Are you in the Game, or out of it?
introducing the longevity and healthspan experts - Sinclair, Greger and Attia
Interested readers are encouraged to search for additional explanatory information on the content provided below via pubmed.gov, nutritionfacts.org and ChatGPT, as well as through other search engines.
There are numerous experts in the longevity/healthspan field. Three of them stand out because of their best seller books and their digital media presence. They have each reported on a piece of the healthspan domain’s scientific research:
David Sinclair PhD is a research professor of genetics at Harvard University. In addition to his paradigm establishing book, Lifespan, about sirtuins and the hallmarks of aging, he and his colleagues have reported on innovative ground breaking laboratory science in highly respected journals. His focus has been on the epigenetic control of longevity genes.
Michael Greger MD studied agricultural science as an undergraduate and earned a medical degree from Tufts University. He has meticulously and prodigously curated peer-reviewed scientific research in his books on How Not To Die, How Not To Diet and, more recently, How Not Age, as well as selectively summarizing and critiquing a wide variety of research reports via his noncommercial website, NutritionFacts.org. While donating all profits to charity, his focus has been on the value of shifting toward a whole food plant based diet.
Peter Attia MD earned a medical degree from Stanford University, has been an extreme athletic swimmer and cyclist, and has an active commercial medical practice and paid podcast membership. He promotes these through his recent book, Outlive, and his prolific videos that share his opinions about scientific research on longevity. His focus has been on the primary value of exercise for delaying the onset of chronic disease.
This trio of visible thought leaders in the healthspan space constitute a viable pyramid of base expertise from which interested individuals might formulate their own personal strategy to extend their longevity and healthspan.
We have forty-six chromosomes in the nucleus of almost all our cells, twenty-three each from our mother and father. These are wound up in the famous Nobel prize winning discovery of the human genome’s double helix discovery. Each person’s fixed unique genome is contained within these chromosomes. Be advised that we can’t change our genes, but we have the capacity for our genes to be turned on and off by what we ingest, as well as whether we exercise and how we do it.
Sinclair highlights the epigenetic importance of sirtuins for their capacity to turn on or off genes that influence our longevity and healthspan. This epigenetic control of fixed genes is influenced by pollution, stress, diet, exercise, nutraceuticals and drugs.
Greger’s thesis is that diet and nutrition can have similar beneficial effects to pharmaceuticals, as well as go beyond them, without the drug risks and side effects. The voluminous 13,000 references in his recently published book provide a dietary wealth of options, in addition to his previously recommended daily dozen list of foods. These recent additions include cocoa, paper filtered coffee, tempeh, wheat germ and strawberries. The latter three items are specifically recommended because of their spermidine or fisetin content. Freeze dried strawberry powder is available online. Greger’s Daily Dozen is presented immediately below, along with a few recommendations in red from the dharma wanderer.
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Both Sinclair and Greger specifically recommend both aerobic and strengthening exercise, although they give it little attention in their books. Attia, on the other hand, is an exercise animal and has been so for most of his adult life. Along with strength training, he specifically recommends what he calls Zone 2 training, or light aerobics, which is 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate. This is the level at which one can carry on a conversation, but not especially easily. He recommends spending about 10 - 20% of aerobic time in Zone 5 training, which is high intensity intervals. Attia’s view is that exercise is simply the absolute most important single thing one can do to improve longevity and healthspan.
There is somewhat of a controversy in the literature about how much protein is optimal. Older individuals need more protein, as do people who exercise frequently and vigorously. The optimum may be in the range of 1 to 1.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight. Simply adding protein to an older person’s diet will not lead to more muscle or avoid frailty. There is uniform agreement that strength training is required for older individuals to build muscle and avoid frailty. Compared to meat diets, vegetarian diets tend to be lower in the amino acid leucine, which supports muscle building and recovery after exercise. A sports protein powder that lists relatively more leucine content is recommended for those individuals.
The dharma wanderer’s view is that we can do most to all of the above through what we eat, the nutraceuticals we ingest, the exercise we do, how we cope to avoid toxic pollutants, and the ways we manage whatever stress we are under, especially through meditative relaxation and insightful mindfulness. This comprehensive view is in strategic alignment with the new anti-aging longevity and healthspan paradigm that has emerged in the last decade.
To reduce the likelihood and duration of your own personal suffering from illness and chronic disease, as this paradigm gains steam and cyber visibility, are you in the game or out of it?
The Journey continues…
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