January 20, 2024

Envision a life where you gracefully surpass the age of 100, untouched by the afflictions that typically accompany old age — no battles with debilitating diseases, no encounters with cancer, no navigating each step with the constant fear of stumbling and facing a hip-breaking incident.

In a captivating discussion with Dr. Steven Gundry, I explore the secrets of the world's blue zones, where vitality remains a constant companion and thriving well beyond what is conventionally deemed “your best years” is not a distant dream but a tangible reality. 

Dr. Gundry is one of the world’s top cardiothoracic surgeons and a pioneer in nutrition. He hosts the top-rated health show, The Dr. Gundry Podcast, is the founder and director of The International Heart and Lung Institute Center for Restorative Medicine, and is the founder of Gundry MD, a line of wellness products and supplements.

After a distinguished surgical career as a professor and chairman of cardiothoracic surgery at Loma Linda University, Dr. Gundry changed his focus to curing modern diseases via dietary changes. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers, including The Plant Paradox, The Plant Paradox Cookbook, The Plant Paradox Quick & Easy, and The Longevity Paradox, along with national bestsellers such as The Plant Paradox Family Cookbook, The Energy Paradox, Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution, and Unlocking the Keto Code. Additionally, he has had more than 300 articles published in peer-reviewed journals on using diet and supplements to eliminate heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, and other life-altering diseases.

Dr. Gundry's latest book, which he and I discuss on this episode, is Gut Check: Unleash the Power of Your Microbiome to Reverse Disease and Transform Your Mental, Physical, and Emotional Health.

Previous podcasts with Dr. Gundry include:

• “How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age: The Longevity Paradox & The 7 Deadly Myths Of Aging” 
• “The Truth About Lectins And The Plant Paradox By Dr. Steven Gundry”

In today's episode, join Dr. Gundry and me in uncovering topics for a long, healthy life, such as Okinawan food fermentation, Sardinian smoking, the benefits of goat and sheep products, and the best practices for a vibrant existence.

During this discussion, you'll discover:

-Japan as a blue zone and the benefits of food fermentation…08:40

• Gut Check by Dr. Steven Gundry
• A chapter in the book is dedicated to blue zones
• The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner
  • A meeting in Montpellier, France, about longevity
  • Dan Buettner circled 5 areas on the map
    • Areas with exceptional longevity
    • His reasons are subject to debate
  • People in blue zones eat a lot of grains and beans
• Okinawa is one of the blue zones
  • Okinawans don’t eat rice
  • They don't eat soy — they eat miso, fermented soy
  • Famous for eating lots of spicy greens and vegetables
  • 85% of their food is purple or blue sweet potato
• Traditionally, cultures have always detoxified plant toxins by fermentation
• What happens when plants are fermented?
  • Fermentation was a way for people to detoxify lectins
  • Incas used quinoa as a food but always fermented it
• Traditionally, cultures soaked their beans; soaking leaches lectins out
• Pressure cooking also removes lectins
• There are bacteria on the skin of beans that ferment the beans; soaking started the fermentation of beans
• Soak Time For Common Seeds, Nuts, Beans and Grains
• The Plant Paradox by Dr. Steven Gundry
• The lectin content of a plant increases at the moment of germination
  • The most susceptible time to predation

-Sardinia as a blue zone and why smoking isn't hindering longevity…18:17

• Sardinia essentially has two populations 
• People either live down by the sea or in the mountains
  • People by the sea are mostly fishermen
  • People in the mountains are sheep and goat herders
• Only the people who live up in the mountains have longevity
• Men in the mountains live as long as women
• 95% of men smoke while only 25% of women smoke — it is the smoking that promotes their longevity
• Nicotine is one of the greatest mitochondrial uncouplers that anybody has ever discovered
  • Uncoupling the mitochondria is probably the smartest way to live a long time
• Kitavans of Papua New Guinea smoke
• Staffan Lindeberg
  • “Cardiovascular risk factors in a Melanesian population apparently free from stroke and ischaemic heart disease: the Kitava study”
    • They have never had a case of coronary artery disease, a stroke, or cancer
• Smoking is bad for producing oxidative stress
• You also don't see the negative effects of smoking in:
  • The Greek island of Icaria, also a blue zone, where 99% of men and 25% of women smoke
  • In Acciaroli, south of Naples, the largest population over the age of 100 (30%)
• Men are mostly smokers and live longer than women
• Podcast with Dr. Andrew Huberman:
  • “The Man Who Is Curing Blindness And Alzheimer's, Growing New Brain Cells & Elegantly Fabricating Some Of The Most Powerful Nootropics Known To Humankind.”
• Smoking uses all vitamin C for handling oxidative stress
• They're blocking the effects of oxidative stress by having a very high antioxidant-rich diet
  • Olive oil doubles the production of vitamin C
• Smokers need a very high antioxidant-rich diet to avoid the negative effects of smoking
• Ben wears a nicotine patch
• Ben's mitochondrial uncoupling strategies
  • Bitter melon extract before dinner
  • Cold plunge (use code BENFORGE for a discount)
  • Grains of paradise instead of black pepper

