monkeys, right?

    16. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    17. VL

      So they took monkeys in Wisconsin, and they, and they did a lifelong let's see what happens if you calorie restrict them.

    18. LH

      Wow.

    19. VL

      If you just give them 25% less food, same identical food, but 25% less. You know, if you look at that, uh, it's remarkable because it, you would say, oh, this revolutionized medicine, right? They have, they go from 60%, uh, diabetic or re- insulin-resistant to 5%.

    20. LH

      Hmm.

    21. VL

      Cancer is reduced by 50%.

    22. LH

      Wow.

    23. VL

      So cutting health, and cardiovascular disease, uh, is reduced by 20 to 30%. Um, but then if you look at these monkeys, um, they don't live that much longer. And, and so, um, and so that-

    24. LH

      So wait, so, so restrict the monkeys 25% of the food, they had less disease or less cancer, but they didn't live longer? Is that what you said?

    25. VL

      Yeah. They had less of all these diseases, all the major diseases-

    26. LH

      But they didn't live longer than the-

    27. VL

      But they lived, no, they lived-

    28. LH

      Okay

    29. VL

      ... a little bit longer, but not that much. You think, you know, eliminate diabetes, th- less half of the cancers, and 30% less cardiovascular disease.

    30. LH

      Should live 10 more years.

  5. 6:03 – 8:12

    The fasting-mimicking diet (FMD): short, periodic intervention instead of lifelong restriction

    1. VL

      And, uh, um, it didn't happen, right? So, so that tells you that, [clears throat] that there were good, good and bad, uh, about this diet. And, uh, and so then what I spent the next 30 years doing- Was how can I eliminate the bad? Because obviously, the good is unbelievable, right?

    2. LH

      Mm.

    3. VL

      I mean, more than anybody could dream, more than the NIH has been able to do, the National Institute of Health has been able to do [laughs] in all these years, right?

    4. LH

      Yeah.

    5. VL

      I mean, cut, uh, almost eliminate diabetes and cut cancer and cardiovascular disease by 30 to 50%. So yeah, so then how do you do that? And, and I think the, the fast- the periodic fasting-mimicking diet is, certainly has that, that potential, um, to, uh, allow people, um... And we'll see. I mean, of course we got lots of clinical trials, so it's not just an, my opinion anymore.

    6. LH

      Uh-huh.

    7. VL

      So lots of clinical trials, but, but the idea is can you intervene for just five days, and instead of starving people, uh, give them some food?

    8. LH

      Mm.

    9. VL

      Not, not all the food they, they would like, but some food. And could this... What if you do it only once every four months for five days? That's it, you know. Or maybe even once every six months. Could this change someone's health?

    10. LH

      So five days-

    11. VL

      Do you-

    12. LH

      ... restricted diet, not restricted every day for the rest of your life, but for five days, couple times a year.

    13. VL

      Yeah.

    14. LH

      Gotcha.

    15. VL

      Yeah. So what if you do this fasting, this vegan fasting-mimicking diet with, you know, very specific, uh-

    16. LH

      Uh-huh

    17. VL

      ... content, uh, two or three times a year, could that change things the same way that calorie restriction change things? You know, I mean, it's starting to look like yes.

    18. LH

      Mm.

    19. VL

      Uh, it's, it's getting to that level, right? So we'll see. But, you know, is it getting to the abolishment of, of, of diabetes? Uh, I don't know. But certainly, you know, we have a clinical trial now going, um, which finished now in, um, Holland looking at diabetic, diabetes-

    20. LH

      Mm

    21. VL

      ... and, uh, you know, 12... This is monthly cycles, right? So, um, so we'll see very soon, uh, the results of that, but, uh, you know, I think there's gonna be a, a trial com- coming out every couple months now-

    22. LH

      Wow

    23. VL

      ... uh, using the FMD, so.

  6. 8:12 – 11:24

    Can fasting reverse disease? A physician case with diabetes and hypertension

    1. LH

      Do you, do you think it's possible to reverse diabetes or reverse cancer and disease from fasting and calorie restriction diets?

    2. VL

      It... Yeah, not only is it possible, but we, we do it all the time, right?

    3. LH

      Really?

    4. VL

      So we, I just did a, a Facebook Live, uh, uh, unfortunately, it's in Italian, but we, we took a doctor-

    5. LH

      [laughs]

    6. VL

      ... uh, a physician in Italy, um, and, uh, he had diabetes and, uh, hypertension.

    7. LH

      This a doctor?

    8. VL

      A doctor, yeah. Diabetes and hyper- We did that on purpose, right?

    9. LH

      Yeah.

    10. VL

      I mean, we, so we follow a lot of people. We have two clinics, um, foundation clinics, right? So we follow a lot of people and, but we wanted to make this, talk about this case, right? So, so he's hypertension, diabetes, taking four drugs a day.

    11. LH

      Wow.

    12. VL

      So then we start with the, uh, what I call the longevity diet, this every day longevity diet, this pescatarian diet, and he's already improving with that. Then w- you, you look at the charts and you see, then we start with the, um, with the fasting-mimicking diet. And he was doing pretty well with the hypertension, he was doing pretty well with the weight, but he wasn't quite doing very well with the glycemia, so the, the pre, the diabetic, uh, component of it. And as soon as he starts the fasting-mimicking diet, you see the, the, the fasting glucose and the, you know, A, A1C dropping down, and two years later, perfect.

