How Not To Age: Dr. Michael Greger

[drewab]

Dr. Greger's video trailer for his new book was released today. I personally am beyond excited for it and have pre-ordered my hardcover copy from Amazon here. The book is currently ranked #2 of all Amazon books in the Diets and Weight-loss category. 

 

Uncover the evidence-based science to slowing the effects of aging, from the New York Times bestselling author of the How Not to Die series

When Dr. Michael Greger, founder of NutritionFacts.org, dove into the top peer-reviewed anti-aging medical research, he realized that diet could regulate every one of the most promising strategies for combating the effects of aging. We don’t need Big Pharma to keep us feeling young―we already have the tools. In How Not to Age, the internationally renowned physician and nutritionist breaks down the science of aging and chronic illness and explains how to help avoid the diseases most commonly encountered in our journeys through life.

Physicians have long treated aging as a malady, but getting older does not have to mean getting sicker. There are eleven pathways for aging in our bodies’ cells and we can disrupt each of them. Processes like autophagy, the upcycling of unusable junk, can be boosted with spermidine, a compound found in tempeh, mushrooms, and wheat germ. Senescent “zombie” cells that spew inflammation and are linked to many age-related diseases may be cleared in part with quercetin-rich foods like onions, apples, and kale. And we can combat effects of aging without breaking the bank. Why spend a small fortune on vitamin C and nicotinamide facial serums when you can make your own for up to 2,000 times cheaper?

Inspired by the dietary and lifestyle patterns of centenarians and residents of “blue zone” regions where people live the longest, Dr. Greger presents simple, accessible, and evidence-based methods to preserve the body functions that keep you feeling youthful, both physically and mentally. Brimming with expertise and actionable takeaways, How Not to Age lays out practical strategies for achieving ultimate longevity

 

[Saul]

Micahael Rae has been skeptical about the opinions of Dr. Gregor.

(Of course, Almost all of us believe that a plane based diet is best.  But Dr. Gregor overdoes it -- e.g., he claims in at least one video or book that fish from the Earth's seas are all polluted.)

  --  Saul

[drewab]

Dr. Greger released a video today that is the realm of his soon to be released book. The video is appropriately titled "Is it possible to reverse aging and live forever?"

 

 

[Saul]

The answer is "No".

  --  Saul

 

[Alex K Chen]

^Overconfident. Current biotechnology/drug discovery progress is still at a snail's pace, but AGI timelines (and some upstream rates of technological/biotech progress) are now aggressive that longevity MAY be a solveable problem within a few decades. Still not a certainty.

Edited November 7, 2023 by InquilineKea

[Saul]

Ignore Dr. Gregor; he "proves" all his unsubstantiated opinions.

 

[drewab]

14 hours ago, Saul said:

Ignore Dr. Gregor; he "proves" all his unsubstantiated opinions.

 

Here we go again with a typical Saul response. Did you even watch the video Saul? My guess is no as that seems to be your typical pattern of posting here. I question how familiar you are with Dr. Greger's work given that you do not even know how to spell his name correctly. Furthermore, you actually agree with the majority of what he says - in this thread you stated "Almost all of us believe that a plane based diet is best."  I'd like to avoid eating 747's as that is some serious heavy metal poisoning... Oh, you mean a plant-based diet! This indicates quite a bit of alignment with Dr. Greger's read of the best available balance of scientific literature on the topic of health and longevity. His thoughts on CR, protein restriction, exercise, and so forth are very similar to what you have posted on these forums (with perhaps deviation in your preference for fish, which I think is reasonable). 

Dr. Greger's recommendations are also quite similar to Dr. Luigi Fontana, whom I know you respect greatly and whose advice you carefully consider in relation to your own health and longevity regime. I do commend you for being in your 80's and for still actively teaching at the university level. I do have to offer some constructive criticism when you make a statement like "Ignore Dr. Gregor; he "proves" all his unsubstantiated opinions." This is a person who has quite literally improved the quality of life for an absolutely enormous number of people around the globe (perhaps millions) and for whom you actually are in relatively close alignment with, despite disagreement on the minutiae of a few matters. What is your reach in improving the lives of others? I am sure you are a good person but I doubt you've had even a fraction of this reach.

 

I commend you for your lifelong exercise habit and dedication to a great diet - you were ahead of the curve in these areas given that they weren't mainstream decades ago and they now are. Last but not least, for such an educated person like yourself, the tendency to respond with single line answers is quite surprising and it not how this forum usually works. Part of this group generally includes providing more in-depth responses than other platforms include. I know I'm hoping for a well-thought out response from you here and know that I almost certainly won't get one given your pattern of posting previously. 

 

[IgorF]

IMHO, the long and serious answer is in Nick Lane's books about oxygen, mitochondria, sex and so on. Not the final answer obviously but rather a way of thinking that describes why the answer is NO and what fundamental obstacles are there.

