2977: The 5 Things That Actually Add Years to Your Life — With Dr. Stephen Cabral
from Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth ·
58m 21s
Dr. Stephen Cabral discusses five evidence-based lifestyle factors that can add up to 12.2 years to life expectancy, shifting focus from merely extending lifespan to improving quality of life. These include avoiding smoking, moderating alcohol intake, maintaining a healthy BMI and body composition, engaging in regular physical activity—especially resistance training and targeted aerobic exercise—and adopting a high-fiber, whole-food Mediterranean-style diet. Smoking significantly damages arteries through oxidative stress, while alcohol consumption should be limited, especially for genetically predisposed individuals. Exercise, such as two days per week of resistance training and the Norwegian protocol, improves cardiovascular health and reduces mortality risks. Daily physical activity, like walking or gardening, is vital in Blue Zones, where centenarians remain active throughout life. Dr. Cabral highlights that muscle strength is a key longevity predictor, with sarcopenia linked to frailty and early death. He also expresses caution about GLP-1 medications, noting they can cause metabolic and nutritional side effects, such as hair loss and reduced appetite, especially in healthy-weight individuals. Ultimately, the goal is not just longevity but sustained vitality—achieving a healthy 100-year life through foundational, sustainable habits rather than extreme or risky interventions. Personalization, including genetic testing and lifestyle preferences, is emphasized, showing that true longevity comes from balanced, enjoyable habits, not rigid regimens.
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This is MindPump. Today's episode, Dr. Stephen Cabral comes on the show
to talk about the five things that actually add years to your life.
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Dr. Cabral, welcome back to the show.
It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
It's always fun to have you on. So we're having you on to talk about longevity,
and this is a great topic. I think Western medicine has helped a lot with getting people
to live longer, but I don't know necessarily if they're living better. I was looking at some data
recently on survivability after a heart attack.
And we've done a really good job with that, but people aren't necessarily
healthier for long periods of time. We're just kind of keeping them alive.
Is it safe to say you're more interested in keeping people healthy and active while they're
alive than just keeping them alive? My goal is to add an extra healthy
20 years to people's life and keep them healthy at the same time. So I don't want it to be an
either or. Yes, we are absolutely able to keep people alive longer. There's no doubt about that.
But they're typically on a cocktail of at least six to eight different formulations.
And they just don't have the vitality that they used to. So it's good to live longer. You get to
experience more of life, but not if you're not able to do the things that you want to be able
to do. So our goal is a healthy 100 years in our practice. And that starts, though, when you're in
your 40s. I mean, it really does. You could say it starts before that, but ultimately the goal
is to be able to live longer, stronger, as they say, and to be able to do all the things that
you used to be able to do even in your 80s and early 90s. This is great because, again, if you
the last 10, especially the last five years of someone's life are astronomical because of exactly
what you said. They're not healthy. They're just alive. Now, I've heard people say that, you know,
our lifestyle doesn't play a huge role. A lot of it's genetics. And there's a few things you could
do. But, you know, you said add 20 years to your life. Explain that.
So conventional medicine would have you believe that, honestly, nothing's up to you. It's just
about your genetics. And you could just live the life that you want. When I think that's
a fine thing to say if this was like the 1950s, but we have so much data and so much research now
that we know that genetics makes up a factor in what you're susceptible to, meaning people are
definitely more susceptible to high blood pressure, autoimmune, high cholesterol or heart disease,
other factors. But that doesn't mean that that is their destiny because we can test for these things.
We know what to look for on a deeper level. And the majority of our life expectancy is all healthy
factors. So there's a few studies I want to share today. One of them is out of Harvard,
great study called The Impact of Healthy Lifestyle Factors on Life Expectancies. It's published in the
Journal of Circulation. So it literally said that out of the hundreds or thousands of things that
you could do for your health, there are five that truly matter. And if you follow these five,
it will add 12.2 years to every man's life on average in 14 years for women. So 75 is the average
life expectancy for men in the US. That would get them to about, what, 87, 88 years old. For women,
it takes them 92 years old. And that's with doing like five simple things. Like I love red light and
all the special things, like hyperbaric oxygen therapy, all the things. But that is not what
ultimately gets you to your late 80s or early 90s. I'm so glad we're going this direction because
the first thing that came to mind when we started this conversation was, yeah, but the hardest part
is that there's so much. I feel like this is marketed to like crazy right now, especially with people like
the Brian Johnsons and people that are out there that are doing like, and I think it's, I think the
average person sees that and goes like, there's, I'm not going to do all that shit. And even if it
only, even if it does add 10 or 15 years, there's no way I want to do that. So nailing it down to
five. And there's no research showing that what he's doing will lead to living 120 years old. Now
I do love what he's doing, meaning like he's making it interesting. He's pushing the industry forward
and there might be some breakthrough along the way. But as of right now,
you know, of a handful of things, lifestyle wise that really do make a difference and they're not
expensive to do. Like I love all the in-depth testing and that should be done to find things
that could go wrong. But for the most part, it is a lot of the foundationals that I'd love to be able
to go through today and we kind of just break them down one by one. Yeah. Let's start. Give me,
let's talk about these five. Let's talk about one-on-one. Let's start. So just to get rid of
the easy ones, can't smoke. Like that is what they find over and over. If you inhale smoke, it is going
to lead to not just lung cancer, because that's what we go to right away. It actually leads to
vascular issues. That's the bigger one. That's right. So the vascular issue, because it causes
oxidative stress. And so when you have oxidative stress, then you start to get the inflammation
in the arteries. That then leads to the arthrosclerosis, the buildup of plaque or high
blood pressure and stroke. So that's why smoking is such a bigger factor. So if you're predisposed
to any of these things, that's going to make it worse. Now the alcohol, so this study was done,
this study, and what they found with the alcohol was that actually most people in the study actually
drank. They just drank one or less drinks per day. And so the latest research is don't drink more
than three drinks for men and two drinks for women per week, because that will increase cancer risk
per week. But in this study, they showed up to one drink per day seemed to be okay.
Now I will tell you, and we went over this maybe like a year or two ago,
we did our biological age testing. And one of those factors was the APOE genotype. So it looks
like if you're a two, three, or four, and then you have two copies of each. And for 26% of the
population, the three, four, or four fourths, so basically they have one of those, they don't do
well with alcohol at all or saturated fats. They are just, their body is predisposed to more
inflammation. So those individuals have to be really careful. The rest of people,
they seem to be able to get away with a drink a day.
So would it be, okay, would this be fair to say then somebody whose blood lipids are tough to manage,
through diet and lifestyle, without them kind of really reducing saturated fat intake? Because I've
had clients like this, right? I've had a lot of clients where if we get them to eat appropriately,
stick to whole natural foods, exercise, blood lipids look great. Then I've had a handful of
clients where they're doing all those things, blood lipids still don't look good. And then
we've got to trade out fatty acids. We've got to cut down saturated fat and it makes a difference.
Would that be an easy way of saying, okay, I'm probably one of those people where my lipids are?
You could, you could just kind of guess you're in that category. Now the 26% of people where you
don't respond to the normal diet and exercise like everybody else, just like you said, the whole
foods, like you're not responding in that way. And I know we're going to talk about this, uh,
potentially on another show is looking at factors that are just far more, uh, important than
cholesterol alone. Um, but it is, it is actually really important for individuals. And then we'll
get to this a little bit later. There's a specific study showing that a lot of this is predicated on
your BMI, your actual weight, meaning things respond differently in your body based on your
weight.
