The Optispan Podcast with Matt Kaeberlein

Author and physician Peter Attia popularized the concept of "Medicine 3.0", the third in a series of distinct phases—Medicine 1.0 and Medicine 2.0 included—that describe the evolution of medicine as we know it.

In this episode, Matt takes us through these phases and proposes a "Medicine 4.0" as the best next step beyond Peter's Medicine 3.0. He discusses the reactive disease care approach of Medicine 2.0, noting that while it has done a stellar of job of increasing life expectancy through developments such as widespread antibiotic use, sanitation improvements, and childhood mortality reductions, it has not been quite as useful at improving healthspan. People may stay alive for longer than they used to, but many of them spend this extra time alive suffering from at least one significant chronic disease or disability that significantly impedes their vitality and quality of life. Matt suggests several approaches we should take to kick off Medicine 4.0 and also presents an even longer-range version of the future: Medicine 5.0.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

#231 – AMA #41: Medicine 3.0, developments in the field of aging, healthy habits in times of stress, and more

The concept of Medicine 3.0 comes from author and physician Peter Attia. In this "Ask Me Anything" episode of the Peter Attia Drive podcast, Peter discusses medicine's trajectory through Medicine 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. He describes each phase thoroughly and argues that while Medicine 2.0 has served us well in some ways, we have reached the limits of its capacity and need to create another fundamental shift to Medicine 3.0 if we want to meaningfully extend human longevity.

What is Medicine 3.0?

If you're pressed for time, here's the CliffsNotes version of Medicine 3.0 from Peter Attia.

How healthy is the healthspan concept?

In 2018, Matt published this article exploring the concept of healthspan and the lack of clarity in the usage of the term. He notes that while a common definition of healthspan is “the period of life spent in good health, free from the chronic diseases and disabilities of aging”, there are many issues with this definition—for example, are all diseases equal in heralding the end of healthspan? If you are simply frail and get sick more often, has your healthspan ended? He discusses the implications of imprecise definitions of healthspan for interpreting new findings in the geroscience field.

In Search of Methuselah: Estimating the Upper Limits to Human Longevity

Published in 1990, this paper argues that major life expectancy gains past 83 years at birth are unlikely to happen absent truly transformative discoveries in modulating biological aging. The paper includes data that highlights the ineffectiveness of a one-by-one approach to curing disease in significantly extending human lifespan: for example, curing all forms of cancer would increase life expectancy at birth by only 3.17 and 3.2 years for females and males respectively, while curing all ischemic heart disease would increase life expectancy at birth by only 3.0 and 3.5 years for females and males respectively.

Articulating the Case for the Longevity Dividend

This paper, whose author S. Jay Olshansky is the lead author on the previous paper in this list, argues that making progress on major individual diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer will have diminishing returns on enhancing longevity. As Matt does in this episode, the paper makes the case for tackling the biology of aging as more effective armor against multiple chronic diseases than any intervention currently available.

Your health doesn't need to be complicated. With so much conflicting information out there, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of what truly works. At the Optispan Podcast, we focus on cutting through the noise and providing you with clear, evidence-backed solutions that will make a noticeable difference in your life, rather than creating incremental change or no change at all.

In this episode, Matt goes through the Optispan "Pillars of Healthspan" and explains how these pillars intersect and impact aging and age-related disease prevention. He describes various simple strategies for improving one's weakest pillar, including reducing sugar in coffee, improving sleep hygiene, fostering social connections, and more; and encourages listeners to self-assess, use diagnostics, and seek assistance to enhance their health span trajectory where appropriate.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

How to practically change your behaviors | Peter Attia & James Clear

This snippet of the Peter Attia Drive podcast features New York Times bestselling author James Clear, who wrote the book "Atomic Habits". Clear suggests focusing on displacing bad habits with better ones, and describes how it can sometimes take removing oneself from old environments to do this ("environment is like a form of gravity...it just pulls on you").