    13. LH

      No way.

    14. VL

      No drugs, no, no disease, uh, uh, yeah. And, and I mean, I, again, I w- I wouldn't talk like that if I didn't have clinical trials to back it up.

    15. LH

      Sure, sure.

    16. VL

      But I, I, I just thought that visualized so well-

    17. LH

      Wow

    18. VL

      ... you know, the, uh, the, the, the, what can be done and-

    19. LH

      Did he... So, so what was his protocol for two years? Did he stay on the fasting mimicking every day? Was this once every six months?

    20. VL

      Twice a year.

    21. LH

      Twice a year, and then he did the longevity diet.

    22. VL

      The longevity diet, but, you know, is, is, the, the idea at the clinics is work with the patient, you know?

    23. LH

      Yeah.

    24. VL

      Don't revolutionize somebody's diet. Try to start with what do you like, what do you think you can handle-

    25. LH

      Mm-hmm

    26. VL

      ... for the rest of your life, you know? And, uh, and then work with that. So it's a longevity diet that is really adapted to, uh, the need of, in this case, a doctor. Uh, so yeah, he did lots of the things we told him. A- and some of the others, uh, he didn't do, yeah, and, uh-

    27. LH

      Right

    28. VL

      ... so-

    29. LH

      Like what? What other things?

    30. VL

      Well, I, I think that, um, for example, we, we asked him to also exercise, and he didn't exercise, right? Uh, and, uh, we asked him to, uh, do 12 hours a day of time-restricted eating, so eat 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. You know, most of the times he didn't do that. Um, so yeah, so if-

  7. 11:24 – 16:56

    Inside the longevity diet: pescatarian-leaning, legumes, and “eat a lot” with low calorie density

    1. LH

      Now, now what is in the longevity diet? What are the pillars of that?

    2. VL

      Yeah, so the longevity diet is a, uh, pescatarian, so maybe fish two or three times a week. Uh, and then it's a vegan diet, so lots of legumes, uh, lots of, you know, beans and, and chickpeas, et cetera. Um, and, um, uh, it's a, uh, you eat a lot, right? So the idea is to, uh, eat a lot of food, more food than you would-

    3. LH

      Really?

    4. VL

      ... on a high-calorie diet, yeah. So, you know, big dishes, but big dishes. So for example, a, a, something that I eat, you know, five times a, a week is, um, you know, a little bit of pasta, maybe 70 grams, like two, two or three ounces, and then, um, lots of vegetables and maybe, uh, l- lots of legumes, right?

    5. LH

      Mm.

    6. VL

      So lots of chickpeas or lots of, uh, black beans or, or, or green beans, yeah, so.

    7. LH

      And you're pretty skinny.

    8. VL

      And I'm, uh, I'm-

    9. LH

      You're a pretty skinny guy.

    10. VL

      Yeah. I'm skinny.

    11. LH

      So you eat a lot, so you eat a lot of food is what you're saying.

    12. VL

      I eat a lot of food. Yeah, I do.

    13. LH

      How do you stay skinny though? Is that a genetic thing or is that the process?

    14. VL

      Well, you know, um, it's, it, it's a science, right? So the, um, the content of food, uh, will regulate the metabolism, right?

    15. LH

      Really?

    16. VL

      So, yeah. So there's a lot of-

    17. LH

      So not the, not the quantity, but the content.

    18. VL

      N- not the quantity r-... Well, first of all, the quan- the, you can eat a lot of food that is calorie, uh, low in calorie, right?

    19. LH

      Low calorie, yeah.

    20. VL

      So it's not dense in calories.

    21. LH

      And a lot of lettuce, yeah.

    22. VL

      So that's already a, a, a, a, you know, one factor, that you have a mechanical, so your intestine i, you know, is filled with, with food and with fibers. Um, and so that already helps, um, you know, um, eating, sto- uh, regulating the, the, the amount of food you eat. Uh, then there is also a nutrient base. You know, the system detects how many, how much of the nutrients you have and, and what's missing, and if nothing is missing, then that's also an order to, uh, you don't need to eat anymore because you have ev- everything you need. And then there is a, a further, uh, uh, order within the food about metabolic regulation.

    23. LH

      Mm.

    24. VL

      Um, and so that we haven't published, uh, about yet, but, uh, but let's just say there are components of the food, so, and I cannot tell you what it is, but I can tell you the experiment. So you take mice, and then, um, you give, you, uh, give them two type of foods that have... In fact, you have more calories, or certainly a lot more food, but a little bit more calorie in diet A, right?

    25. LH

      Right.

    26. VL

      And, uh, and they overeat this diet, uh, and they lo- lose weight, versus diet B, uh, they gain weight, right? So-

    27. LH

      Right, so there's more calories, more food in diet A. Diet B, less calories, less food, and they lose weight in the first diet over the second.

    28. VL

      And they gain weight in the second diet.

    29. LH

      How is that possible?

    30. VL

      Well, because, you know, the, the regulation of metabolic, uh, of fat breakdown, the regulation of, of metabolic rates, the regulation of heat production. Uh, so the syst- you know, everybody knows somebody that eats all the time.