That makes sense.
And the wild thing is that when they look at, um, autoimmune issues or something called
endotoxemia, lipopolysaccharides, that's basically bacteria coming out of your gut and causing all
sorts of health-based issues. They found that saturated fats for people that were over 29 on
their BMI, it was highly detrimental. Those same saturated fats did not cause the lipopolysaccharides
or the endotoxemia if you had a healthy BMI.
Wow. Could I, could I say, uh, with BMI, would it, would, would body composition be a better,
uh,
in your opinion, would be better to look at? Cause obviously muscle mass makes a difference.
That's right.
Fat, uh, body fat percentage makes a difference. Uh, and being underweight isn't good either.
Uh, so, so what we're looking at when we're looking at BMI is generally high BMI means
over fat.
Well, wouldn't you also say you think too, it's more that, or even that the person who has like
a lower BMI or lower body fat percentage is also eating more often in a maintenance or a deficit
versus the person who's eating and probably in more of a surplus. I mean, I noticed this with
my own autoimmune.
issues, uh, just back to commented on Katrina last night. Um, I had, uh, back to back days
I had a couple drinks while we were on the pool and typically I'll feel that I'll notice it on
my psoriasis will flare up and it'll bother me right away and it's just but I'm also eating a
lot less right now so I'm in a very low like for me lower calories and so it felt like man I didn't
have any I got no inflammation going on I feel really good and I would probably attribute that
to I've been this last week in this kind of low calorie range those two drinks didn't tip me over
that so do you think it's more to do with probably that relationship or actually more to do with the
body fat percentage that they're currently sitting at or a combo of both I mean multi-factorial just
like you said so absolutely if and I agree with you about the BMI but when we're looking at it
it's like what percent of the population you may actually know this actually exercises yeah it's
not like 13 percent yeah if you see high BMI the odds are they're they're the odds are they're
they're not too much muscle exactly and so that's why I say that but I agree I mean again I was I
was in the personal training I was in the personal training and I was in the personal training and
world forever and I completely agree and always made that so having said that that's actually the
third factor is BMI but it correlates to 12 to 20 percent for men and about 22 to 30 percent for
women so if you did it by body fat percentage alone those numbers were actually considered
healthy in this particular study so when you look at okay BMI well what am I body fat wise
well like let's just say that your BMI is high because you have a lot of muscle but if you also
have a lot of muscle and a lot of body fat
still detrimental sure if you have a good amount of muscle like all of you guys you're not in that
category because your body fat percentage is sub 20 percent right right right and so that's a good
way to write right anyways tip ratio right that's so important yes if your visceral fats or your
waist is larger especially visceral fat it's more inflammatory and that's gonna then increase all
cause mortality all cause mortality just means like all causes for death which is typically
cardiovascular blood pressure stroke cancer Alzheimer's and diabetes let's go back to
alcohol so you're saying so one drink a day for people who are not over fat doesn't seem to have
that much of a detrimental effect what about the older studies that show that there's a protective
effect were we looking at potentially more people have better social lives because I know in some of
these older countries like where my family's from in Italy yeah you drink a glass of wine
at night you're typically not doing it by yourself you're with family yes and so sometimes that data
kind of parses out like people are alone and people who are with other people and you know
what do you think about that yeah so there's a top 10 that I've put together for my clients and
that was actually so stress and there's loneliness and so those two like let's just say well you go
out and you have a drink with friends or family whatever it is that is the social connection that
a lot of people are missing and believe or not that is factored into overall quality of life
and life expectancy those people that write down loneliness and it's high they don't live as long
yeah and so I'm not saying drinking is the solution but I'm not saying that drinking is the solution
but when you look at it is like when you go out and you you know have a drink with a friend it
absolutely reduces overall stress and what I would say is that you just watch how close it is to bed
because it does affect your sleep yeah it can affect your deep sleep and your REM sleep and
then that could lead to then early Alzheimer's dementia and certainly we know by the time you
get into your 70s you're just more at risk yeah so back to like also the smoking because I've
heard you know like every insurance company that's like their first their number one
and most doctors I've talked to even like just a short stint of smoking can have a really long
lasting effect like how long does it take to kind of reverse some of those symptoms you might you
might get as a result so it can do damage to the arteries and then we're looking at how much plaque
buildup is in those arteries or has it created stenosis like hardening of the arteries and that
can take months to years if you're following a very specific program and we can talk about a
little bit later how to reverse that and how to reverse that and how to reverse that and how to
reverse that but then there are studies to the contrary where after six months you can regain
about 30 percent of an improved max vo2 which is pretty impressive as long as you get into an
exercise program yeah so I would say it's like it's never too late to stop and but the oxidative
stress certainly takes a toll on the body yeah I'm glad you brought up that you mentioned smoking
and all the other effects because if you actually look at how much it increases the odds of lung
cancer it's not and I'm going to be careful what they say it's not just the fact that you're
just huge percentage increase it's just scary lung cancer is scary yeah but when you look at
all the other stuff there's a lot of other effects yes and I used to train vascular surgeons and we
would have these conversations I'd say what's the number one thing in common with all of your
patients always that I would expect them to say I expected them to be like obesity they all smoke
I was like oh okay it literally does the same exact damage as high blood sugar levels it creates the
advanced glycation end products the ages the oxidative stress the oxidative stress creates
free radical damage they're free radicals they're free radicals they're free radicals they're free
radical start to damage your arteries when your arteries are damaged that's when your LDL and
other cholesterol actually matters because it's going in to the endothelial tissue into the wall
itself and then what happens is your immune system is like what's going on with the tissues here and
it starts to send in something called monocytes the monocytes create macrophages essentially that's
supposed to remove the fats from your tissues then they get kind of paved in like a mason like with
calcium and with collagen and it starts to create the plaque in the arteries and this doesn't happen
over a week or a month it's like oh my god I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die
like not one cigarette or smoking every once in a while causes it that's not it at all it's what's
done chronically over years and then you compound that with food and drinking because they kind of
all go together a lot of times for people without the exercise which is improving the elasticity
of your arteries and that's when we lead to the early death is you know not to go too much on
the side but uh is the the the the plaque on the art is it the body's attempt at repairing the
inflammation and strengthening it's like it's kind of like patching the walls a little bit would you
say
yes I mean it's it's literally an immune it's so it's not dysfunction at all but
the low density lipoproteins the LDLs are kind of floating through and their job is to go to the
different tissues and cells of the body improve the cell membrane create hormones work with vitamin
d3 etc but if there's damage to the tissue it actually makes it easier for them to get into
that endothelial tissue the inner lining of the arteries and when that happens then it sets off
an immune cascade so that creates the inflammation and then when that happens then it sets off an
endothelial tissue and then those fatty acids can get trapped there and we start so when you look at
plaque it's a buildup of calcium some old white blood cells fatty acids the cholesterol itself
and then fibrin and so over time then there's less space for the blood to flow through and
that's when we can have a heart attack yeah okay so no smoking uh limit alcohol or no alcohol this
is considered all one or is this one or two this is two okay bmi was number three okay and so we
could also consider that body fat percentage or waist hip ratio i like to look at all three sure
and so for men the waist tip ratio is what a 0.95 and for women sorry 0.9 and for women it's 0.85