Dr Greger is doing a good job with persuasive techniques for universal good but this is motivational area, not science per se.

 

Br,

Igor

[drewab]

17 minutes ago, IgorF said:

IMHO, the long and serious answer is in Nick Lane's books about oxygen, mitochondria, sex and so on. Not the final answer obviously but rather a way of thinking that describes why the answer is NO and what fundamental obstacles are there.

Dr Greger is doing a good job with persuasive techniques for universal good but this is motivational area, not science per se.

 

Br,

Igor

I'm not familiar with Nick Lane's books offhand. I did a Google search and a few stood out to me. Are there any in particular that you would recommend?

[Saintor]

21 hours ago, Saul said:

Ignore Dr. Gregor; he "proves" all his unsubstantiated opinions.

 

I think that you just made an unsubstantiated opinion yourself... lol.

Joking aside, Gregor was the turnpoint in 2015 that made me eat way more plant-based food.... didn't care before.   He probably cherry-picks what he reports, yet he brings  a lot of good info.

[IgorF]

9 hours ago, drewab said:

I'm not familiar with Nick Lane's books offhand. I did a Google search and a few stood out to me. Are there any in particular that you would recommend?

Oxygen, Power Sex Suicide and Transformer are good, also there are some talks and interviews available with him in the youtube but they can't cover all the angles, on the other hand they are a good complimentary material to the books themselves. So if time is not the limit they are worse to get into. (Audioversrions of the books also works but sometimes require full attention, I had to stop and rewind several times in some places).

Br,

Igor

Edited November 12, 2023 by IgorF

[corybroo]

I started with Vital Balance by Lane and posted last year.  Transformer is also very good.    

 

 

[Ron Put]

Greger is unapologetically vegan (which may explain Saul's reaction 🙂  I personally like Greger better than most of the others in this space, but I have to agree that on a few occasions, he is overly enthusiastic about the data and at times cherry-picks. But, I still find the vast majority of his material valuable, and generally correct, and overall I believe that it is far better to follow someone like him rather than someone like Attia., 

As to Nick Lane, he is interesting, but his self-promotion, data cherry-picking, and frequent virtue-signaling (often at the expense of other (and better) scientists), rub me the wrong way. Lane is great on stage and on camera, but I am not so sure that his central premises on the origins of life hold the water he claims that they do.

I prefer someone like John Sutherland. Here is an example:
 

 

[Saul]

4 hours ago, Ron Put said:

it is far better to follow someone like him rather than someone like Attia.

Agreed.  Better still, look at some of the less biased vegan gurus (including the "nearly vegans") who eat small amounts of animal products.  Good example: Khurram HaShimi.

  --  Saul

[drewab]

I am happy to see that How Not To Age is #1 on Amazon in the Aging, Nutrition, & Diets category after being released on Dec. 5, 2023. I am currently about 10% through the book and enjoying it greatly. 

 

 

 

[Mike41]

On 11/5/2023 at 6:28 PM, Saul said:

The answer is "No".

  --  Saul

 

Anything to get attention!

[drewab]

This might be of interest to many of you here. How Not To Age was originally 1200 pages but the publisher would not publish it since it was so long. The result was that it had to be reduced to 600 pages. 

So Dr. Greger made videos that outline all of the materials included in the pages so that people could access this information if they are interested. The videos follow his usual format. There are almost 500 videos most of which have never aired on NutritionFacts.org previously. They appear on his website (which is streamed via YouTube) as unlisted. They have shared the list which is published in his book here:

https://nutritionfacts.app.box.com/s/4r0wizap2qduifxt5y6gyys4jadcajul

Enjoy!

[mccoy]

On 12/3/2023 at 9:01 PM, Ron Put said:

But, I still find the vast majority of his material valuable, and generally correct, and overall I believe that it is far better to follow someone like him rather than someone like Attia.,

Dr. Greger is undoubtedly a salesman, but one who values what he has to sell, and the product is a good one to start out with. Probably, he thinks that it is a good thing to leverage the tribal instincts in the nutrition field since the other side (supporters of the high-animal protein diet) usually does the same.

As far as I understood, he has hired Seth Yoder as a fact-checker, in such a way as to give a certain degree of reliability and objectiveness to his material.

I like to hear from everyone, Attia, Greger, Longo, Fontana, Layman,  anyone usually has a grasp on something which the others don't have. Usually. Dr. Carvalho lately issued some excellent scientific reviews on specific debated issues in nutrition.

My duty is to elaborate on the vast material available and to pick up the best suggestions, concerning my genetic makeup, individual needs, preferences and so on.

[Alex K Chen]

He's very dismissive of fish oil *and* collagen *and* glucosamine and anything that comes out of animals.

He says methionine is the most easily damaged amino acid (with one reference) when there are many other AAs that lay strong claim (eg lysine, cysteine)

While there are real strong reasons to be skeptical of all the hype over fish oils (and omega-3's in general), there are so many studies that speak in favor of omega-3's...

