Longevity Building Block #2: Nutrition

F R A M E W O R K (the what)

• Minimize inflammation

• Eat to live, don’t live to eat

• Maintain diverse and healthy gut flora

• Eat close to nature, minimize ingredients

• Fulfill macro and micronutrient needs aligned with your personal DRIs using food first, then supplements

• Maintain an omega-6 (AA) to omega-3 (EPA) ratio of 5:1 or less

• Keep IGF1 and mTOR in check

  • Eat the least amount of protein to maintain and grow muscle mass

  • Reduce carbs in order to maintain the lowest possible fasting insulin

  • Fill the remainder with fat (after determining the amounts of carbs and protein based on the two above metrics)

M Y R E C I P E (the how)

• Daily supplements sourced from medical-grade, tested manufacturers

  • Multivitamin

  • Vitamin d3

  • Resveratrol

  • Omega-3 (fish oil)

  • Biotin

  • Electrolytes

• Ketogenic or low-carb diet, 60-70% fat, 20-25% protein, 10-15% carbs

• Prioritize monounsaturated over saturated fat (e.g. olive oil, almonds, avocado, macadamia nuts)

• 30-40g of fiber daily

• 1 serving of fermented food daily (e.g. kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir)

• No dairy

• Grass-fed, organic meat only

• Fish 5-7 days a week, primarily those high in omegas 3 and 6

• Organic as often as possible

• Minimize packaged or processed foods, choose ones with few known ingredients

• 1-2 coffees in the morning

• Caloric restriction: daily caloric intake < (basal metabolic rate + calories burned from exercise)

• 16/8 intermittent fasting/time-restricted feeding (eating between 10am-6pm or 11am-7pm)

• Use an app to track food and monitor caloric intake, macronutrient ratios, and catch nutrient deficiencies. Adjust diet/supplements accordingly.

• Regularly test biomarkers, e.g. omega-3 index, brain health (link), vitamin D, CMP, CBC, lipid panel

R E S E A R C H (the why)

• Peter Atta: Reverse engineered approach to longevity

• Ketogenic diet extends longevity and healthspan in adult mice

• A lower ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids predicts better hippocampus-dependent spatial memory and cognitive status in older adults

• Aging and Caloric Restriction Research

• Nature.com: Calorie restriction is the most reasonable anti-ageing intervention

• Harvard: Intermittent fasting may increase lifespan

• Longer daily fasting times improve health and longevity in mice

• Dr. Daniel Pompa: Fasting boosts health and longevity

• NIH: MIND diet slows cognitive decline with aging

• HumanOS: Dietary protein and aging: mTOR and IGF1

• Dr. David Sinclair: Can NMN increase longevity?

• Intermittent Fasting: Transformational Technique

• Harvard: Moderate coffee drinking may lower the risk of premature death

• Microbiome and Longevity: Gut Microbes Send Signals to Host Mitochondria

• Secret to longevity may lie in the microbiome and the gut

• Gut microbiota changes in the extreme decades of human life: a focus on centenarians

• Fish oil supplements, longevity and aging

• Supplements: A score card, Buyer Beware

• Caloric restriction lowers levels of innate immunity and inflammation

• Unregulated inflammation shortens human functional longevity

  Up Next:

  Longevity Building Block #3: Movement
  

Longevity isn't science fiction: why it's important and accessible today

1. The addressable market size is everyone. Not just people 65+. Longevity can and should start being solved at a young age. Everyone dies, most everyone cares and thinks about this. Warren Buffett said it right, “You have only one mind and one body for the rest of your life. If you aren’t taking care of them when you’re young, it’s like leaving that car out in hailstorms and letting rust eat away at it. By the time you’re 40 or 50, you’ll be like a car that can’t go anywhere.”

2. The market that cares the most is growing, and the concentration of wealth is moving with them. By 2030, all baby boomers will be older than age 65, expanding the senior citizen age group to 1 in every 5 Americans. In just two decades, older people would outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history. Americans over 50 accounted for $7.6 trillion in direct consumer spending and related economic activity in 2015, and controlled more than 80% of household wealth. Global spending power of those age 60 and over will reach $15 trillion annually by 2020.

3. It doesn't need to be complicated to make a difference. The levers we have to extend healthspan and lifespan are within our power now. The best strategy we have today is to delay the onset of The Big Three—cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. We’re learning that the underlying biological mechanisms for these chronic illnesses are the same, e.g. oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, changes in the microbiome, gene expression. The problem with healthcare today is that it is disease-centric. We have cardiologists for heart disease, neurologists for Alzheimer’s, oncologists for cancer, and specific treatment plans for each. What if it’s the same disease manifesting in different forms? Today, we can improve lifestyle in a way that minimizes or removes those underlying causes and delays the onset of all 3, and as a result, extending healthspan and lifespan.

4. Technology is ready. The key to developing effective technologies in this space is scalability and personalization. We're all unique, what gives you 5 more healthy years may not do the same for me. Scale is easily reached with today's software and personalization is improving with AI and consumer health data being captured from wearables, biomarker testing, Apple Health Kit, and more.