okay so essentially we want wider hips than we want wider waist you can't stand with your feet
three feet apart right so you gotta keep it basically uh where they should be then after
that it's actually looking at exercise that we talk about it's not just the 75 150 minutes a week
um it actually looks at exercise and resistance training so i'd love to get you to talk about that
and get your feedback on that when we dive a little deeper into exercise because there's
a study have you heard of the generation 100 study it's an amazing study they basically said
what can we do exercise-wise that would get people to live to 100 years old so we can get deeper on
that and then the fifth one is eating a predominantly they called it a high quality whole
food diet and it came down to a mediterranean style diet with a specific amount of fiber per day
that even if you were eating a high quality whole food diet with a specific amount of fiber per day that even if you were
only following that 70 to 80 percent of the time you were pretty much good and so when i look at that
the majority of those individuals which you brought up adam was they were in a slight deficit and that
seems to be one of the biggest things like you can be a little bit more liberal with the types of food
you're eating if you're not eating too much and that that to me was like a big takeaway because i
see people i mean we work with hundreds of thousands of people every single year some are
eating really well some are eating well like some are eating really well some are eating really well
you know in air quotes well and some are doing totally fine and some are doing and so they're
just eating less and that makes a huge difference people will be shocked now now and there's much
more to it but this is why you get those people and i hate it when they do this because it
oversimplifies things and it muddies the water but you'll get people who try to make a point
they'll say well i'm going to eat just mcdonald's uh all day long and watch my blood lipids improve
and all my markers are calories just and they do because their calories are low um and i i don't
like that because it's there's it's much more complex than that but it does point to
how big of an effect uh overeating or undereating can have on your overall uh health now that being
said eating garbage food good luck trying to undereat that uh it's going to definitely make
you want to overeat and over a lifetime it adds up so you can get away with anything for six months
or a year or whatever it might be but you do that for many years in a row you're going to feel it
not just on your blood panel which again it's great to run your blood work i recommend it twice
a year but look at the functional medicine tests like gut health and your omega-6 to omega-3
look at the things that get off track far before your blood work ever will because when your blood
works off you know there is almost guaranteed you're going to have a nutrient deficiency if
you do that chronically right like in the example i gave my my own example of i had a weekend low
calories but i had a couple drinks back-to-back days felt great now if i continue that behavior
on forever like i'm not hitting protein intake i'm not like so i'm not hitting a lot of stuff
like those things will start to compound in the in the context of two days not a big deal
and totally okay it would affect me chronically uh you know it's it's going to affect i don't
other things than just uh the drinking alone by itself it's also you're going to be lacking in
things that you should be getting what are the characteristics i hear mediterranean diet all
the time my family's from the mediterranean and sometimes i see what they say i'm like well that's
you know i so what are they what is what are the characteristics of what they would define
or uh that a mediterranean uh you know diet kind of encompasses yes when you look at these studies
if you want to so like let's pull out a few of those studies so the best i just again i'm looking
for what really are the the big needle movers for the fountain of youth right and so because
when i work with clients they're like listen i'm busy i've got a million things to do there's a
million things i could do what are the few things that i do that are going to make the biggest
difference right so it's like the 20 of things the parados principle that make 80 of the difference
and so when you look at the studies the best studies studies are like the pyramid um study
on the mediterranean study the greek epic study and there's a few others and what they show and
these are done on tens of thousands of individuals they look at people that whose diets most closely
resemble the mediterranean diet included a high fiber diet of 30 to 35 plus grams of fiber per
day from whole food okay and it typically came from fruits vegetables legumes nuts and seeds
so all and but again keeping the same calories so this is there's so many studies like this
if you take any other foods that aren't those and you replaced any of those other foods with
those foods you started to get a decrease in all-cause mortality so like a hazard risk ratio
factor they call it and so it doesn't mean that you can't eat meat doesn't mean that you can't
eat eggs like they do all of those things in the mediterranean right like my family's from
portugal and italy they still eat like cold cuts and things that aren't necessarily the healthiest
right but they're getting so much fiber and other polyphenols typically from olive oil or nuts
that it's compensating and essentially weighing the scales in their favor so all of these studies
really do come down to a lot of the polyphenols in these foods that they're eating plus the
fiber and you get that with all the fruits and you don't have to try so there's something we do in
our practice we say at every meal so we're going to do three meals a day we're typically in our
practice we're fasting from six at night date in the morning if possible that's what we try to do
people have different work schedules totally get it and it's not what you do on any one day it's
what you do the majority of days of the week so what we try to do is a 30 10 3 style diet
so at least 30 grams of protein per meal at least 10 grams of fiber three times a day meals are
spaced four to five hours apart that's what we're letting the blood sugar come back down the fiber
and protein are going to balance the blood sugar levels for glycemic control and then we just work
those macros based on your unique goals if your goal is more body transformation okay well what
are we looking at let's say the person weighs 180 pounds okay so now we need to get to like 45 grams
of protein over four meals we're still going to keep our fasting window but now we're going to say
we still then want to keep ratio with our fibers that person is going to be at about 45 grams of
It might seem like a lot, but that's like 12 grams, 11 or 12 grams per meal.
How much of an effect is the fiber versus the polyphenols?
Because there's lots of ways to get fiber, right?
Like I could get fiber from processed foods.
I could get it from supplementing with something like psyllium husk.
I could get it from wheat.
So how much of a role is it the fiber versus the other compounds
in the fruits and vegetables, legumes, and nuts?
So it seems to be a combination of both because they're doing two different things.
So the fiber itself is helping the intestinal tract.
So it's feeding the good bacteria.
So that's why we always have to make sure we balance our gut bacteria.
Because if it's not balanced, it could lead to bloating or gas
or autoimmune issues or joint pain, et cetera, even mood-based disorders.
So we always want to balance the candida, the SIBO, the H. pylori,
the parasites, the food sensitivities.
We have to fix those first.
But then we want to get the fiber in because it's also pushing out
what shouldn't be in there.
And so especially if you're on a higher protein diet,
ultimately you want to get the fiber in there
because it's also pushing out what shouldn't be in there.
So we have to make sure those bowels are moving as well
and that the bacteria isn't starting to build up.
The polyphenols are doing something a little bit different.
They're actually acting as essentially hermetic stressors,
which there are theories that that one drink a day
could be a hermetic stressor
that's improving the overall immune system of the body.
It just doesn't work that way for everybody.
But I always say, like, I have neighbors in Maine,
and they just live forever.
Now, they are hypocaloric.
They walk. They garden.
They have a drink around 4 p.m.
Not 9 p.m. Kind of their nightcap at the end of their day.
Then they have a little dinner,
and then it's like, you know, read early to bed.
It's like old-school living, and they just keep on living.
They're in their mid-90s, and it's unbelievable.
What are your go-to. So if you have a client that's like,
okay, how am I going to get this fiber, this 40 grams?
What are your go-to foods that can help someone hit those targets?
Best studies that I've seen on fiber,
if you're going to supplement, is oat beta-glucans
or just oatmeal itself.
You could do that, or you could do it through Silly Musk.
Okay. Now, what if somebody wants to eat. They could eat it.
What are the best sources of food for fiber
that they can include in their diet?
So how we do it is pretty simple, without even supplementation.
