Micronutrients for Health & Longevity | Dr. Rhonda Patrick

Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. (instrumental music) I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, my guest is Dr. Rhonda Patrick. Dr. Patrick is known to some of you as a podcaster, and one of the premier educators in the landscape of mitochondria, metabolism, stress, and other aspects of brain and body health. Her podcast, Found My Fitness, is one of the premier podcasts in the world for disseminating knowledge about how the brain and body work, and how we can use behavioral tools, micronutrients, supplements, and other protocols in order to maximize our immediate and long-term health. Dr. Patrick did her formal training in cell biology, exploring the links between mitochondrial metabolism, apoptosis, which is naturally occurring cell death, which is a healthy form of cell death that occurs in our brain and body throughout the lifespan, and cancer biology. She then went on to do postdoctoral training with Dr. Bruce Ames, investigating the effects of micronutrients, meaning vitamins and minerals, and how they affect metabolism, inflammation, DNA damage, and the aging process. She has published landmark review articles and primary research, meaning original research articles, in some of the premier journals in the world, including Science, Nature Cell Biology, Trends in Cell Biology, and FASEB. Indeed, Dr. Patrick is an expert in an extraordinarily broad range of topics that impact our health. For today's episode, we focus primarily on the major categories of micronutrients that are essential for brain and body health. I have to confess that before the discussion with Dr. Patrick, I was aware of only one of the categories of micronutrients that we discuss, and so you'll notice that I am rapt with attention throughout the discussion. And I think that you'll want to have a pen and paper handy, because she offers not only a very clear understanding of the biological mechanisms by which other micronutrients operate, but some very clear and actionable tools and items that we can all embark on if we are to optimize our brain and body health. We also discuss behavioral protocols. Dr. Patrick is well known for her understanding of the scientific literature on sauna and the use of heat and cold for optimizing things like metabolism, longevity, cardiovascular health, and I'm delighted to say that we discuss that as well, and how behavioral protocols can interface with supplement-based and nutritional protocols. I'm confident that you'll learn a tremendous amount of information from Dr. Patrick, much of which is immediately actionable. And if you're not already following and listening to her excellent podcast, you'll absolutely want to do that. It's foundmyfitness.com is the website where you can get access to that podcast. It's also on Apple and Spotify and YouTube as Found My Fitness. Dr. Patrick also has a terrific newsletter that I recommend signing up for. It's foundmyfitness.com/newsletter is where you'll find it, and it includes research on fasting, micronutrients, sleep, depression, fitness, longevity, and far more, along, of course, with actionable protocols. I'm pleased to announce that the Huberman Lab Podcast is now partnered with Momentous supplements. Our motivation for partnering with Momentous is to provide people one location where they can go to access the highest quality supplements in the specific dosages that are best supported by the scientific research, and that are discussed during various episodes of the Huberman Lab Podcast. If you go to livemomentous.com/huberman, you will see those formulations. I should mention that we are going to add more formulations in the months to come. And you will see specific suggestions about how best to take those supplements, meaning what dosages and times of day, and in fact, how to combine those supplements with specific behavioral protocols that have been discussed on the podcast and are science-supported in order to derive the maximum benefit from those supplements. And many of you will probably also be pleased to learn that Momentous ships not just within the United States, but also internationally. So once again, if you go to livemomentous.com/huberman, you will find what we firmly believe to be the best quality supplements in the precise dosages and the best protocols for taking those supplements, along with the ideal behavioral protocols to combine with those supplement formulations. I'm pleased to announce that I'm hosting two live events this May. The first live event will be hosted in Seattle, Washington on May 17th. The second live event will be hosted in Portland, Oregon on May 18th. Both are part of a lecture series entitled The Brain Body Contract, during which I will discuss science and science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance. And I should point out that while some of the material I'll cover will overlap with information covered here on the Huberman Lab Podcast and on various social media posts, most of the information I will cover is going to be distinct from information covered on the podcast or elsewhere. So once again, it's Seattle on May 17th, Portland on May 18th. You can access tickets by going to hubermanlab.com/tour, and I hope to see you there. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost-to-consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is an all-in-one vitamin mineral probiotic drink. I've been taking Athletic Greens since 2012, so I'm delighted that they're sponsoring the podcast. The reason I started taking Athletic Greens and the reason I still take Athletic Greens once or twice a day is that it helps me cover all of my basic nutritional needs. It makes up for any deficiencies that I might have. In addition, it has probiotics, which are vital for microbiome health. I've done a couple of episodes now on the so-called gut microbiome and the ways in which the microbiome interacts with your immune system, with your brain to regulate mood, and essentially with every biological system relevant to health throughout your brain and body. With Athletic Greens, I get the vitamins I need, the minerals I need, and the probiotics to support my microbiome. If you'd like to try Athletic Greens, you can go to athleticgreens.com/huberman and claim a special offer. They'll give you five free travel packs, which make it easy to mix up Athletic Greens while you're on the road, plus a year's supply of vitamin D3 K2.There are a ton of data now showing that vitamin D3 is essential for various aspects of our brain and body health. Even if we're getting a lot of sunshine, many of us are still deficient in vitamin D3. And K2 is also important because it regulates things like cardiovascular function, calcium in the body, and so on. Again, go to athleticgreens.com/huberman to claim the special offer of the five free travel packs and the year's supply of vitamin D3, K2. Today's episode is also brought to us by Thesis. Thesis makes what are called nootropics, which means smart drugs. Now, to be honest, I am not a fan of the term s- nootropics. I don't believe in smart drugs in the sense that I don't believe that there's any one substance or collection of substances that can make us smarter. I do believe, based on science however, that there are particular neural circuits and brain functions that allow us to be more focused, more alert, access creativity, be more motivated, et cetera. That's just the way that the brain works, different neural circuits for different brain states. And so the idea of a nootropic that's just going to make us smarter all around fails to acknowledge that smarter is many things, right? If you're an artist, you're a musician, you're doing math, you're doing accounting, a different part of the day you need to be creative, these are all different brain processes. Thesis understands this, and as far as I know they're the first nootropics company to create targeted nootropics for specific outcomes. They only use the highest quality ingredients, which of course is essential. Some of those I've talked about on the podcast, things like DHA, ginkgo biloba, phosphatidylserine. They give you the ability to try several different blends over the course of a month, discover which nootropics work best for your unique brain chemistry and genetics and goals, and with that personalization, design a kit of nootropics that's ideal for the different brain and body states you want to access. I've been using Thesis for more than six months now and I can confidently say that their nootropics have been a total game changer. My go-to formula is the clarity formula or sometimes I'll use their energy formula be- before training. To get your own personalized nootropic starter kit go online to takethesis.com/huberman, take a three-minute quiz and Thesis will send you four different formulas to try in your first month. That's takethesis.com/huberman and use the code Huberman at checkout for 10% off your first order. Today's episode is also brought to us by InsideTracker. InsideTracker is a personalized nutrition platform that analyzes data from your blood and DNA to help you better understand your body and help you reach your health goals. I've long been a believer in getting regular blood work done, for the simple reason that many of the factors that impact your immediate and long-term health can only be assessed with a quality blood test. What's unique about InsideTracker is that while there are a lot of different tests out there for hormones and metabolic factors, et cetera, with InsideTracker you get the numbers back in terms of your levels, but they also give you very clear directives in terms of lifestyle, nutrition and supplementation that can help you bring those values into the ranges that are best for you and your health goals. And that's very different than a lot of the other programs where you get a lot of information but you don't really know what to do with that information. InsideTracker makes that all very easy to understand and very actionable based on the very easy to use dashboard at InsideTracker. If you'd like to try InsideTracker you can visit insidetracker.com/huberman to get 20% off any of InsideTracker's plans. Just use the code Huberman at checkout. And now for my discussion with Dr. Rhonda Patrick. Rhonda, welcome. This has been a long time coming.