Good genes are nice, but joy is better

The Harvard Study of Adult Development is a multi-decade longitudinal effort to track hundreds of Americans in order to gain insight into adult physical and psychological changes. A fascinating finding from the study, which began in 1938, was that close relationships predict life satisfaction and happiness better than do social class, IQ, or genetics. Harvard Medical School Professor of Psychiatry George Vaillant told the Harvard Gazette that "the key to healthy aging is relationships, relationships, relationships.”

Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain: An Inpatient Randomized Controlled Trial of Ad Libitum Food Intake

Ultra-processed foods such as cereals, breads, and packaged snacks—the foods one often finds in the middle aisles at the grocery store—may be to blame for a lot of the American obesity crisis. This study compared a group of adults receiving ultra-processed foods to a group receiving unprocessed foods. The group on the ultra-processed diet consumed more calories and gained more weight than the group on the unprocessed diet, despite both groups' meals being matched for calories, energy density, macronutrients, sugar, sodium, and fiber.

Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them

While most of the foods we consume are processed to at least a small degree, some processed foods are worse for you than others. This paper describes pragmatic and simple ways to identify whether a given food is “ultra-processed”—that is, made using specific ingredients and manufacturing processes designed to create low-cost, long shelf-life, convenient, and hyperpalatable foods.

Healthy aging: The ultimate preventative medicine

Matt and colleagues make the case for placing greater emphasis on research into the biology of aging in a review for the journal Science. Traditional biomedical research has created significant advances in medical care by focusing primarily on understanding and treating individual diseases, but has not addressed the accumulation of age-related morbidities in aging populations. The study of aging biology, or geroscience, aims to plug this gap by identifying the mechanisms that underlie aging and developing interventions to extend healthy lifespan. By targeting aging processes themselves rather than individual diseases, researchers hope to delay the onset and progression of various age-related conditions.

This summer, Matt and Nick visited MYOXCIENCE Nutrition founder and content creator Mike Mutzel in the greater Seattle area to give saunas and cold plunges a try. In this episode, they share their personal experiences with both, noting the mental and physical effects they experienced during and afterward, and emphasize the importance of considering both risks and rewards in healthspan interventions.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

Effects of heat and cold on health, with special reference to Finnish sauna bathing

According to this review, sauna use is a common and accessible activity in Finland, with children beginning their introduction to the sauna at 6 months to one year old. Finnish saunas use high temperatures (80–100°C, or 176-212°F), and dry air (humidity 10-20 percent). The review discusses several studies showing positive effects of sauna use on cardiovascular health and neurodegenerative disease, and details potential mechanisms for these health benefits. It also describes potential risks of sauna use,

Cardiovascular and Other Health Benefits of Sauna Bathing: A Review of the Evidence

This is another review of how sauna bathing affects health. It details the impact of sauna use on cardiovascular outcomes such as blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, nonvascular diseases such as obstructive pulmonary disease and the common cold, and pain-related disorders such as headaches and rheumatoid arthritis. The authors also propose several mechanistic pathways by which these effects may occur and describe several contraindications of sauna use.

Association Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Events

Researchers investigated the effects of sauna bathing on 2,315 middle-aged men from Eastern Finland and found that more frequent sauna bathing correlated with a lower risk of sudden cardiac death, fatal coronary heart disease (CHD), fatal cardiovascular disease as well as lower all-cause mortality. They posit that some of the benefit may arise from heart rate increases that occur during sauna bathing that may confer similar benefits to those of regular physical exercise, among other physiological changes.

Acute effects of sauna bathing on cardiovascular function

Based on positive changes in arterial stiffness, blood pressure, and blood biomarkers such as hemoglobin, leucocytes, and thrombocytes after 30 minutes of sauna exposure, researchers provide data supporting the idea of a short-term link between sauna use and better cardiovascular health. The researchers call for more studies to establish how sauna bathing impacts cardiovascular function in the mid- to long-term.