So if someone has high cholesterol, meaning like. And they do have that ApoE genotype, and it is affecting them
because we know they're apolipoprotein little a,
which we can talk about later.
We do supplement with Silly Musk two to three times a day.
Okay.
Because that will bring it down 10 to 15 points.
Yeah.
Like, absolutely improving.
But if we do two to three cups of fruits or vegetables
per meal, and we add in some root vegetables,
they're going to hit 10 to 15 grams per meal easily.
Okay.
So a couple cups of broccoli.
Every fourth of a cup of nuts is about three to four grams of fiber as well.
It's really easy to hit these numbers.
But how we do it, essentially at breakfast, a couple cups of berries,
great way to start the day.
You can have your protein, whatever you want with it.
At lunch, if you do just even say two cups of veggies,
and then another cup of, whether it's a brown rice
or it's sweet potatoes, whatever it be,
you'll be at 10 to 12, no problem.
Same with dinner.
So those are taken care of.
Add two tablespoons of protein.
Two tablespoons of olive oil at lunch, two tablespoons at dinner.
You've hit your olive oil quota for the day,
your monounsaturated fats.
And so you're already now essentially living the Mediterranean diet.
That's great.
You just did.
And you like psyllium husk as a supplement.
Absolutely.
Yeah, without a doubt.
Yeah, I've been using that for years,
not realizing the health benefits.
Really, we did it for digestive reasons.
And now I'm reading about all these potential health benefits.
Is there any truth to how psyllium husk can help
with the body of microplastics?
Fiber in general, yeah.
So beta-glucans and psyllium husk,
and psyllium husk are two of those things that can absolutely do it.
Wow.
Wow, that's awesome.
All right, talk about that study that you brought up earlier about exercise.
Yes.
It was called the what?
100?
Generation 100.
Yeah, so talk about that a little bit.
Are we number five right now?
Are we in the five?
We already went through them all.
We're all one, two, three, four.
List them all fall in order again.
Smoking, drinking, BMI.
Yes.
Exercise, which we're going to talk about, specific exercise,
and then predominantly whole food diet,
getting 30 to 35 grams of fiber per day.
Yeah, yeah.
Yes.
All right.
So tell me about the study.
But then there are nuances.
So for the exercise,
they looked at what is going to give people their best shot at living to 100.
Yes.
And they did the study for individuals between 70 and 77 years old.
Okay.
And so they found,
so the resistance exercise will get that out of the way,
and you guys are the experts in that.
Two to three days a week is what they found.
Yep.
And we're talking about,
they call it CHEP in all these studies,
Simple Home Exercise Program.
And it's things like squat to stand,
band rows.
You don't have to do a ton.
Really simple.
No, exactly.
But two days a week is going to be the gold standard.
But then I'm working with,
like I just work with a big Silicon Valley AI guy
that you guys would all know.
He does Saturdays and Sundays only,
like the true weekend warrior.
He's like,
I can't do it Monday through Friday.
I'm like,
if you could just do Wednesday,
Saturday or Wednesday,
Sunday,
just to space that out a little bit,
you'll get so much more benefit from that
for vascular-based reasons.
Right.
Because resistance training is so good for your blood pressure.
Like that's what people overlook for that.
You're doing so much,
dead squats and deadlifts and step-ups and lunges.
All of those things are training your vascular system
and using the second heart,
your gastrocnemius to pump the blood back up to your heart.
So again,
so important for you.
Now,
the study though was specifically on aerobic-based exercise.
It's all the things that we kind of don't necessarily want to do
because it's a lot of times super boring.
And I believe that myself,
but I just make myself do it.
So it found this.
It did a very regimented program and I can go through it.
But in the end,
only two days mattered.
So on Mondays,
they did zone two cardio for about 40 to 50 minutes,
getting the heart rate to about 110 to 130.
That's what it is for most people.
Sure.
Okay.
So, you know,
fine.
Incline walk,
weighted vest walk,
light jog,
whatever.
Okay.
On Tuesdays and Fridays,
they did the Norwegian protocol,
the four by four.
You guys have talked about it.
Yes.
But specifically,
there are two things that I've seen work for this.
It's the four by four.
So it's four minutes of 85 to 90% of your max heart rate.
So you just got to do that 220 minus your heart rate,
whatever it might be,
and you'll figure out what that is.
And you need to maintain that for all four minutes.
Then you walk for three minutes,
just briskly.
Then you repeat that three more times.
Five minute cool down.
That's it.
Okay.
That's the Norwegian protocol.
But it has been shown,
believe it or not,
to decrease all cause mortality,
but anywhere from 36% up to 49%,
which is wild.
And then they,
so then on Wednesday was basically just a rest day.
Thursday,
was zone two Friday was that Norwegian protocol.
Again,
Saturday was a longer zone to cardio day,
60 to 90 minutes.
A lot of times when people do marathon training,
they consider that their long run doesn't have to be a run.
That's what they find is just,
you just keep your heart rate up for an extended period of time.
So now in the study though,
when they kind of stripped away everything,
it was those two days a week.
And so I've been adding that to my program now for the last year,
year and a half takes 30 minutes.
That's it.
That's all that it takes to complete that.
Twice a week.
There's one or the thing that was shown to be close to
as effective and it's called German sprint.
interval training. It's 20 seconds to 30 seconds maximum of a hill sprint or just an all-out
sprint, like literally all-outs. You want to warm up before you do that, especially if you're
a little bit older. And then you do that eight to 10 times. And that type of vigorous training
got you down because we know the gold standard is 75 to 150 minutes a week. But if you do 75,
it needs to be vigorous. This is the two of those Norwegian or the sprint interval is what gets you
to the vigorous. Yeah. So I am familiar with the study. And the challenge with that study is that
the vast majority of people who are like, okay, I need to improve my health and you start exercising,
that protocol is incredibly inappropriate. It's just way too intense, too hard. And what we're
looking at in that study, when we're finding people who can work out like that when they're
70 is people who've been exercising for years, years and years. And so, so just for people
listening, it's, or if you're just an overstressed 40 something year old with kids and you're
not working out and you want to get into exercise, the last thing you should do is German sprint
training. Like don't start that way, please. I completely agree. And so like when you're,
when we're, when you're working with clients one-on-one or we're working with clients,
our goal, we call it a graduated exercise program or training. And so the first thing you're doing
is if you're not walking 7,500 to 10,000 steps a day, that's your cardio. Yes. That's how we
started. And your resistance is two to three days a week, Monday, Wednesday,
Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, whatever you can do. And then when you hit that first level,
great. Now we work up to the next one. But then most people, when they try to jog or run,
they can't even stay in zone two. And so we're doing just walk, run or whatever it might be.
And even the first time I did the Norwegian protocol, I wasn't doing all four. I started
with the first one. Okay. How did that go? Yeah, that was pretty tough. The next time I did the
same speed. And then I added a second one and I just gradually worked my way up. And that's what
you want to do for everything. Again, if you're looking to reach a hundred years old, you've got
time. And so you just want to build this into your lifestyle, but I'm telling you,
those two increased max VO2 by on average 12 points or greater. To increase your max VO2 by
that percent takes you out of maybe like moderate health to excellent. You know, it's also interesting
about that, Dr. Cabral, is when you look at, I don't know, how reliable would you say are the
blue zone studies? Because I've heard controversy around them that, eh, they're reliable, not so
reliable. What do you think about those? I think whenever anything becomes popular,
there has to be the naysayers. And so I just think we have naysayers.
