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Preventing Chronic Disease

One of the foundational lessons we can take away from studying centenarians — those who have lived to the age of 100+ — is that if you want to live longer, you have to live longer without chronic disease, not live longer with chronic disease. Unfortunately, our current healthcare system is primarily geared toward helping you live longer once you develop chronic disease. This, of course, is the opposite of the approach I take with my patients. 

Over 80% of deaths in people over 50 who do not smoke can be grouped into 4 main categories, what I like to call the four horsemen of chronic disease. These are: (1) atherosclerotic disease (comprised of cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease), (2) cancer, (3) neurodegenerative disease (Alzheimer’s disease being the most common), and (4) metabolic disease (a spectrum of everything from hyperinsulinemia to insulin resistance to fatty liver disease to type 2 diabetes).

We have five main longevity tactics at our disposal to affect our longevity: (1) exercise, (2) sleep, (3) nutrition, (4) medications & supplements, and (5) distress tolerance. Below is a collection of podcasts and articles discussing how we can use these tactics to mitigate, prevent, and reverse chronic disease.

AMA, Alzheimer’s, podcast rec, and NAD rec

Spoiler alert: Not sure taking NAD precursors orally is doing much beyond enriching the companies that make them.

Alzheimer’s prevention and the most important thing

So ironically, while Marks applies these insights to financial investments, many of the same principles apply to the way we should treat our health.

#14 – Robert Lustig, M.D., M.S.L.: fructose, processed food, NAFLD, and changing the food system

“Neurons like to be tickled, not bludgeoned.” —Rob Lustig

#10 – Matt Kaeberlein, Ph.D.: rapamycin and dogs — man’s best friends? — living longer, healthier lives and turning back the clock on aging and age-related diseases

“I believe that rigorously demonstrating that we can increase healthspan and lifespan in pet dogs will be a huge step toward gaining the support and credibility that the field needs.” —Matt Kaeberlein

#07 – Deep Dive: Lp(a) — what every doctor, and the 10-20% of the population at risk, needs to know

“Elevated Lp(a) may have conferred a survival advantage for most of human history: a better ability to deal with acute trauma, but possibly at the expense of poor handling of chronic damage. In today’s environment, for many people, that’s not an advantage.” —Peter Attia

#06 – D.A. Wallach: music, medicine, longevity, and disruptive technologies

“The way that anything looks before we understand it is pretty imposing . . . when we have breakthroughs, they feel like an enormous relief, because something that seemed really complicated becomes really simple.” —D.A. Wallach

#05 – Dom D’Agostino, Ph.D.: ketosis, n=1, exogenous ketones, HBOT, seizures, and cancer

“I immerse myself in what I’m doing…that’s how we learn.” —Dom D’Agostino

Living with Alzheimer’s

North is to south what the clock is to time
There’s east and there’s west and there’s everywhere life
I know I was born and I know that I’ll die
The in between is mine
I am mine

– Pearl Jam

#03 – Ron Krauss, M.D.: a deep dive into heart disease

“Anybody interested in this field should probably understand the origins.” —Ron Krauss

Podcast, AMA, Lp(a), and Dr. Rosenrosen

Bob Kaplan, my head analyst, had the opportunity to drink all of my espresso while he “asked me anything.”

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