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The Real Key to Longevity Isn’t The Latest Social Media Fad
How to sustain your independence as you age
Longevity is quickly becoming a buzzword. I have to frequently address it with many of my patients.
Scroll through social media influencer pages or popular health websites and you will come across health “hacks” to improve your longevity. You will read and hear claims that specific dietary routines will change your biomarkers and revolutionize your health.
Some of these claims have weak evidence to support them, but the evidence focuses on rodent studies and a metric ton of speculation. Most of the claims lack any evidence, relying strictly on anecdotal experience, placebo, and sales tactics.
Popular “biohacking” techniques focus on hot topics such as gut microbiome, insulin levels and mTor. Those are important aspects of health. But drinking raw milk, exposing your perineum to the sun, and avoiding seed oils aren’t the secret to health.
In fact, many of these fads, like drinking raw milk, are harmful to health.
Instead, we should focus on the boring, but heavily backed (by peer-reviewed science) strategies. For example, a plant-based diet and limiting saturated fat can do wonders for minimizing the risk of atherosclerosis (heart disease). Eating…