Like people lying about their age. Okay. Yeah. Maybe some people lying about their age. Of course,
like there's probably that. But when we just look at this impact of lifestyle factors on life
expectancy, this was that Harvard study. We're really talking about blue zone studies, right?
And when I did my research on the top 10 things, it pretty much goes back to blue zone living. Now,
were they all eating Mediterranean diets? No, but they were definitely getting 30 to 35 grams of
fiber per day. Mostly eating whole foods. That's right. Yeah. There's a lot of correlations there.
Even though they were vastly different because of the areas, but there was something community,
walking a lot, whole foods. Yeah. And so here's what I'm pointing to with the exercise protocols
that they're recommending to people is when you look at the populations of people in those areas
that live a long time, many of them don't have structured workouts. They don't go to the gym.
They don't do interval training. They don't even lift weights. They just move. They're just moving
all the time. You've got like a 95-year-old man who every day goes out on his robo, row his bike,
goes out and goes fishing. Yes. Or I had a family member. I've told this story before. My family's
from Sicily. And I remember we visited a friend of the family and she was in her, I want to say in
her 80s, in her late 80s. And it was one of those old Sicilian towns. Have you ever been to Sicily?
I haven't been to Italy many times, but never Sicily. Okay. So in Italy, even you'll see some
of these old towns, but there's this, it's a really old Sicilian town where you can't even
drive through some of the streets because they're too narrow, right? They're made for horses.
And I remember we parked down this hill. We had to walk up this hill to get to this woman's house.
Then we buzzed her. Then she opened the door. Then we walked up these flights of stairs and
went up. And this is very, just full of vigor and vitality, late 80s widow. And she's just full of
energy and she's making us dinner. And I'm like, at the time, I think I was 18 or 19. And I remember
even commenting to my dad, like, oh my God, this woman's full of energy. Like how old is she? And
he told me, I think she was 88 or something like that. I'm like, oh my God, I can't believe. And
then I thought about it. And every day she went grocery shopping. So they do in those old towns.
You go grocery shopping once a week. You go grocery shopping every day. You go down to the
market. Well, where's the market? Down her three flights of stairs, down the hill, down to the
piazza. And then she picks her fruits and vegetables, whatever. And then walks all the way back
up, up those stairs. And so I was like, oh, no wonder she's so healthy. I'm winded coming up
here. And this 87 year old woman is doing this every single day. And so I think that that's
something that needs to be communicated. Is that like that day, just daily movement, you know?
And I'd like to get you guys feedback on this. Like the first generation of real
weightlifters was really the seventies, right? I mean, that's when gyms started to become popular
and really I would even say eighties. So we haven't yet seen a generation get to their
seventies and eighties. It's happening right now. So it's the very first generation where we're
going to see does weightlifting for a lifetime since your twenties or whatever it might be,
teens actually lead to greater life expectancy. And there's a lot of associative factors that
we kind of have to parse out. Like strength, like the grip strength test can predict mortality.
That's right. And so I would say, well,
the grip strain test, is it like, is it because you're doing all the other things right in life
or, you know, what does that matter? But I think it does matter because if you have a really weak
grip, a lot's gone wrong with your nervous system, right? So, so that's, that's going to be
associated. That actually matters. But I would say the majority of people who are all these
centenarians and live a longer life have always stayed active. And they've always said it's
gardening, it's walking, it is staying active, as you just said, not necessarily a formal exercise
program, but I would say that's going to be associated. And I think that's going to be
associated. And I will also say that many people never get there because of falls. One of the
biggest factors, that's right. Frailty is people go downhill real fast and they go to physical
therapy and then assisted living because they break a hip. So I think muscle though is not
necessarily, I would say that that's going to get you to a hundred, but muscle is going to be
helpful to then do all the other things you need to, to then get to a hundred. Yeah. When you look
at people in their older age, uh, one of the predictors of, uh, their mortalities, did they
get hurt?
Did they fall and break something or get hurt and, uh, strength prevents frailty? So the grip
strength test, it's just a proxy for overall body strength.
Our good, our good friend, Dr. Gabriel, I wish you say that muscle is the longevity organ. I just,
I, and I think you're right. I think we haven't seen enough people for 60 years or 50 years of
lifting to see like, what does that look? I remember the first time I saw this image,
they had MRI'd an obese individual and a normal body weight individual to show the difference in
if there was a difference in muscle mass. And I was under the impression that someone obese would
have more muscle mass, but the truth is they don't, uh, today's obese people don't, uh, because
they're just sedentary. Right. And so sarcopenia and loss of strength is a big deal. I feel like
it's going to become even a bigger deal with GLPs. It is. I was just going to say the same exact
thing. Cause if you think about it, if they had more muscle mass than when they go on GLP ones
and a third of that is muscle loss, it'd be no big deal because they already had more muscle,
but it's not the case.
They have more body fat, right? We call that over fat now instead of just like
increased body fat. Right. And so when we look at it and you do look at those MRIs,
like you were just talking about, you see the outline of the fat. And, um, and the problem
is, is that, and we know this, if you don't plan on being on that, on that GLP one for the rest of
your life, then it's going to be harder that next time around, unless you're following the nutrition
and you got into strength training. Are you noticing anything, uh, positive, uh, that you
would expect from your patients on GLPs with their, uh, with all the testing that you do?
Obviously we would expect them to eat less. We would expect weight loss. Um, if they're
not strength training, I hit a protein muscle loss, but are you seeing anything else in
their testing that is surprising?
So all of this is new and I'm, and I always try to stand by as meaning, like if people
are going to live that healthy a hundred years on GLP ones, okay, I'm all for it. Like let's
do whatever it is. But what I'm finding, what I, what I can't yet parse from all the data
now is that all of these people using GLP ones, if they're not getting the side effects
such as the gastroparesis, the thyroid issues, et cetera, let's take that off the table.
They're improving in all areas. It's pretty wild. Meaning like insulin resistance, cardiovascular
improvement in biological age, all of the things are getting better, even cancer markers.
But we don't know if it's like metformin where it works really well in individuals that are
overweight, but it can be detrimental in those people that are at a healthy weight. Right.
Even if you're micro dosing. So the jury's not out yet. And again, I'm waiting for it
to see when we have enough data because GLP ones have been around forever. Like they've
been around for a good 20 years and been used and they've always shown to be worthwhile
if you're obese, but now people are using them on a healthy weight. And I just don't
know yet if that's a positive or a negative.
So, okay. I, we talked, we've been talking about this for the last couple of years now
and I keep flip-flopping or originally, uh, Sal and I would debate and, uh, you know,
I, I would make the, I made the argument that this is going to be a net positive. We have,
we have so many obese people that of course there's going to be people that abuse it.
Of course you're not so that, but it'll still be a net positive. We've now been around it
long enough and we've had a lot of clients come through with it. And I've now, I'm now
seeing it in my, my, my family, friends, and people that aren't even workout people, people
that aren't even really that overweight that are starting to take it. I'm starting to flip
flop and go the other side that I'm kind of worried that too many people are abusing it.
not using it properly and are not thinking
about the long-term effects, they're just like,
oh, this will help me shed the next quick 10 pounds real quick.
Yes.