The untapped potential of cold water therapy as part of a lifestyle intervention for promoting healthy aging

This is a review of the relatively sparse data about the effects of cold plunges on human physiology and healthspan. The review is generally positive about the potential for cold plunges to be a longevity intervention, citing potential impacts on cardiovascular, mental, and immune health, but acknowledges the need for further research.

We brought George Sutphin back on the podcast to bare his soul—or at least his DEXA scan and VO2 max test results.

A DEXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan is an advanced imaging procedure for measuring bone density and composition. DEXA scans utilize two different energy levels of low-dose X-ray beams—one absorbed mostly by soft tissue, and the other absorbed mainly by bone—to differentiate between bone, fat, and lean tissue. In so doing, they provide noninvasive and detailed information about bone health, risk of osteoporosis or fractures, and body composition. While medical practioners typically perform DEXA scans on the lower spine and hips, they can also perform DEXA scans on the whole body for the purposes of early detection and intervention.

A VO2 max test measures the maximum volume of oxygen an individual can utilize during high-intensity exercise. At its core, it provides an assessment of a person's cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance. During the test, the subject performs a graded exercise protocol, typically on a treadmill or stationary bike, while wearing a mask connected to a metabolic cart. The cart measures the volume and gas concentrations of inhaled and exhaled air. As the exercise intensity increases, the test measures the point at which oxygen consumption plateaus, despite further increases in workload. This point is the VO2 max, indicating the person's aerobic capacity and endurance potential. The results can provide valuable information for athletes to tailor their training programs, for clinicians to assess the efficacy of treatments, and for researchers studying the effects of various interventions on cardiovascular health. VO2 max levels are strongly correlated with all-cause mortality.

In this episode, we chat with George about what he did to change his readouts with time, how his body composition tracks his deadlines, his experiences with Ozempic, and more.

University of Arizona Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology George Sutphin runs a lab that investigates genetic determinants of longevity, the effects of kynurenine-based interventions on lifespan, and environmental regulators of the aging process. George, who was an aerospace engineer before he discovered the promise of geroscience, completed his PhD at the University of Washington and worked as a postdoctoral associate at the Jackson Laboratory prior to his current faculty position. He currently serves as Chairperson of the American Aging Association.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

Optispan uses the BodySpec DEXA scan in its concierge and corporate offerings.

What Is a DEXA Scan and How Can It Help You?

This is an introduction to DEXA scans that covers the history of DEXA scans, how DEXA scans work, what happens during a DEXA scan, and how DEXA scans compare to imaging techniques such as CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and x-rays.

DEXA FAQ

This list of FAQs covers many questions people have about DEXA scans, including how much radiation exposure we receive from DEXA scans, height and weight limits, the safety of DEXA scans for pregnant women, and more.

Unexpected DEXA Scan Results? Here are Some Potential Causes

You may have gotten your DEXA scan results back and balked at what you saw. This list addresses some possible reasons for DEXA scan surprises.

Role of Visceral Adipose Tissue in Aging

This paper reviews and summarizes evidence suggesting that visceral fat accumulation and abdominal obesity predict high disease and mortality risk. It describes studies demonstrating that visceral fat removal from rats extends lifespan, and discusses the potential role visceral fat plays in the lifespan-extending effects of caloric restriction. It also reviews several treatment strategies for tackling visceral fat such as leptin administration.

VO2 Max

This is a useful collection of resources from Peter Attia about what VO2 max is, its relationship with longevity, training to improve your VO2 max, and more.

In April 2024, Matt delivered a presentation at a two-day congressional briefing on longevity science hosted at Washington, D.C.'s Mayflower Hotel by the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives (A4LI). Attendees included former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Republican Congressman Gus Bilirakis, and Democratic Congressman Paul Tonko. We have decided to include Matt's presentation on our channel because we believe it delivers a valuable message.

