Dr. Matt Kaeberlein is a biologist and one of the leading authorities in the space known as longevity medicine. He’s also one of the few leading scientists willing to call out his peers who are, in the vernacular, full of crap. He’s also CEO of health tech company OptiSpan.
In this conversation, we discuss Kaeberlein’s dislike of the phrase “longevity medicine,” his willingness to call out longevity chiselers like Harvard’s David Sinclair and why almost all other senior scientists stay silent when their peers lie about or overstate their research. We then go into Kaeberlein’s personal fitness and nutrition routines before ending with his review (for paying subscribers) of 11 popular longevity supplements and a few others that the science shows are most effective.
Timestamps
01:32 — Is there any drug, supplement or treatment that can reverse aging in humans?
02:30 — The problem of scientists who mislead the public about longevity research.
04:05 — Exhibit A: David Sinclair, Harvard’s tenured longevity charlatan. “He lied.”
05:38 — Academic scientists who sell supplements through deceptive advertising. “We do not needed our credibility degraded any more than it already is.”
06:22 — Why most other senior scientists don’t call out chiselers like Sinclair. “The perception of shoddy science and charlatanism in this field has had a negative impact on resource allocation,” hindering research. Some leading scientists take the view that any attention brought to the field, even if it’s false information, is beneficial.
07:55 — Modifying aging as a biological process. “In theory, we should be able to reverse that biological process.”
09:01 — The importance of resistance training and body composition tests (e.g., DEXA scans) to understand fat and muscle mass.
11:00 — Two camps of scientists: those who try to disprove their models with rigor vs. those that try to prove their models to support their pre-existing notions.
13:15 — “Misinterpretations” by Sinclair and others about NAD+ research. “If you got a loud megaphone and you’re at a top institution….your opinion becomes dogma until it can get disproven,” which can take a decade or longer.
15:28 — Why he’s on the fence about NAD+: “There’s a lot of things that have been published around NAD precursors and aging that has not been reproducible.”
16:15 — Kaeberlein’s four pillars: Eat, move, sleep, connect. The importance of reading food labels, tracking your food intake, and understanding your body composition.
18:30 — The importance of social relationships in longevity and healthspan. “Don’t avoid human interaction. Seek out opportunities to do things with other people.”
21:15 — The connection between healthspan and mattering to others or showing others that they matter to you. Intentionally giving positive feedback (even if you don’t need it yourself.)
22:45 — Kaeberlein’s thoughts on 11 popular longevity supplements, and the specific supplements he uses or recommends.
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