Where are you at on it?
I mean-
Well, for people at a healthy weight,
I can't recommend it right now.
And I've seen too many detrimental effects.
I've seen many women in our practice losing their hair,
losing the fat in their face,
and they're upset about that.
Just under eating it.
That's the thing too, is like, you are not hungry.
And so then you're forcing yourself to eat.
And so, but your digestive system is slowed down.
So you're not hungry for a reason.
Like your digestive system is all but stopped.
And so then that's causing bowel-based issues and IBS.
So there are just better ways to get there, in my opinion.
Again, going back to those foundational principles
that we've spoken about.
But I have also seen this,
is that we now know that we don't know the exact amount.
Somewhere between 10 and 20 million Americans
are using GLP-1s.
They believe it's going to be 30 million
in the next 18 months.
So if you look at that, it's like 10% of the population.
That's like 20% of the adult population.
Yeah.
So a huge number.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A lot of people.
We don't know what that's going to look like
over the next five or 10 years.
And like for overall health, maybe it improves.
Maybe like there's less money spent
than on the healthcare system.
We don't know.
But what I will tell you is this.
I see a lot of people getting off of them as well.
And I don't know all the reasons why they're getting off,
but they're not staying on them permanently.
And so I don't know if you've heard.
I've heard my certain things,
but I'd love to hear what you're seeing as well.
I'm going to guess.
Well, I'm going to tell you what I think.
I think there are, overeating's bad.
Overeating is also not great.
You are not getting nutrients.
You're not getting essential nutrients.
You're not getting the essential macronutrients.
And so people's hair is falling out.
They're getting osteopenia in their 30s and 40s.
They're losing their energy and their libido and their drive.
And they're blaming the GLP
when they're just eating a thousand calories a day
or less every single day.
So that's what I've seen.
I've seen people come off because of those.
Like you mentioned the hair loss.
I've talked to people who are like,
I'm losing my hair.
It's the GLP.
I'm like,
no, it's you're eating 800 calories a day.
I used to see this before GLP were popular as a trainer.
I would see this with members of my gym
who just starved themselves.
They just weren't eating enough.
And it's like,
your hair's falling out
because if you eat 800 calories a day,
eventually you start to lose your hair.
Your nails get weak.
You lose your libido, your energy.
So that's the number one reason.
Aside from the gastro issues,
I think that's another common one that I'm seeing.
I've seen exactly the same.
I mean, that's what it seems to be is that
in the beginning,
it's all rainbows and unicorns and sunshine, right?
Like it's,
it's amazing.
And then you start to hit that tipping point
somewhere around six months to eight months
is what I see it in my practice.
And your body is now starving.
It can't compensate anymore.
That's right.
And so once you've burned through a lot of that muscle
and bone,
then your body is saying,
okay,
we're going to shut down
non-essential systems like your thyroid.
And now you're getting cold hands and feet,
the hair loss,
the thinning of the skin.
And people are like,
well,
what's the trade-off for that?
I'm thinner,
but I lose all my hair.
And like,
so then they have to just weigh those.
And that,
that actually happens with micro dosing as well.
It's not just using the larger dosages.
Yeah,
it can happen.
So,
and now have you experimented with GLPs
just to see how they affect you and how you feel?
I haven't personally,
because I do not believe in a lot of the experimentation
on myself or my clients.
Okay.
No,
again,
I work with many clients that do all the things
and I'm there to support them.
But my,
I mean,
from 17 to 27,
I was pretty,
pretty banged up.
Like my health wasn't.
I'm not going to mess with that.
And I'm not messing with my health at all.
Exactly.
So I just don't,
I don't do,
now again,
I use a lot of nutritional supplements,
fasting.
I do longer fast.
I've done water fast.
I've done things like that.
But even like a water fast,
I'm never,
I shouldn't say never,
but I'm probably not going to do another seven
or 10 day water fast again.
Is that,
wait,
wait,
wait,
is that where you don't drink water?
No,
I only drink.
Only drink.
Okay.
No dry fasting.
And so that sounds crazy to me.
Well,
and if someone,
again,
if they're obese,
those things,
like it could be like for,
and for certain health reasons,
it can be healthy,
but I run more catabolic anyways.
That just means you break down faster
than you're typically building up,
right?
Hard gain or whatever you want to call it.
So water fast is the last thing
that my body really needs.
Right.
And so that's how I look at it.
So for me,
you know,
I do my functional medicine detox.
I'll do a fasting mimicking diet.
All these things can be helpful.
So it's more a lower caloric intake
and get into AMP,
higher AMPK and autophagy,
which we've spoken about before,
rather than just going full tilt.
So,
you know,
whenever the longevity,
the conversation comes up,
there's,
there's in my mind,
what always comes up is the quality
of life versus longevity conversation.
Now there's a lot of crossover.
Obviously,
if you're healthy,
uh,
and that's allowing you to live longer,
you're gonna have a better quality of life.
But sometimes in the extremes,
people trade quality of life for longevity
where they're like,
I'm not going to ever do these things
that,
you know,
I'm at the birthday,
no cake for me,
even though it's my kid's birthday,
because you know,
whatever,
what are the things that are the things
that you do,
Dr.
Cabral that I,
you know,
maybe on,
on the surface or on paper,
like,
well,
that's not necessarily healthy,
but you include because it improves
your quality of life
or maybe connection with others.
Yeah,
absolutely.
So there's a couple that I've decided
that the trade-off isn't worth it.
For me,
it's alcohol.
So maybe,
I mean like three or four times a year,
I'll have a drink.
I don't,
but it could be anytime.
Like I don't have this set in the stone
saying I can never drink again.
Cause you've just noticed for yourself.
It just doesn't feel good.
It ruins my sleep.
I have unlimited energy during the day.
If I drink the night before,
don't have unlimited energy that I said,
it affects me.
So like that's a big deal.
But food wise,
I'm having two flex meals a week
of whatever I want,
like no big deal.
And I literally mean whatever.
Now,
am I going to eat food dyes and all that?
No,
like that's not going to be,
but if I want dessert,
I'm certainly going to eat pasta every week.
I'm going to have some bread every week.
These are things that I enjoy,
that I grew up with,
that my Italian grandmother always cooked.
I enjoy those things.
So I'm always going to do that.
It was my daughter's birthday just last week,
had a slice of cake.
Don't feel guilty about it at all.
So those things I'm always going to do.
I can't think of a lot of things
a lot of others that I would say,
like I add in that.
I have a cigarette here or there.
So there are no cigarettes.
You should have messaged the audience
and done that.
A couple of times a week,
I'll have a couple of cigarettes.
Exactly.
So I would say it's mainly food based.
Like I'm very regimented in my sleep,
but here's another thing.
Like if I stopped eating at four o'clock,
my sleep would improve my overall biological age.
You see a lot of these people who like
are all about their biological age
and the rate of aging, right?
And they stop eating at four o'clock.
Because it really does work.
But I have a family.
I've got two kids.
Like we sit down at the end of the day,
we have dinner together.
And if that takes off five years of my life,
I'm okay with that.
I'm not going to eat with my daughters.
That's why, you know?
And so, or going to bed at eight o'clock.
My two daughters are older now.
Like they're, you know, 12 and 14.
They don't go to bed at eight o'clock.
I'm going to go to bed before my kids.
No, like that's not going to happen
because then I have no time with my wife.