Healthcare has historically taken a piecemeal approach to diseases, addressing ailments in isolation. While this method has been successful at curing and sometimes even eradicating multiple diseases, it has its limitations. Aging is the single greatest risk factor for many of the chronic diseases we worry about in later life—think cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes—and involves a complex interplay of molecular, cellular, and physiological changes that underlie a myriad of health conditions. There is a reason that your average 80-year-old has more health problems than your average 18-year-old. As our understanding of human biology deepens, it is becoming increasingly evident that we need to broaden our focus beyond individual diseases and incorporate the biology of aging into strategies for improving human health and resilience to disease. Achieving this paradigm shift towards addressing the fundamental processes of aging, which will require interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists, clinicians, policymakers, and the public, will give us the potential to mitigate multiple age-related diseases simultaneously.

In this episode, Matt covers how we got here, the differences between 19th and 21st century medicine, and the importance of targeting the biological aging process to create transformative results in tackling healthcare challenges. He also discusses policy reforms that would be useful for the cause, including changes to FDA regulation, a rethinking of insurance reimbursement, and how he would reslice the federal funding pie.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

Is our healthcare system broken?

This blogpost describes the US healthcare system as expensive, complicated, dysfunctional, and broken. It details some of the issues associated with the US healthcare system, including a poor cost-patient satisfaction ratio, access disparities for disadvantaged groups, and distorted incentives among health insurance providers. It also mentions a misguided focus on disease care rather than on preventative care such as nutrition, exercise, and mental health care, and notes that doctors in disease care specialties such as cardiology and surgery tend to have much higher incomes than doctors who work in primary care.

The Patient Experience: Perspectives on Today's Healthcare

Market research and analytics company The Harris Poll partnered with the American Academy of Physician Associates to survey over 2,500 adults in the United States in early 2023 about US healthcare. The survey found that many adults are dissatisfied with the US healthcare system: 34 percent gave the system a C grade, compared to 10 percent who gave it an A grade. An excessive focus on treating illness and injury when they happen, rather than on preventing them way before their onset, was one of the survey's most common complaints.

Fiscal Year 2024 Budget

The fiscal year 2024 budget of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a division of the United States National Institutes of Health aimed at increasing healthy, active years of life in older adults, describes the NIA's research priorities. Several researchers in the geroscience field have expressed a wish for a greater proportion of the NIA budget to go toward studies of the biology of aging, rather than toward studies of individual diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The economic value of targeting aging

Published in 2021, this paper showed that a one-year increase in healthy life expectancy via targeting aging, as opposed to individual diseases, is worth $38 trillion in economic value. That number climbs to $367 trillion at 10 years of increased life expectancy. Those numbers might seem too big to be true, but they make more sense if we consider that delaying aging via a geroscience approach could potentially delay a huge number of age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, as well as diseases whose risk is far greater with advanced age, such as COVID-19.

Major longevity gains termed unlikely

In 1990, researchers at the University of Chicago published their findings that the average American lifespan would only enjoy a three-year gain even if scientists came up with a magic pill to cure all cancers and heart disease. This article covers that research and also presents views about aging that are quite different from those of geroscience today. "Barring a reversal of human aging on a molecular level, the rapid increases in life expectancy are over,” the study’s lead author S. Jay Olshansky said. Of course, 21st century geroscience is trying to investigate exactly what Olshansky mentions: the molecular specifics of human aging and how we can target those molecular mechanisms to address the functional declines and diseases of later life.

If you're listening to this podcast, you've probably caught wind of at least some of the many things you can do to improve and take control of your health and wellbeing. For every legitimate healthspan intervention supported by rigorous research that's out there, there exist a bunch of dubious longevity solutions that have no real scientific backing behind them. The challenge lies not just in identifying what works, but also in resisting the allure of snake oil solutions that promise effortless transformations. Which interventions are actually crucial for optimizing your healthspan, which are just "nice-to-have", and which are downright pointless?