  8. 16:56 – 20:54

    Protein and longevity: IGF-1, “low but sufficient,” and adjusting for lean mass

    1. LH

      Can you, uh... [sighs] Can you eat too much or too little protein? How much does protein really affect the body, whether you're more of an athlete training hard every day or just, you know, someone who's not working out as much? How does protein, eating protein, play into the body?

    2. VL

      Yeah. Uh, uh, protein i- is, is very, very important, so you can have too much. Most people have too much.

    3. LH

      Really?

    4. VL

      So we're about to b- publish a meta-analysis and, uh, you know, um, people having too high levels of IGF-1, and this IGF-1 is then associated with mortality, early mortality.

    5. LH

      Really?

    6. VL

      But then we see the opposite. We see the people that have too low IGF-1 doing even worse than the ones that, uh, have, uh, h- very high.

    7. LH

      So it's better to have more protein than less?

    8. VL

      Well, it's, no. The best is to have-

    9. LH

      Hmm

    10. VL

      ... that, like, low but sufficient level.

    11. LH

      Okay.

    12. VL

      Those are the people that live the longest and the, um, and those are the people that live the healthiest too, you know, a- apparently. So-

    13. LH

      What's, what's the amount you should be having on a daily basis, I guess?

    14. VL

      Well, we calculated that around, uh, I think it was around 60, 60, 70 grams of protein per day seemed to be in that spot where, uh, it wasn't either too high or too low. Uh, so-

    15. LH

      Is this, I mean-

    16. VL

      I mean, i- as an average of... This was based on the NHANES, uh, on the CDC, uh, database-

    17. LH

      Got it

    18. VL

      ... in the United States, yeah.

    19. LH

      And this is b- no matter how big or small you are? Or is it kind of based on how- You know, if I'm, uh, 230 pounds, do I eat a little bit more? If I'm 130, I eat a little less?

    20. VL

      No, this is per kilogram, right?

    21. LH

      Okay. Gotcha.

    22. VL

      Yeah, so there should be per, um... And, and it should be really per kilogram of, of mass, of lean body mass, bones and muscle, right? There shouldn't be... If somebody has, uh, is 50% fat, uh, that gets counted by maybe half, right? So-

    23. LH

      Okay

    24. VL

      ... so yeah, there's some calculation to be done there, but yeah. So if somebody's is 200 pounds and it's only, like, 15% fat, uh, that person needs a lot, lot more protein than-

    25. LH

      More protein

    26. VL

      ... somebody that, that is 120 pounds and, uh, 40% fat, you know?

    27. LH

      Right, right. Okay.

    28. VL

      Yeah, so, so yeah. And-

    29. LH

      So 60 to 70 grams per day based on your, your muscle.

    30. VL

      Well, the number should be between 0.7, 0.8 grams per kilogram.

  9. 20:54 – 23:03

    Muscle, frailty, and age-specific nutrition: why protein needs change after ~65

    1. LH

      Gotcha. So how, how much does, uh, gaining muscle mass and having strong muscles support in decreasing disease and also increasing longevity? Is it important to have more muscles or less?

    2. VL

      Not really, no.

    3. LH

      Really?

    4. VL

      No, uh, uh-

    5. LH

      Based on longevity-

    6. VL

      Yeah, yeah

    7. LH

      ... and disease.

    8. VL

      If you look at the people that are the longest, I, I... One of my passion is to go around the world and visit the, the oldest living people. So for example, Emma Morano, who I follow for the last five years of her life, she got to 117, right? So-

    9. LH

      117?

    10. VL

      Yeah, the third, the, the, the, the third oldest person whoever lived in, in this planet.

    11. LH

      Wow.

    12. VL

      And, uh, and most of them are really thin, you know, and really frail, really thin.

    13. LH

      Well, I guess at that age though, you're gonna be a lot thin.

    14. VL

      Yeah. But I think, you know, if you look at their, um, at the way they wear, if you look at the pictures-

    15. LH

      Mm-hmm

    16. VL

      ... and if you look at their sons and daughters, you know-

    17. LH

      They were skinny

    18. VL

      ... in most cases they were skinny. The Okinawans, for example, it's another place in, in, in Japan where they have record longevity, and they're very, very thin. Now, that doesn't mean it's necessarily good to be old and thin, you know?

    19. LH

      Right.

    20. VL

      It's probably not good, you know-

    21. LH

      You break your bones if you fall and yeah.

    22. VL

      Yeah, you're frail. But, um, I... And, and that's what we're trying to bring into this, right, this age-specific nutrition. We're saying-

    23. LH

      Mm

    24. VL

      ... for example, we published, uh, some years ago that those who were 70, 80 years old... I mean, whereas the people that had a low protein diet, uh, were doing much better up to age 65 for cancer and overall mortality, uh, after age 65. So when we asked the, the 70, 80, 90 year olds, "How much protein do you eat per day?" And they answered, "Very little," they were not doing well at all, right?

    25. LH

      They weren't doing well-

    26. VL

      They were not doing well

    27. LH

      ... with low protein.