So there are some things that the trade-off for me,
you know, like Brian Johns, again,
I'd like to give him a hard time
because he puts himself out there.
He doesn't sleep in the same bed as, you know,
his partner, whatever you want to call it,
lives in the same house as him.
I couldn't imagine.
I mean, again, like some people
have their own sleeping arrangements, fine.
Too far.
I want to sleep in the same bed as my wife.
Like, so yeah, there are some things which,
you know, again, like I sleep better.
Maybe she doesn't, but I sleep better if she's there.
So, you know, there are things that I've just decided
this is how I want to live my life and enjoy it.
And if I make it to my early nineties
versus like 105, I'm okay with that.
What are your go-to meals?
Your flex?
What's your favorite go-to?
I mean, first thing that comes to mind
is just bread and pasta like that, without a doubt.
I mean, like, and it's all different types of pasta.
My wife makes a phenomenal pesto sauce,
which is actually, you can make the argument
it's healthy for you.
But if I'm at a restaurant too,
like I had cavatelli with braised lamb
the other day with caramelized onions.
It was unbelievable.
Yeah, it was delicious.
That's good stuff.
And so am I going to say no to that?
No, like if that's what I'm having.
How much does having two teenage girls affect longevity?
I have two teenage girls in my home.
You are almost, you're 12 and 14.
I'm almost there.
Yeah, in a couple of years,
they'll probably be dating and driving.
And then my life expectancy will go down.
Because of stress.
In three years, you'll look 10 years older.
Because right now I don't have my cell phone near my bed.
I don't have any, like my family's in my house, right?
But if they're out till 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock,
whatever it might be, I'm going to bed early, right?
And so it's like, now I got to worry about them.
And so, yeah, I'll probably lose a couple of years.
Are there any supplements that will,
that actually move the needle with longevity?
Obviously it's lifestyle, exercise, sleep.
Yes.
Anything supplement wise, or is it all overrated?
We have three that are kind of like,
if you don't do anything else, do these three as a safeguard.
But the research really backs up two of them to the extreme.
So there was a study that's called the Do Health Study.
Really great study that was done.
And they looked at a few different nutritional supplements
that have been shown over and over
to be really helpful for our health.
And so they looked at them independently.
And then they looked at them all together.
And then they looked at a control group.
So this is a really well done study.
And so they looked at over three years as well.
One of them was omega-3s from fish oil,
not from algae or other things,
just saying that's what it was.
I'm not saying you can't get benefit from the other,
but it's harder.
Vitamin D3.
And then the third part was actually the SHEP program.
Again, the simple home exercise program.
So the typical home exercises that you can do.
So when they looked at all three
and they were looking at reduction of biological age
and rate of aging.
And so they looked at this over every few months
over the course of three years.
The only one that moved the needle by itself
was omega-3.
But when you combine them together,
you saw a huge reduction.
I would say huge.
It's basically 3.3 to four months reduction
in rate of aging every three years.
So every decade you could say,
you live about another year or so
if you would extrapolate that data, right?
For a supplement, that's pretty darn good.
And that's all you have to do.
And by the way, these weren't mega dosages.
Like you know that I don't believe
in mega dosages of supplements.
This is a little lower than I recommend.
And I'll share with you why in a moment.
Vitamin D3 was at 2,000 IUs.
193s was that one gram.
Wow, that's it.
That's pretty low.
Yeah. So I think, and there are other studies, here's another study,
but here's the thing. Vitamin D3 didn't show like that. Great. But now that's why you can't look at
any one study. So when you, when I go on Instagram, I love it as well. And people are always quoting
one study and it's like the greatest thing ever, right? Or it's the worst thing ever.
So there are so many studies. There's over 30,000 studies on omega-3s from food and from
nutritional supplements. And the vast majority show that it's overwhelming evidence is that
it's healthy for you. Are there some studies that show it could be detrimental? Sure. It's
usually at mega dosages, truthfully, because then it could cause like arterial fib and like
other things, issues like that. But here's the interesting one about the D3. In this particular
study at 2000 IUs, no big deal. But another study, it's called the vital study. It looked at vitamin
D3 and it was a little bit different per person, but you had to get your blood work, your 25
hydroxy vitamin D3 to 60 milligrams per deciliter. Okay.
So they're literally individualizing it. We got to get your numbers up.
This is what made the hugest difference. This is wild. 38% reduction in cancer. If you got it to
that number and an 85% reduction in breast cancer. Wow. By getting your D3 to that level. But here's
the other crazy thing. It didn't work in people that were overweight. It only worked in people
with a healthy BMI. Interesting. So the vitamin D3 was not enough to offset obesity. Got it.
And I, that's why all of these studies, all of these studies, all of these studies, all of these
studies are so nuanced, but in our practice, we do three, we have three phases. The first phase is
weight loss because let's say you have autoimmune issues. You've got cardiovascular, you've got
atherosclerosis, whatever it might be. And we can talk about one other supplement that's helping
tremendously for atherosclerosis that we use. And it's become very popular right now for a good
reason. If you don't help people lose weight, almost nothing else matters to get them to a
healthy weight. And you don't need to have six pack abs. We're just talking about like getting
to a healthy weight. Like we talked about in the Harvard study. And then after that,
it's fixed.
Your wellness-based issues. So let's say it takes you six months to get to a healthy weight,
maybe a year maximum, right? Six months to maybe a year maximum to get your health back. And that's
autoimmune issues. That's gut health issues, whatever it might be. Then you can focus on the
longevity part. Too many people are doing the red light therapies and everything. Again, they're
awesome. They're great, but those don't matter until the first two. You're using a squirt gun
on a, on a house fire. That's right. And does it do something? Yeah, but I'm not really,
can't really tell. I'm going to guess on the supplement that you're going to, you're about to
up. Is it natto? Yes. Proteolytic ends up. Natto kinase. Natto kinase. Yeah. Talk about that
because I saw some studies on that and how much it reduced arterial plaque. Yes. And it's, it seems
remarkable. It seems incredible. Talk about that. So we've been using it now for quite some time in
our practice. So we've been using it for over 15 years. However, the evidence wasn't where it is
now. So we saw early studies that it could help, but we were using dosages.
From like 2000 to 4,000 fibrillinic, fibrillinic units. So FUs is basically what it is on. Now,
what do they recommend? 10,000? 10,000. Okay. Exactly. So we were on the lower end, which is
good to be on the safer side, but now at 10,000 fibrillinic units used for those six to 12 months.
So this can't be, not going to do anything in a week, but you have to use it, use it for a year.
It showed a reduction in arterial plaque by 36%, 36.6%, which is wild compared to a statin,
0.5. Yeah. I mean, it kicked the crap out of the statin. Like not even close. And they both lowered
LDL by about the same, but the natokinase raised HDL by a bit and improved triglycerides, which was
great for fatty liver and great for blood sugar. How does it work? Is it like an enzyme that breaks
down the arterial plaques? That's right. Okay. So it will, it breaks down the fibrin that starts
to cover these plaques, which then allows the body to start to eradicate them. So,
but here's a couple other things. We use it. So we use a product we formulate called proteolytic
enzymes. So it has natokinase at the 10,000 units, but it also has serrapeptase. Serrapeptase helps
degrade damaged proteins in the body. So it's good for inflammation in the arteries, which natokinase
doesn't work on, and in the joints. So that is what we use. And then we use something called
proteases, which breaks down those proteins too. So essentially what happens is fibrin's covering
a lot of the plaque or blood clots, and it's breaking down that, that net. That's what fibrin
is. So that's all, there's nothing, no magic to it. It's an enzyme from natto, from natto,
basically fermented soy. So people always ask, is there a non-soy variety I can get this from?