In this episode, Matt and Nick go through over twenty popular strategies for healthspan optimization and grade their usefulness from A to F.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

Oral health for an ageing population: the importance of a natural dentition in older adults

Matt gave an A grade to regular dental visits and oral care as strategies for improving healthspan. This article makes the case for several benefits of maintaining natural teeth and oral function in older adults. One of these is an improved diet, as the loss of chewing ability and/or efficiency that often accompanies tooth loss can bring about a change in diet due to the limited foods one is able to consume. Tooth loss can also lead to issues such as bad breath or an altered facial appearance, which can then impact the social activity that is also an important component of wellbeing.

Does maintaining the number of present and functional teeth benefit the longevity of life in older people requiring nursing care?: A prospective cohort study

This preprint describes a one-year investigation into how the number of "present and functional" teeth in older Japanese people affects mortality. The study found no significant impact of the number of remaining teeth on mortality in these adults, possibly because of the participants' access to sound nutrition and oral care services.

Visceral Fat Is an Independent Predictor of All-cause Mortality in Men

In this study, researchers found that visceral fat, abdominal subcutaneous fat, liver fat, and waist circumference were all associated with a higher death risk for men, and that visceral fat was the sole mortality risk predictor among the four after adjusting for other measures of fat. DEXA scans help you measure your visceral fat levels.

Effects of Wearable Fitness Trackers and Activity Adequacy Mindsets on Affect, Behavior, and Health: Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Trial

According to this study, information about physical activity parameters such as step counts influence people's health and wellbeing. When participants received artificially deflated step counts, they experienced various negative effects, including worse mental health, higher blood pressure and heart rate, and poorer eating. Meanwhile, when participants received accurate feedback about their step counts, their mental health improved and they ate healthier foods.

How Old Do I Look?

If you want to see whether your "facial pores score" beats Nick's, here is the skin aging clock he used.

A DEXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan is an advanced imaging procedure for measuring bone density and composition. DEXA scans utilize two different energy levels of low-dose X-ray beams—one absorbed mostly by soft tissue, and the other absorbed mainly by bone—to differentiate between bone, fat, and lean tissue. In so doing, they provide noninvasive and detailed information about bone health, risk of osteoporosis or fractures, and body composition. While medical practioners typically perform DEXA scans on the lower spine and hips, they can also perform DEXA scans on the whole body for the purposes of early detection and intervention.

In our multi-part DEXA series, we go deep into DEXA scans: what they measure, how to interpret them, and how to use information from your own DEXA scan for healthspan optimization. Part I covers fundamental concepts related to body composition and its evaluation, current tools available for measuring body composition as well as their strengths and limitations, and Matt's personal experiences with DEXA scans.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

Optispan uses the BodySpec DEXA scan in its concierge and corporate offerings.

What Is a DEXA Scan and How Can It Help You?

This is an introduction to DEXA scans that covers the history of DEXA scans, how DEXA scans work, what happens during a DEXA scan, and how DEXA scans compare to imaging techniques such as CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and x-rays.

DEXA FAQ

This list of FAQs covers many questions people have about DEXA scans, including how much radiation exposure we receive from DEXA scans, height and weight limits, the safety of DEXA scans for pregnant wome, and more.

Unexpected DEXA Scan Results? Here are Some Potential Causes

You may have gotten your DEXA scan results back and balked at what you saw. This list addresses some possible reasons for DEXA scan surprises.

Role of Visceral Adipose Tissue in Aging

This paper reviews and summarizes evidence suggesting that visceral fat accumulation and abdominal obesity predict high disease and mortality risk. It describes studies demonstrating that visceral fat removal from rats extends lifespan, and discusses the potential role visceral fat plays in the lifespan-extending effects of caloric restriction. It also reviews several treatment strategies for tackling visceral fat such as leptin administration.

Visceral Fat Is an Independent Predictor of All-cause Mortality in Men

In this study, researchers found that visceral fat, abdominal subcutaneous fat, liver fat, and waist circumference were all associated with a higher death risk for men, and that visceral fat was the sole mortality risk predictor among the four after adjusting for other measures of fat.