    28. VL

      If we asked the 60-year-old, the 50-year-old and they said, "I have a low, l- very low protein diet," they were doing very well.

    29. LH

      Mm.

    30. VL

      And so, so yeah. So this is suggesting that eventually their muscle, their strength, uh, is gonna help you, um-

  10. 23:03 – 26:16

    If you had to minimize three categories: processed meats, fried animal fats, and processed sweets

    1. LH

      Wow. If you had a, a magic wand and you could eliminate three foods or three types of foods in the world that we would never be able to eat, what would those three foods be? That would support you in longevity, healthier body, less disease. What would you say are those?

    2. VL

      I don't, I don't, I don't like-

    3. LH

      [laughs]

    4. VL

      ... to say that because people then think-

    5. LH

      Or if you could-

    6. VL

      ... "Oh, I'm, you know, I'm gonna remove, uh, red meat, uh, from the-"

    7. LH

      Well, if you could-

    8. VL

      Uh-

    9. LH

      ... minimize it where you could only do it every once in a while.

    10. VL

      Yeah. Yeah, I would say, you know, certainly processed, uh, uh-

    11. LH

      Processed foods

    12. VL

      ... meats, you know. Uh, yeah, so th- those are, are, are clearly in the bad category for cancer, cardiovascular disease, et cetera. Uh, then I would say probably fried, uh, animal fats.

    13. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    14. VL

      You know, uh, oils, et cetera. When they're fried, uh, they're, they're, uh, they're not good at all.

    15. LH

      What happens to the body when they're, when they're fried?

    16. VL

      Well, I mean, the, the fats change and when they change they can cause inflammation, they can contribute-

    17. LH

      Mm

    18. VL

      ... to... I mean, the number one death, uh, cause of death in the United States is still cardiovascular disease.

    19. LH

      Right.

    20. VL

      Uh, so yeah, so-

    21. LH

      And that's inflammation has caused, caused that.

    22. VL

      Inflammation and the fats, right? So the fats then are gonna help, uh, uh, deposit, uh, in the, in the, in, inside walls of the arteries. Um, and then when you have inflammation plus the fats and, and these, uh, saturated fats particularly, now you have a recipe for, for-

    23. LH

      Disaster, yeah

    24. VL

      ... a heart attack-

    25. LH

      Gotcha

    26. VL

      ... for stroke, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, so those, uh, those are, uh-

    27. LH

      So processed meats, fried animal fats, and what would you say would be the third one?

    28. VL

      The third one may be like, uh, processed sweets, right? So, so the, the, the type of stuff that you see-

    29. LH

      Like what?

    30. VL

      ... in a package with lots of sugar in it.

  11. 26:16 – 33:14

    Fasting trends decoded: why 12 hours is the safe baseline and breakfast matters

    1. LH

      What, um... So the fasting has become this massive, more mainstream talked-about thing. We were talking about this before. There's all these big fasting apps with millions of users. There's tons of fasting books. There's different types of fasting. There's water-only fasting that you do for a few days. Uh, there's, you know, just, a ve- calorie-restricted fasting. There's the, uh, time-restricted fasting. There's the fasting-mimicking diet. There are all these different types of fasting. Can you, can you break down maybe the pros and cons of some of these that you've seen?

    2. VL

      Yeah.

    3. LH

      And which one is most effective for us, or is it something we just need to try and see what works for us?

    4. VL

      I would definitely say, um, no to your, your last question, right?

    5. LH

      Okay.

    6. VL

      So, yeah. I- I- It's not about trying because, um, it, uh, um, it can do... I- fasting is like eating, right?

    7. LH

      Okay.

    8. VL

      It can do a lot of good for you or a lot of damage.

    9. LH

      Right.

    10. VL

      And, and, uh, um, so I would say that you're starting to see lots of clinical studies-

    11. LH

      Mm

    12. VL

      ... and pre-clinical, so animal-

    13. LH

      Yes

    14. VL

      ... studies, clinical. And, and, and at a certain point, you put it together, and you get a good sense for what works and what doesn't work. It doesn't mean... It's not by no means final.

    15. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    16. VL

      But you get a good sense. So I would say if you look at the daily type of fast, what clearly works and is not associated with any negative effects is 12 hours, right?

    17. LH

      12 hours of fasting.

    18. VL

      12 hours of time restricted eating.

    19. LH

      A day.

    20. VL

      Right. Yeah.

    21. LH

      Don't eat for-

    22. VL

      About-

    23. LH

      Don't eat for 12 hours.

    24. VL

      Yeah, don't... Yeah, so say 8:00 AM, 8:00 PM, stop eating at 8:00 PM, and no more food until next day 8:00 AM, okay?

    25. LH

      Okay, so-

    26. VL

      So that I would say I've never seen a negative study about this.

    27. LH

      So if you eat, if you wake up, you eat between 8:00 and 8:00, you're good.

    28. VL

      Yeah.

    29. LH

      Don't eat before 8:00 AM. Don't eat after 8:00 PM.

    30. VL

      Yeah, yeah. So that's already a, a very good one. Um, another one, it... Now, if you go to 16 hours, right, say 16/8-

  12. 33:14 – 40:12

    Why FMD differs from water-only fasting: practicality, safety, and avoiding “thrifty mode”

    1. LH

      What about one, one day a month? For like, "I'm gonna do a 24-hour fast one day a month," does that show benefits?