But the, the difference is that people aren't looking at is there's no soy in natokinase.
It's an extract from soy. So unless you have a real soy allergy, that's an issue. Who shouldn't
use it as well? People on blood thinners, or they have a-
Yeah, because they're ample.
They amplify the effects of the blood thinner.
That's right.
You got to be careful.
Yep, exactly. So those are the people that shouldn't use it. Besides that,
take that at about 10,000 units each day. And you want to do it at least 30 minutes before
food in the morning. Upon waking or 30 minutes before.
So on an empty stomach.
Has to, to be able to move through the stomach wall in the first part of the intestine.
Is that because, because I know this with bromelain, if you take it with food,
it breaks down the food. If you take it without food, it's got some other effects on the body.
That's right.
Is that the same thing with the natto?
Same exact thing. The other thing that they're showing now, and again, these are in vitro studies,
it's showing that it actually breaks down blood clots and spike proteins,
which is pretty impressive.
Yes. So I know somebody-
Within hours, by the way.
I know somebody who had a blood clot, and I'm not going to recommend this. You got a blood clot,
go to the doctor.
That's right.
Okay, because that'll kill you. But I know somebody who had one, and what's it called
when it's in your leg? I can't remember the term, but anyway, had it in his leg.
Deep vein thrombosis.
There you go.
Embolism, yeah.
And he's like anti, like, I'm not going to the doctor my way. He started taking natto,
got rid of it on his own.
I always say it's a life-threatening,
addition, please go to the doctor.
Yeah, go to the doctor. Yeah, this guy's pretty hard-headed. But anyway-
I take proteolytic enzymes as a prophylactic, so I don't build up calcium.
That's the time, that's the way to use it.
That's the way that I use it.
Yeah, you already got a blood clot, go to the doctor.
100%. But again, if you do have a virus, you have something like that, nothing wrong,
you know, as long as you're not on blood thinners, to take that as a great means.
Now, one other thing I have to say is what they've also shown is there's
three other nutrients for that arterial plaque, atherosclerosis. Vitamin D3,
K2, and magnesium. They technically add B6 to that as well, but it only has to be a small amount.
So in our practice, we're using a good daily activated multi, omega-3, and D3. If that's
all that you use, you're going to get the benefits for longevity. Again, I love the special ones,
like the trimethylglycine, the PQQ, like all those. I do all those, yes. But don't worry
about those if you're not using those three main nutrients. That's what's shown.
Very cool. So good. Dr. Cabral, thanks for coming on, man. This was a great
episode. I think it'll help a lot of people. I appreciate it. Can I just give a little
shout out for our one-on-one? If anybody's looking to fine tune this for themselves,
they can just go to steamcabral.com slash coaching, or my new book has all these
self-assessments called Personomics, The End of All Disease, and people can check it out there
as well. Oh, that's awesome. Awesome. Thank you. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you.
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Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Dr. Stephen Cabral emphasizes that five key lifestyle factors—avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol, maintaining a healthy BMI and body composition, engaging in regular exercise, and eating a high-quality whole-food, fiber-rich diet—can add an average of 12.2 years to life expectancy.
Smoking causes chronic oxidative stress and arterial inflammation, leading to plaque buildup and cardiovascular disease, while its long-term damage is cumulative and irreversible.
Alcohol consumption should be limited to one drink per day for most people, but those with genetic predispositions (like ApoE 2, 3, or 4) are more sensitive and should avoid it entirely due to increased inflammation.
Exercise, particularly two days per week of resistance training and moderate aerobic activity (like the Norwegian protocol or sprint intervals), significantly improves cardiovascular health, increases max VO2, and reduces all-cause mortality.
A Mediterranean-style diet rich in fiber (30–35 grams/day) from whole foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts boosts gut health, reduces inflammation, and is strongly linked to longevity in Blue Zones.
Daily movement—such as walking, gardening, or grocery shopping—is a key factor in healthy aging, as seen in centenarians who maintain physical activity throughout life.
Resistance training is especially vital for preserving muscle mass, preventing frailty, and improving grip strength, which are strong predictors of long-term survival.
While GLP-1 medications show short-term benefits, they may lead to nutrient deficiencies, hair loss, and metabolic slowdown, and Dr. Cabral cautions against their long-term use, especially in healthy-weight individuals.
Summary:
Dr. 2 years to life expectancy, shifting focus from merely extending lifespan to improving quality of life. These include avoiding smoking, moderating alcohol intake, maintaining a healthy BMI and body composition, engaging in regular physical activity—especially resistance training and targeted aerobic exercise—and adopting a high-fiber, whole-food Mediterranean-style diet.
Smoking significantly damages arteries through oxidative stress, while alcohol consumption should be limited, especially for genetically predisposed individuals. Exercise, such as two days per week of resistance training and the Norwegian protocol, improves cardiovascular health and reduces mortality risks. Daily physical activity, like walking or gardening, is vital in Blue Zones, where centenarians remain active throughout life.
Dr. Cabral highlights that muscle strength is a key longevity predictor, with sarcopenia linked to frailty and early death. He also expresses caution about GLP-1 medications, noting they can cause metabolic and nutritional side effects, such as hair loss and reduced appetite, especially in healthy-weight individuals.
Ultimately, the goal is not just longevity but sustained vitality—achieving a healthy 100-year life through foundational, sustainable habits rather than extreme or risky interventions. Personalization, including genetic testing and lifestyle preferences, is emphasized, showing that true longevity comes from balanced, enjoyable habits, not rigid regimens.
FAQs
The five key factors are: not smoking, limiting alcohol to one drink per day (or less), maintaining a healthy BMI and body fat percentage, engaging in regular exercise (especially resistance training and two days of moderate aerobic activity per week), and eating a predominantly whole-food, Mediterranean-style diet rich in fiber (30–35 grams per day).
Smoking causes chronic oxidative stress, leading to inflammation in arteries, increased risk of atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and stroke. The damage is cumulative over time and can significantly reduce lifespan, even if only a short period of smoking occurs.
Yes, for most people with a healthy BMI, one drink per day is generally safe and may not increase cancer risk. However, individuals with certain genetic predispositions (like ApoE 2, 3, or 4 genotypes) may be more sensitive to alcohol and should limit intake or avoid it entirely.
Body fat percentage is a better indicator of health than BMI because it accounts for muscle mass. A high BMI can be due to muscle, which is healthy, while excess body fat—especially visceral fat—increases inflammation and risks for heart disease, diabetes, and early mortality.
Regular exercise—especially resistance training two to three days per week and moderate aerobic activity like the Norwegian protocol two days per week—improves blood pressure, increases max VO2, reduces all-cause mortality by up to 49%, and helps prevent frailty and muscle loss in older age.
A Mediterranean-style diet rich in whole foods, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and olive oil—providing 30–35 grams of fiber per day—reduces inflammation, improves gut health, and lowers the risk of heart disease and all-cause mortality, as shown in large-scale studies.
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