We talk a lot about making a shift from reactive disease care—a 20th century healthcare mindset—to preventative and proactive health measures designed to optimize longevity and healthspan before disease sets in. Rather than waiting for chronic conditions to manifest and treating their symptoms post hoc, we encourage investing resources in preemptive care and empowering individuals to act as partners with healthcare providers in their own wellbeing.

Preventative medicine can feel like a lot—cancer screenings, for example, are crucial for early detection and treatment, but can be logistically and emotionally daunting. But proactive healthcare doesn't always need to be complicated. In this episode, Matt goes through what he sees as low-hanging fruit in preventative medicine: simple steps that lend themselves to straightforward measurement, are easy to improve without invasive intervention or drastic lifestyle changes, and will pay dividends in increasing our overall health.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

Examine.com

Examine is an independently-funded (no gifts, donors, sponsors, consulting clients, advertisements, or affliations) database of supplement research that provides information about benefits, dietary sources, dosage, side effects, and more about pretty much any supplement you can think of. It provides further references from the primary literature about each supplement it discusses.

Global and regional prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in population-based studies from 2000 to 2022: A pooled analysis of 7.9 million participants

This study found a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency globally from the years 2000 to 2022. Women and people living in high-latitude areas, the Eastern Mediterranean region, and lower-middle-income countries were more susceptible to vitamin D deficiency. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in winter-spring was nearly twice that in summer-autumn.

Vitamin D deficiency 2.0: an update on the current status worldwide

This study reviews the literature on vitamin D deficiency and its nuances. It discusses prior research about the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation, the impact of vitamin D supplementation on various endpoints, different vitamin D dosing regimes, vitamin D toxicity, and populations for which vitamin D supplementation is likely to be most useful.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin D

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

These fact sheets from the National Institutes of Health discuss recommended intakes, vitamin B12/D/omega-3 fatty acid sources, groups at risk of vitamin B12/D/omega-3 fatty acid deficiency, and more.

A DEXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan is an advanced imaging procedure for measuring bone density and composition. DEXA scans utilize two different energy levels of low-dose X-ray beams—one absorbed mostly by soft tissue, and the other absorbed mainly by bone—to differentiate between bone, fat, and lean tissue. In so doing, they provide noninvasive and detailed information about bone health, risk of osteoporosis or fractures, and body composition. While medical practioners typically perform DEXA scans on the lower spine and hips, they can also perform DEXA scans on the whole body for the purposes of early detection and intervention.

In our multi-part DEXA series, we go deep into DEXA scans: what they measure, how to interpret them, and how to use information from your own DEXA scan for healthspan optimization. Part I covers fundamental concepts related to body composition and its evaluation, current tools available for measuring body composition as well as their strengths and limitations, and Matt's personal experiences with DEXA scans.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

What Is a DEXA Scan and How Can It Help You?

This is an introduction to DEXA scans that covers the history of DEXA scans, how DEXA scans work, what happens during a DEXA scan, and how DEXA scans compare to imaging techniques such as CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and x-rays.

DEXA FAQ

This list of FAQs covers many questions people have about DEXA scans, including how much radiation exposure we receive from DEXA scans, height and weight limits, the safety of DEXA scans for pregnant wome, and more.

Unexpected DEXA Scan Results? Here are Some Potential Causes

You may have gotten your DEXA scan results back and balked at what you saw. This list addresses some possible reasons for DEXA scan surprises.

Abdominal fat analyzed by DEXA scan reflects visceral body fat and improves the phenotype description and the assessment of metabolic risk in mice

This study found a high correlation between visceral fat content measured by DEXA scans and the actual excised visceral fat content of mice, suggesting that DEXA scans are accurate tools for noninvasive fat distribution measurement.

At its best, healthcare isn't just about extending lifespan—it's also about enhancing the vitality of our years. Over the last century, the healthcare system has made enormous strides in keeping sick people alive. The next step is to use proactive, preventative healthcare to stop them from getting sick at all. The Lost Decade—the 10 or so years that many people spend suffering from poor health and/or disability in older age—doesn't have to be a given.