    2. VL

      Yeah, yeah, and, and nobody knows, right? Nobody knows. It- the, the problem with that, and this is why we, w- w- I, m- my lab and, and my group has always focused on this, developing this fasting-mimicking diet, is that in, in the one day, you, you don't quite get into the ketogenic mode, right?

    3. LH

      In one day of fasting?

    4. VL

      Yeah, in one day of fasting. So y- you struggle because most people, uh, will not view that positively. I mean, you know, tomorrow or next week, I, I, I'm not gonna have a day where I don't eat, right? So it's a struggle, and uh, and also, you don't quite get... So you- you're hungry, uh, for that 24 hours, and you don't quite get into a, a fat, uh-

    5. LH

      Burning

    6. VL

      ... a, a starvation response mode, right?

    7. LH

      Uh-huh.

    8. VL

      Yeah. That's why we're saying, um, probably, um, the system, i- if you look at our history, right? Uh, most likely we don't have... We can't go back in time, but so most likely, um, in the summers, we were, um, we had the job to get fat, right?

    9. LH

      Mm.

    10. VL

      Uh-

    11. LH

      Fill up for winter, yeah

    12. VL

      ... lots of fruit, honey, whatever you can get your hands on, eat as much as possible. And then the, the diabetes and pre-diabetes, you know, the, the insulin resistance that then leads to diabetes, so insulin doesn't work as well, it was probably part of that process of making you store fat. Put away as much fat as possible. So now, you know, this can be activated any time of the year, right? Because people overeat all, uh, uh, all, all year long. And so probably, not probably, what we see now clinically is that when you do, let's say, five days of a fasting-mimicking diet, or it could even be water-only fasting, uh, you unlock that. You seem to unlock that mode where, uh... And this is why the doctor that I was telling you about, you see even, you see even, even, uh, uh, using the fat- the longevity diet, but he's still not quite losing that insulin resistance until he does the fasting-mimicking diet.

    13. LH

      Really?

    14. VL

      That changes, y- and you clearly see the slope of, of the gla- the, the glucose levels curve.

    15. LH

      Oh.

    16. VL

      And, and, and so, yeah, probably-

    17. LH

      And the, and the fasting-mimicking diet is around, like, 300 to 500 calories a day type of thing. Is that right or...?

    18. VL

      No, the, the fasting-mimicking diet, uh, uh, is, uh, the one for regular people is 1,100 calories on day one, and then it goes to-

    19. LH

      And then it goes down

    20. VL

      ... 800 calories on day-

    21. LH

      Gotcha

    22. VL

      ... two, three, four, five, right? So it's like-

    23. LH

      Okay, gotcha

    24. VL

      ... slowly.

    25. LH

      So it's 800 calories for the last four days?

    26. VL

      Yeah.

    27. LH

      Gotcha, okay.

    28. VL

      Yeah, so then, then the possibility is considering that, you know, 70, over 70% of Americans are either overweight or obese, uh, now we're saying if you, uh, intervened, uh, a couple of times a year at least, and you remind the system, "We are not in summer mode. Uh, okay, let's go into winter mode. Let's go into-"

    29. LH

      Hmm

    30. VL

      "... let's burn these fats because, uh, um, you know, we're, we're no longer having to store 'em." Um, yeah, so that, that could be the, the trick of the, the five days versus, let's say, one day a month-

  13. 40:12 – 46:06

    Genetics, “little people” research, and what else helped a 117-year-old live longer

    1. LH

      So who was the woman you said is 100, 17 years old?

    2. VL

      Emma Morano is her name. Yeah.

    3. LH

      Emma Morano. She's Italian?

    4. VL

      Italian, yeah, from Verbania, Italy. Yeah.

    5. LH

      Wow. What are the, uh, the main causes beyond diet of, of her living a long, healthy life?

    6. VL

      Uh, in her case, it was genetics, right? So, so, a- and we knew, I mean, you're never 100% sure, but you're pretty sure because wh- when I asked her, "Tell me about all your brothers and sisters and your mom and father," uh, I think-

    7. LH

      They all lived old.

    8. VL

      All, all of them but one over the age of 90.

    9. LH

      Oh my gosh.

    10. VL

      And the chance of that is one in a billion probably-

    11. LH

      Wow

    12. VL

      ... right? So, uh, so extremely unlikely that by chance a, a bunch of people in the same family, uh, virtually every one out of 10 people will make it to 100, uh, 90.

    13. LH

      So, so that's a, that's a genetic, that's a gene type of thing. What is the gene that she has or her family has, and is there a way that we can trigger those genes in ourselves?

    14. VL

      Yes, with nutrition, with the longevity diet and the fasting-mimicking diet and a few other things. Yeah, so we've been following now for, uh, uh, 15 years the, this population in Ecuador, and they're little people, right? So they're about, uh, three feet tall.

    15. LH

      No way.

    16. VL

      Yeah.

    17. LH

      Three feet?