-The benefits of goat and sheep products…25:47

• Ben’s stance on using nicotine
• Mitochondrial uncoupling is really one of the keys to longevity
• Western smokers do not have the benefit of all of the compounds
• Sardinia, Icaria, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, and the other blue zones are all sheep and goat herding populations
• 30% of the fats in goat and sheep milk are medium-chain triglycerides
• Medium-chain triglycerides are absorbed as fat and go directly to the liver and generate ketones
• Unlocking the Keto Code by Dr. Steven R. Gundry
  • Ketones are signaling agents that uncouple the mitochondria and promote mitogenesis
• Andorrans eat sheep yogurt, cheese, and sausages
• The people in these areas ferment their meat
  • Do not have any storage system for their animal meat
  • Bacteria in the fermentation process consume the N-Glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) compound found in beef, lamb, milk, and pork
• Fermentation produces polyamines like spermidine, another compound that has mitochondrial uncoupling properties
• People in these areas have the highest life expectancy of any country

-Neu5Gc and why it is an issue…35:33

• Dr. Gundry was interested in Neu5Gc as a xenotransplantation researcher
• Xenotransplantation means one species to another; pig-to-human heart transplants
• Pig-to-human heart transplants done by Bartley Griffith at the University of Maryland
• Molecules Neu5Gc and N-Acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac)
• Neu5Ac differs from Neu5Gc by one molecule of oxygen
• Arterosil by Calroy (20% discount auto-applied)
• Podcast with Dr. Jack Wolfson:
  • “The Surprising Truth About Coffee & Heart Attacks, How Sulfur Can Rescue Your Arteries, Better Erections Naturally & More With The Natural Heart Doctor Jack Wolfson.”
• Glycocalyx is a little lining in your blood vessels that is primarily sugar molecules
• The more Neu5Gc-containing foods, the more anti-Neu5Gc antibodies you make
• There is a strong association between meat-eating, milk-drinking, and various health conditions such as arthritis, dementia, coronary artery disease, vascular disease, and cancer
  • New research shows causation
• The fermentation process gets rid of Neu5Gc
• What else can protect you from Neu5Gc?
  • Eating Neu5Ac foods — fish, shellfish, wild fish, wild shellfish, and properly raised chicken
• You can measure the flexibility of blood vessels and you can actually measure the integrity of the glycocalyx
• Polyphenols increase the flexibility of blood vessels
• Giving patients polyphenols like:
  • Grape seed extract
  • Pycnogenol French maritime tree bark
  • Fish oil
• Podcast with Dr. William Davis:
  • “Everything You Need To Know About Healing Your Gut, Mood, Energy, Libido & Sleep With A Little Known Bacterial Strain (& An Amazing DIY Yogurt Recipe!) With Dr. William Davis, Author of Super Gut.”
• Dry aging and wet aging as a form of fermentation
• Video on wet aging meat
• Organifi Red Juice

-Statistical issues with blue zones…48:49

• In Okinawa, birth records were destroyed in the bombing
• Most of the blue zones, especially in Europe, are very poor communities
  • There's speculation that there is a lot of underreporting of deaths because of pensions
• Valter Longo heads up the USC Longevity Institute
  • He doesn't like the fact that the second-longest life expectancy in the world is in Monte Carlo
  • Monte Carlo has a Mediterranean diet
  • Longo argues that their longevity is due to good healthcare
• The Longevity Diet by Valter Longo
• The long-lived residents of Acciaroli, south of Naples
  • Don’t eat bread and pasta; they don't eat any grain products
  • They eat lentils that have been soaked
  • They eat small fish, anchovies being the number one, and a lot of rosemary
  • Older guys are horny due to rosemary
  • Several compounds in rosemary are good mitochondria uncouplers and also have aphrodisiac properties
• Sheepherders and goat herders feed their animals spices rich in polyphenols
• Sage has polyphenols — sage coffee

-What to do when it comes to chickens…55:33

• Chickens used to be released into the pastures, where they would dig through manure looking for bugs
• Chickens were basically insectivores
• Today, chickens are fed organic corn and soybeans
• In a foraging animal, the normal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is 1:3
  • Organic chickens today have 1:25
• Lectin-Light Chicken has an omega-3 to omega-6 ratio of 1:5
• Be careful where you buy your chicken
• Chicken skin is full of spermidine
• Spermidine is a polyamine that is a good mitochondrial uncoupler
  • Prevents damage to mitochondria
  • Promotes mitogenesis

-Mitochondrial uncoupling…1:00:06

• Mitochondrial uncoupling
  • The process of coupling oxygen with protons produces a lot of free radical damage
  • There are emergency exits in mitochondria, where protons can escape without coupling with oxygen
• “Uncoupling to Survive” — a paper by Martin Brand that was published first in 2000
  • The more the mitochondria are uncoupled, the more protected the mitochondria are from damage
• The longest-living people have the most uncoupled mitochondria
• The cost of living hypothesis
• The exceptions are birds; birds have the most uncoupled mitochondria of any species
• Retinoic acid is a great mitochondrial uncoupler, which hummingbirds live on 

-Other things to uncouple mitochondria 1:03:23

• Researching heat shock protein
• Cutting off blood flow in a coronary artery for 5 minutes activates heat shock proteins
• Heat shock proteins protect myocardial cells from damage
  • Work by uncoupling mitochondria
• Mitochondrial uncouplers:
  • Sauna
  • Cold plunge
  • Red light 
• In Italy and France, wine is part of the meal
• Red wine is a great polyphenol-delivery device
• Sardinia has a Cannonau grape that many think is a Grenache grape, but it's grown at a high altitude
• Sardinia wines may be a piece of the puzzle and why people live so long there
• Glycine intake before or after drinking alcohol
• A combination of glycine and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is still one of the best ways to generate glutathione
• Glycine shifts the body's core temperature downwards