Quote

 But acetone does more than strip paint and make keto dieters develop “rotten apple breath”⁷⁸⁰ and fail Breathalyzer tests.⁷⁸¹ It can oxidize in the blood to acetol, which may be a precursor for methylglyoxal. This may be why nondiabetic keto dieters can end up with methylglyoxal levels as high as those with uncontrollable diabetes.⁷⁸²

 

Edited February 8, 2024 by InquilineKea

[Ron Put]

On 1/10/2024 at 4:44 PM, InquilineKea said:

He's very dismissive of fish oil *and* collagen *and* glucosamine and anything that comes out of animals.

He says methionine is the most easily damaged amino acid (with one reference) when there are many other AAs that lay strong claim (eg lysine, cysteine)

Have you actually read the book?

Greger clearly suggests that Omega-3 supplementation is beneficial for cognitive health and suggests algae-derived supplements. And while he does not believe that glucosamine is beneficial and cites several studies, it is not necessarily because of vegan bias, as there are plenty of vegan glucosamine supplements.

As I mentioned, I'd trust Greger far more than Attia. Greger may get too enthusiastic about some studies, but at least he cites support for his claims. Attia often makes proclamations without any concrete evidence.

Also, Attia got his start by being funded by both Atkins and Arnold and still has very close ties to the Arnold Foundation, which is one of the main meat and dairy promoters in the US, works to lobby against healthier US dietary guidelines and in addition to Attia, funds industry shills like Nina Teicholz.

[Alex K Chen]

Meh I still very much enjoyed reading the book [as much as it catered to my biases] and it finally convinced me to eat even fewer eggs (which isnt really a sacrifice for me b/c I don't feel noticeably better after eating them [I just get pressured by other people to eat them]). But eggs are easy b/c the UNIT is so small and they are SO filling per calorie+ EASY to practice self-restraint (you can't restrain yourself to 80 calories of tofu [or some other plant protein] as much as you can restrain yourself to 80 calories of egg)

He is a collagen skeptic and I'm not sure about this, I just got collagen [as much as I hate its animal source] for precautionary principle reasons

I think he's directionally correct but if you agree with someone, you should be prepared to call them out on things they can improve on for the sake of #steelmanning. (#CFARspeak). I'm almost as pro-vegan as anyone can be, but I'm also very sensitive of all the hate veganism gets (+often have to defend veganism myself and it's exhausting), and Bryan Johnson takes collagen for a reason...

Edited February 18, 2024 by InquilineKea

[mccoy]

I still couldn't gather the time to start reading Dr. Greger's book. It is evident though, that he developed to the utmost his abilities of salesmanship. How can you cite seriously 13000 articles to support your claims in a book? That's just showing off a big number, very few will ever read 13 of the cited articles, let alone 13 thousand. Also, the quantity impresses but what about the quality of articles? A much smaller number of basic review articles would have been more useful than an unreadable quantity.

 

[Ron Put]

On 2/14/2024 at 12:31 PM, mccoy said:

I still couldn't gather the time to start reading Dr. Greger's book. It is evident though, that he developed to the utmost his abilities of salesmanship. How can you cite seriously 13000 articles to support your claims in a book? That's just showing off a big number, very few will ever read 13 of the cited articles, let alone 13 thousand. Also, the quantity impresses but what about the quality of articles?

mccoy, as far as I know, Greger has a whole team of research assistants, data analysts, and fact-checkers. Greger is also fairly open about the fact that some of the studies he cites may be flaky and tries to place the data in perspective. Keep in mind that he and his team have been producing content for years, and How Not To Age is referring to a lot of stuff published before, in one form or another.

I am just over halfway through the book and overall I am enjoying it, and have picked up some useful tidbits. The spot checks of sources I've done largely support his arguments.

I'd suggest that you reserve judgment until you read it, you may be surprised to an extent.

[corybroo]

On 2/14/2024 at 2:31 PM, mccoy said:

A much smaller number of basic review articles would have been more useful than an unreadable quantity.

You can decide which to delve into deeper.  Personally, I'd rather have the choice given to me. 

[mccoy]

20 hours ago, Ron Put said:

I'd suggest that you reserve judgment until you read it, you may be surprised to an extent

Right, but I am not judging the contents, which I do not know. A few things I saw from the presentation appear very interesting and I usually like to read from everyone.

I'm rather commenting on the funny technique of salesmanship. 13.000 articles. I'm probably wrong but to me, it sounds like a pissing contest.

My list of articles is the longest of all other lists.

But maybe it's just genuine love for abundance, or maybe too much zeal from the fact-checkers. How much time would it take to really delve deeper into such a mangrove jungle of articles? 

I'm more with Chris McAskill's, the plant chomper, opinion (maybe because he's a geologist, a colleague of mine). Just read a few, outstanding, review articles. They will contain most of the knowledge on the topic.