    18. VL

      Three feet tall, yes, and they're lacking what's called growth hormone receptor. Um-

    19. LH

      Oh

    20. VL

      ... but why are we studying, uh, these people? Because if you remember, uh, our first discovery of the, the genes that control aging in microorganisms, it was in the same what's called pathway. So these, these g- these, uh, um, microorganism that live 10 times longer, they are little, right?

    21. LH

      Mm.

    22. VL

      Yeah, so, and, and then the work by John Kopchick and Andre Bartke, uh, here in the US showing that the mice that have longevity, record longevity extension, they're little mice, right? With the same mutation and the same gene, the growth hormone receptor.

    23. LH

      Both of you, both you and I are kinda tall, though. Are we screwed?

    24. VL

      No, no, not necessarily because we know that we can intervene, um, you know, at different stages of life, right?

    25. LH

      Ah.

    26. VL

      So you, you, you can intervene, you can start a, a nutritional intervention or a pharmacological intervention on a, on a, you know, mouse at different stages. Of course, the earlier you start, the bigger the effect you see, but, um, um, but, but you can still get a lot of the effects, uh, later, later in life, especially if you consider the deaths from diseases, right?

    27. LH

      Mm.

    28. VL

      So, so, uh-

    29. LH

      Right

    30. VL

      ... if you, if you switch your, your nutrition- Um, even w- if somebody was 60 years old, uh, they could still make a big difference

  14. 46:06 – 1:06:36

    Building a longevity support team: integrative physicians, dietitians, and the psychology of adherence

    1. LH

      Let's say you have unlimited resources. Let's just, hypothetical situation, got unlimited resources, or you've got a certain amount of money to dedicate towards a nutritional health doctoral team a year. Who would you wanna have on your team, or what types of people should people be looking for on their team? Is it a nutritionist? Is it a specific type of doctor? Is it a, you know, trainer? What, what are those people that we should be looking for?

    2. VL

      Yeah. So yeah, so we're, we're trying to do that, both in, in Italy and, and here in, in Los Angeles. And so, um, the, um, uh, we have physicians that are i- in- internal medicine-

    3. LH

      Internal medicine

    4. VL

      ... uh, internal medicine doctors, and, um, and, uh, they're, they are integrative type of doctors. So they understand, they appreciate the, the, um, integration with other, uh, intervention-

    5. LH

      Mm-hmm

    6. VL

      ... that could be, you know, nutrition, exercise, et cetera, et cetera. Uh, then we have, we like, we like to have, um, at the clinic, uh, dieticians that, uh, have higher degrees, right? The, the type of person that might have focused on nutrition, might get a Ph.D., right? And, uh, and then ideally, um, a, uh, a psychologist. We don't have that yet because we're still small, but I think, uh, that, that, uh, that would be, uh, very helpful. Um, and then the collaboration which we have luckily with lots of hospitals all over the world, right? So, uh, in each case, we look for partners in, you know, usually we do clinical trials. Uh, but, you know, our partners include MD Anderson, Mayo Clinic, uh-

    7. LH

      Mm-hmm

    8. VL

      ... Cleveland Clinic, uh-

    9. LH

      Mm-hmm

    10. VL

      ... you know. And, and so as we develop, um, uh, protocols, clinical protocols, then we go to some of the, the leading, uh, hospitals-

    11. LH

      Wow

    12. VL

      ... and we ... And, and usually the leading hospitals are very open, you know. Uh, they, they, they, they like things that are different, and they're looking forward, uh, or forward-looking. And, uh, yeah. So I think that, um, that eventually it'd be nice that everybody had that, right?

    13. LH

      Yes.

    14. VL

      Everybody had the ... So you, let's say you come to our clinic, and then, uh, uh, based on the problem, uh, the clinic says, "I think you should be treated by this oncologist or this cardiologist or this, uh, immunologist," um, because they're probably the ones that are gonna work with the team in a way that-

    15. LH

      Right

    16. VL

      ... you know, minimizes maybe the drug interventions until you do need-

    17. LH

      Sure

    18. VL

      ... the drug inter- intervention. For example, in a ca- cancer trials, it's all drugs, right?

    19. LH

      Yes.

    20. VL

      So it's fasting-mimicking diet plus the drugs. We've never seen any evidence that, uh, doing it without the drugs is gonna be helpful, yeah.

    21. LH

      How, how much of a negative effect does taking drugs consistently in your life- ... affect the longevity of your life? Even on a little bit of drugs or medication, or a lot of drugs?

    22. VL

      Yeah, nobody knows, right? Because I don't know that there is any, uh, formal studies o- o- on this. But, uh, um, I, I think that the body i- is in a perfect equilibrium.

    23. LH

      Yeah, so harmony.

    24. VL

      And we-

    25. LH

      Yeah

    26. VL

      ... everything is perfect. It was nearly perfect, let's say, you know? Um, and so for example, if you think about, uh, cholesterol, right? So now you have a, a statin, so this drug is now gonna block cholesterol synthesis. Well, um, is it-

    27. LH

      It's gonna cause a different problem, right? Yeah

    28. VL

      ... yeah, is that good? Well, yeah, it's good because it's lowering your blood cholesterol, but at the same time, so you have to ask the question, why were you making all that cholesterol, you know?

    29. LH

      Mm.

