Katie Couric Discusses the Rising Interest in Longevity Science with High-Profile Cardiologist

Highlights

• Dr. Topol discusses how researchers are developing 15 drugs similar to GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic (a blood sugar and appetite regulator), which mimic hormones to improve immunity and lower inflammation.
• Dr. Topol also recommends exercising about five times a week for 30 minutes to maintain immune system vitality with age.
• Dr. Topol says artificial intelligence (AI)-based analyses of eye retina scans could serve as a window to the health status of multiple organs and reveal people’s risk for age-related diseases.

In an interview with American journalist Katie Couric, Dr. Eric Topol, a renowned cardiologist who is also the director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, relayed information related to the rise of aging science. Along those lines, he touched on several aging research topics, including AI-based methods for early prediction of age-related diseases, medicines under research that mimic hormones to enhance metabolism, and how to maintain immune function during aging with exercise.

“There are a few reasons why we’re seeing this ‘longevity moment’ right now,” said Dr. Topol. “There’s never been more intense interest.”

Heavy Investment from Billionaires and Numerous Companies Jumping on the Longevity Research Bandwagon

For starters, Dr. Topol described why aging and longevity research has taken off recently. One reason is that some billionaires want to stay young and are investing in aging research. Another reason is that there are numerous companies jumping on the aging research bandwagon. These companies, according to Dr. Topol, fervently peddle the latest aging intervention fads, like selling memberships to longevity clinics offering direction on ways to extend life without debilitating age-related diseases (a concept known as healthspan). Finally, another reason he gives is that there are real things, based on data, that we can do to extend our healthspan, such as avoiding ultra-processed foods and exercising five days a week for about 30 minutes at a time. Accordingly, these factors, as Dr. Topol suggested, are triggering the rising, intense interest in aging research.

Drugs In the Pipeline that Mimic Hormones

Dr. Topol discussed how we are at a time point of astounding medical advancements, and as an example, he said GLP-1 agonists, such as Ozempic, tamp down systemic inflammation. Systems-wide inflammation is a hallmark of aging, and lowering inflammation with new drugs like GLP-1 agonists may serve as a key way to extend healthspan.

Furthermore, Dr. Topol said that GLP-1 agonists mimic a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) in our body to lower inflammation and regulate appetite along with blood sugar. He added that, in line with using hormone-mimicking drugs to extend healthspan, researchers have another 15 such drugs under research, which may also prove effective at lowering inflammation and improving immunity. Also, Dr. Topol says that once we figure out whether these hormone-mimicking drugs are effective, researchers may find that certain combinations of them enhance their effects.

Exercising Five Times a Week for 30 Minutes to Maintain Immunity

As we wait for hormone-mimicking drugs to become available on the market, Dr. Topol said that exercising is a great and cost-free way to enhance immunity for healthspan promotion. As far as Dr. Topol’s exercise recommendations go, he advised engaging in any type of sustained physical activity, even brief walks, for longevity-promoting benefits. If one has the time, he also recommended exercising for 30 minutes, five times a week. Some examples of exercises he suggested were bicycling or jogging. Moreover, Dr. Topol lamented how losing muscle mass can be a risk factor for age-related frailty as well as loss of mobility and independence. As such, to maintain muscle mass, Dr. Topol recommends doing resistance exercises, such as body weight exercises, like pushups and planks. Accordingly, doing exercises that increase your heart rate for a sustained period (aerobic exercises) five times a week for 30 minutes, along with two or three days where you do some resistance training with your bodyweight, could help extend your healthspan.

“Bro Science” Overhypes Excessive Protein Consumption

Another interesting topic that Dr. Topol spoke about was how much protein people should consume each day. In that regard, Dr. Topol says that “bro science” recommendations, where some influencers recommend a gram of protein consumption per pound of bodyweight each day, can be dangerous. Along those lines, Dr. Topol has not seen any data to back the recommendations for this high amount of protein consumption, and some research suggests that high protein intake, especially from animal protein sources (which contain high levels of saturated fat), increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. As such, Dr. Topol recommends about 1.2 to 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram (about 2.2 pounds) of body weight per day, which is about half the amount recommended by online influencers.

“There’s no data to support that,” said Dr. Topol. “I’ve scoured all the literature, and the most you could get to if you’re getting older and you want to increase your protein, you’re worried about muscle mass, you would go to 1.2 [grams] per kilogram or 1.4 [grams] per kilogram…the data all suggest [the recommendation of 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day] could be harmful.”

The Coming Artificial Intelligence-Based Leaps for Medicine

Along the lines of AI-based aging research, Dr. Topol said we are entering a phase of transformative medicine, because AI will give us chances to discover new drugs and initiate preventative therapies for age-related diseases. As an example, Dr. Topol mentioned the discovery of a new drug with AI that counteracts an age-related disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a condition characterized by lung tissue scarring.

Not only that but he relayed how an AI-based technology is under development that uses scans of the eye’s retina to predict the onset of age-related heart, liver, kidney, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s diseases five years in advance. Although Dr. Topol did not predict when people could start using retina scans or images to detect a likelihood for the onset of age-related diseases affecting various organs, he said the data on this technique is quite promising.

“The retina is just rich,” said Dr. Topol. “We thought it was a gateway just perhaps to the brain, but it’s [a gateway] to almost every organ in the body.”

Getting Tests to Detect Risks for Age-Related Diseases Will Motivate People to Alter Their Lifestyles

From AI-based retina scans to hormone-mimicking drugs in the pipeline, Dr. Topol relayed a few means to diagnose and counteract age-related diseases and increase healthspan in the coming years. Interestingly, he also said that currently, the most effective way we have to improve immunity and mitigate systemic inflammation is exercising five days a week.

Altogether, using AI to size up risks for age-related diseases in the not-so-distant future could serve to alert people to the need to engage in regular exercise. The AI-based disease risk assessments could also motivate people to alter their diets to reduce the intake of ultra-processed foods, which research suggests can increase cancer risk, and increase consumption of fiber-rich foods, which may lower inflammation. In addition, if the AI-based disease risk tests become available, results from them could also motivate people to take new hormone-mimicking drugs to improve metabolism and immunity to extend healthspan. Interestingly, if people adhere to regular exercise schedules and eat a healthy diet, taking the AI-based tests may not be all that necessary, according to Dr. Topol.

“You don’t have to do any of these tests if you do all the lifestyle factors,” says Dr. Topol. “The reason to do these tests is to motivate you to do all the lifestyle factors.”