In this episode, Matt discusses why he left academia to help start a healthcare revolution, why sickness and decline don't have to define our final years, how decades of geroscience research have informed his views of healthcare, and what he thinks healthspan optimization should look like.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

Healthy aging: The ultimate preventative medicine

Matt and colleagues make the case for placing greater emphasis on research into the biology of aging in a review for the journal Science. Traditional biomedical research has created significant advances in medical care by focusing primarily on understanding and treating individual diseases, but has not addressed the accumulation of age-related morbidities in aging populations. The study of aging biology, or geroscience, aims to plug this gap by identifying the mechanisms that underlie aging and developing interventions to extend healthy lifespan. By targeting aging processes themselves rather than individual diseases, researchers hope to delay the onset and progression of various age-related conditions.

It is Time to Embrace 21st-Century Medicine

In the journal Public Policy & Aging Report, Matt asserts that we are in a good position to extend human healthspan through more effective means than the 20th century’s reactive disease care model. Instead of taking a one-by-one approach to healthcare, where we tackle diseases one at a time as they occur, we should directly target the biological aging process—and in so doing, add years to people’s health- and lifespan. He lists sources of federal funding for geroscience research and calls for more initiatives within the biomedical research community that center on research into the biology of aging.

Translational geroscience: A new paradigm for 21st century medicine

Matt provides a high-level overview of the geroscience approach and its potential impact. He introduces several efforts to translate current research to the clinic, including clinical trials of rapamycin in humans and dogs as well as the Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) trial, which aims to investigate the impact of the antidiabetic drug metformin on non-diabetes comorbidities in older patients. The article also discusses some of the regulatory hurdles involved with developing interventions that target aging biology.

From lifespan to healthspan (1)

Matt spoke at the recent a16z crypto Founders Summit about his decision to leave academia to found a startup, opportunities for disruption in the healthcare space, and foundational concepts in geroscience. He notes that we are nowhere near close to “longevity escape velocity” or immortality, and advises skepticism of anyone who makes overoptimistic claims about the field.

As a longevity scientist, Matt often receives questions about what supplements he takes—so we decided to make an episode where Matt discusses his supplements protocol.

This episode isn't meant to provide a playbook for you to follow. We want to emphasize the importance of approaching supplements with discernment and an understanding that they are not a substitute for wholesome nutrition and other healthy lifestyle practices. The allure of supplements is understandable: they promise us vitality, strength, and longevity in a convenient capsule. But their indiscriminate consumption can be risky. Blindly reaching for supplements without considering their necessity or potential interactions with medications could lead to adverse effects. Further, the supplement industry isn't rigorously regulated in many regions, leaving room for mislabeling and contamination. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to supplements.

In this episode, Matt discusses his relatively conservative supplements approach, debunks some of the myths associated with supplement consumption, and provides some advice about how to evaluate products that come from a profit-driven industry with few guardrails in place.

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

Examine.com

Examine is an independently-funded (no gifts, donors, sponsors, consulting clients, advertisements, or affiliations) database of supplements research that provides information about benefits, dietary sources, dosage, side effects, and more for pretty much any supplement you can think of. The website provides further references from the primary literature about each supplement it discusses.

NAD and NAD precursors: help or hype? | Peter Attia, M.D. & Matt Kaeberlein, Ph.D.

Matt spoke with physician Peter Attia on the Peter Attia Drive podcast about the nuances of how nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) precursors affect aging. He also discusses his views on the evidence for sirtuins' effects on lifespan.

Why EVERYONE Should Use Creatine Supplements

This episode of physician Brad Stanfield's Look & Feel Young podcast provides a quick primer on the benefits of creatine supplements, which include athletic performance and short-term memory improvements, among others. It also addresses concerns that people often have with creatine supplementation, such as hair loss.