    30. VL

      What are you trying to do with that, right? So the cholesterol is involved in, in making hormones, you know, in making, uh, in building cells. Uh, so what happens when you block that, right? Uh, and, um, uh, yeah, so then, then, um, you have to consider it, ev- lots of drugs are blocking things. And, um, and they're not necessarily blocking things in a sophisticated way, right? So they're, they're, they're not, um, let's say, go after the cholesterol synthesis. They'll say, "Oh, I'm gonna allow this type of cholesterol to be made, but I'm gonna l- you know, uh, affect some other subtype," you know? Usually they're pretty rough, right? So of course, you know, things, uh, are getting better in, in some cases. There are more sophisticated drugs, for example, those that are targeting the immune system.

  15. 1:06:36 – 1:23:38

    Why obesity is a “system” problem: marketing, medicine’s incentives, and the smoking analogy

    1. LH

      Interesting. And what do you think is the main cause for 7 out of 10 Americans being overweight and obese? Is it lack of discipline, lack of knowledge, uh, just abundance of food available that they're just eating? Is it-

    2. VL

      I, I think-

    3. LH

      ... they don't care, they're not educated? What's the-

    4. VL

      No, I think it's the system, yeah.

    5. LH

      System.

    6. VL

      The, the whole system is structured. Uh, you know, the food companies-

    7. LH

      The food marketing-

    8. VL

      The food companies-

    9. LH

      ... just constantly selling

    10. VL

      ... make a lot of money selling everything

    11. LH

      ... wow.

    12. VL

      And the food company, each individual can say, "Look, don't blame me. I'm just selling french fries, you know? Am, am I a bad person 'cause I sell french..." No, you know? It's okay to have, allow people to eat some french fries. Um, but then you have the medical system that, that basically say You know, we're not that interested in nutrition. Uh, we're interested in treating people. And then you have the hospital making a lot of money, uh, you know-

    13. LH

      Because people are sick

    14. VL

      ... charging, and the insurance company pay for it. So the entire system is, loves it like this, right? The funny thing is, of course, all the people that are working for these companies that sell food and hospitals are the, are the patients themselves, you know?

    15. LH

      Oh, right.

    16. VL

      And that's the ironic part, right? That, uh... So yeah, so I think that, that you have to change all the way from the journalists, uh, to the TV commercials, to the, you know, the, the, the entire system has to change.

    17. LH

      Right.

    18. VL

      And so we, kind of like it happened for, for smoke, right? You have to sort of say-

    19. LH

      Mm-hmm

    20. VL

      ... yeah, this is not good for you. Yeah. [laughs] And, uh, so at some point then the system said, you know, "Smoking kills you." And, and then that did not, um, change everything, but certainly it cut the smokers in half.

    21. LH

      Right.

    22. VL

      And maybe a little bit over half right now.

    23. LH

      Right.

    24. VL

      So def-

    25. LH

      That's good

    26. VL

      ... that's a big victory, right? That, that's a big victory. So now if we say, "Bad food kills you," a- a- and we put it in, in, in-

    27. LH

      On labels like in smoking.

    28. VL

      Yeah, and, and, you know, all the television seeing this, this, uh, story and, and the, the universities and the hospitals, then, yeah, then you're not gonna see everybody, uh, but out of the 72% or so, I think we go down to 35-

    29. LH

      Wow

    30. VL

      ... uh, or so, yeah.

  16. 1:23:38 – 1:38:37

    What’s next in longevity: “nutri-technology,” AI-guided personalization, and bionics

    1. LH

      What would you say, what do you think, based on your studies, almost 30 years that you've been in this field, what do you think we're gonna discover in the next 30 years that we haven't discovered yet about, you know, longevity, optimizing our health? Is there anything you think, "Maybe this could happen," or we could discover this new thing, or we're early stages, but there's not enough data and res- research yet? Is there anything you see in, in cha- either changing the gene or s- nutrition or something-

    2. VL

      Yeah

    3. LH

      ... that could extend our lifespan even more?

    4. VL

      Yeah. First of all, I think, you know, I call the nutri-technology, right? So the, you know, the, the nutrition field used to be-

    5. LH

      Uh-huh

    6. VL

      ... sort of like a soft science, you know, just a lot of ideas and observation.

    7. LH

      Hmm.

    8. VL

      Now it's moving into a hard science.

    9. LH

      Science, yeah.

    10. VL

      You know? Exactly what kind of amino acids are in that composition and, uh, what is the frequency, et cetera, et cetera. So I think the nutri-technology is gonna get better and better and better, and, uh, and at some point also we're gonna combine it with artificial intelligence. And so, you know, it's gonna revolutionize I think in the next-

    11. LH

      Hmm

    12. VL

      ... 10, 15 years.

    13. LH

      Really?

    14. VL

      Yeah. So if somebody has a problem, let's say it could be an immune problem, it could be a, a gastrointestinal problem, it could be diabetes, and, and, uh, I think at some point we'll be able to pinpoint, uh, uh, exactly... Let's say you have celiac disease, right? It's an autoimmunity, um, and it's caused by gluten.

    15. LH

      Hmm.

    16. VL

      Uh, you know, 30 years ago nobody knew that, right? So you're eating pasta and bread and, uh, suffering like hell, and, uh, and people had no idea. They just load you up with drugs, right? So now, uh, no. No drugs, just avoid gluten, you know?

    17. LH

      Yeah.

    18. VL

      That's it, you know? And, and then you're cured. Uh, so yeah. So then imagine... So we know that, it's very clear. Or lactose, in lactose intolerance, right? Yeah. You, you know, if you're Japanese, uh, most Japanese are gonna be lactose intolerant genetically. Uh, so if you drink milk and you're not feeling so well-

    19. LH

      Don't drink milk, yeah

    20. VL

      ... well, you know, you have a simple solution, right? And, and-

    21. LH

      Right

    22. VL

      ... yeah. So imagine how many of those there are that we don't know about.

    23. LH

      And, and, and with, you know, uh, omics, so be able to look at the microbiota composition, but also look at the, um, there is, there is constantly called metabolomics. It looks at all the molecules in the blood that change. And, and eventually, very soon we'll be able to relate that to what you're eating. Right? So, so then we'll be able to say, "You need to avoid these six foods, and you need to have higher level of this another 10 foods, and that's gonna solve the problem." So that's, that's I think, uh, uh-

    24. SP

      Mm

    25. LH

      ... a big, uh, it's gonna have a, a, a lot of, uh, potential. And, uh, and then I think, you know, uh, we'll see a lot of bionics, you know, so-

    26. SP

      Really?

    27. LH

      We'll see a lot of, uh, you know, probably artificial, uh, you know, organs and, uh, and yeah. And, and people have been working on this for a long time, and now this is, there's a lot of excitement. You know, can you make a pancreas that is, uh, that is artificial, right? So yeah, of course, they're working on that. And can you make kidneys that are artificial? And, and the heart, we already have, you know. So, so yeah. So I think that in the next 30 years, um, we're gonna see lots of this, this machine/uh, uh, human, um, you know, combined. Um, of course, the longevity is a little bit trickier because you have to protect everything, right?

    28. SP

      Right.

    29. LH

      Including the brain, and the brain is a-

    30. SP

      That's tricky

  17. 1:38:37 – 1:42:01

    Closing reflections: “three truths” and a definition of greatness

    1. LH

      Amazing. This is inspiring stuff. I've got a couple final questions for you. Uh, this is called the three truths question. I ask everyone this question at the end of an interview. So I'd like you to imagine a hypothetical scenario that it is your last day on Earth, many years away. You live to however you want, however old you wanna live. Um, you followed your own plan, so you live over 100 and you, you live a great life. But for whatever reason, it's the last day, and you've gotta take all of your content, your books, this interview, anything you've ever said, you've gotta take it with you to the next place, or it leaves the world. So wh-

    2. VL

      Said? Only said?

    3. LH

      Uh, written, said-

    4. VL

      Oh

    5. LH

      ... any content. All content you've ever created, it's gone. So we don't have access to your information anymore.

    6. VL

      Mm-hmm.

    7. LH

      But you have, um, you know, a piece of paper and a pen, and you get to write down three lessons that you've learned in your life, and this is all we would have to remember the wisdom that you gained and you share with us. I call this the three truths. What would you say would be those three lessons or three truths for you?

    8. VL

      Well, f- uh, for sure, um, take care of your health.

    9. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    10. VL

      Um, and that includes your mental health. Uh, I would say for sure, um, keep, uh, what you need and, and, uh, donate the rest. Uh, I would say that that's probably a very, um, a very important thing. And then I think that, um, the third would be, I don't know, maybe s- you know, spend as much time as possible with the people that, uh, that you, uh, care about. You know?

    11. LH

      Mm-hmm. I love it. Those are good truths. That's good wisdom.

    12. VL

      Yeah. [laughs] My, mine, yeah, but ...

    13. LH

      [laughs] Well, I wanna acknowledge you before I ask the final question, um, for your, your commitment and dedication to serving so many people who have struggled with their health and are confused. I think there's a lot of confusion in the world, and your commitment to science, research, clinical studies, all the different things that you've done in the last 30 years in the education system to bringing this wisdom to the world has been extremely helpful for so many people who have no clue what they're doing. So I really acknowledge you for, for showing up consistently-

    14. VL

      Well, thank you

    15. LH

      ... for walking the talk, for, uh, you know, continuing the research and putting this out there in a powerful way. It's really inspiring, and you're, you're helping people live longer and healthier lives, so I appreciate that.

    16. VL

      Well, thanks. Thanks.

    17. LH

      Yeah, it's really inspiring. My last question is what's your definition of greatness?

    18. VL

      Um, probably, uh, I, I mentioned this in my first book, you know, change things in positive for as many people as possible.

    19. LH

      Yeah.

    20. VL

      Right? You know, if you can, uh, if you can make it better for a billion people-

    21. LH

      Mm

    22. VL

      ... uh, you just, uh, you know, change a, a billion lives, uh, for, for the better. So, so yeah. So I think that's probably, yeah, greatness.

    23. VL

      What have we been consuming the longest? This supplement is new. This drug is new. Humans, we have millions of years of evolution in relationship with eating foods that have supported our development. What do my, what do my genes expect me to eat? Where is it expected to come from? Food.

    24. LH

      From a concentrated pill supplement or from food?

Episode duration: 1:42:02

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