Why is it that when you’re binge watching your favorite new series on Netflix, you can stay up for hours past your normal bedtime - even if you were tired before you started watching? On the other hand, if you weren’t being entertained or captivated by a game or puzzle, you’d be much more likely to be lulled to sleep at that time. Indeed, sleep and goal-directed behaviors are mutually exclusive: you can’t do both at the same time. While this relationship is intuitively clear, for the first time, scientists at Stanford have clarified the circuitry between the brain’s reward and arousal systems.

In the latest episode of humanOS Radio, Dan speaks with Luis de Lecea, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Recently, he and his colleagues published a study in the prestigious journal Nature demonstrating that dopamine neuron activity (in the ventral tegmental area of the brain) is necessary in order to be awake. Furthermore, when they inhibited these neurons, there were able to promote what seemed like natural, healthy sleep.

#013 - New Discovery Could Mean Better, Next-Generation Sleep Drugs - Professor Luis de Lecea

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Health & Fitness

In this episode of the humanOS Radio podcast, we welcome Hannah Went, a visionary in the realm of longevity and disruptive health technologies. With a lifelong passion for breakthrough innovations that improve the human condition, Hannah's journey began at the University of Kentucky, where she earned her degree in Biology. Her early research internships in cell signaling and cell biology laid the groundwork for her career in integrative medicine.

As the former Director of Research and Content at the International Peptide Society, Hannah recognized a unique opportunity for methylation-based age diagnostics. This insight led her to found TruDiagnostic in 2020, a cutting-edge company specializing in methylation array-based diagnostics for life extension and preventive healthcare. Today, TruDiagnostic serves functional medicine providers worldwide and boasts one of the largest private epigenetic health databases, with over 75,000 patients tested.

Driven by a commitment to research, under Hannah’s leadership, TruDiagnostic has spearheaded over 30 clinical trials exploring the epigenetic methylation changes in longevity and health interventions. Additionally, she shares her wealth of knowledge through [Everything Epigenetics](https://everythingepigenetics.com/), offering valuable insights into how DNA regulation impacts health.

Here, we explore the future of longevity, the power of epigenetics, and the transformative potential of innovative healthcare technologies.

093 - humanOS Radio - Hannah Went - Measuring Biological Age

Taurine is often associated with energy drinks and pre-workout supplements, although ironically, it is not a stimulant and may have the opposite effect. While taurine is not considered an essential nutrient for adults, as our bodies can produce it from other amino acids, recent evidence suggests that it offers numerous health benefits. These include improved blood sugar regulation, reduced oxidative stress, and lower blood pressure.

One intriguing aspect of taurine is its potential to vary in production between individuals. Furthermore, studies indicate that taurine levels may decline with age. This brings us to the focus of this week's episode of humanOS Radio.

We are delighted to have Vijay Yadav, an Assistant Professor at Columbia University's Department of Genetics and Development, as our guest. He is the senior author of a fascinating new study published in Science, which explores the connection between taurine and the aging process.

Yadav and his team conducted measurements of blood taurine concentrations in mice, monkeys, and humans at different ages. Their findings revealed a consistent decline in taurine levels associated with aging across all species. In fact, the reduction was significant, with elderly humans exhibiting an 80% decrease in taurine compared to younger individuals.

The crucial question posed by the authors is whether these changes are mere correlations or if they play a causal role in the aging process. In other words, do declining taurine levels contribute to physiological aging and age-related diseases, or are they simply associated with them?

If taurine reductions do indeed cause aging, restoring taurine levels to that of youth could potentially extend both lifespan and healthspan. This means not only living longer but also living better.

To begin unraveling this question, Vijay and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments. To discover their findings and delve deeper into the relationship between taurine and aging, we invite you to listen to the interview on humanOS Radio.

092 - humanOS Radio - Vijay Yadav - Taurine On Health And Lifespan (2023.06.20)

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "The eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul." But we now know that your eyes may also provide a remarkably accurate measure of the true age of your body.
Indeed, perhaps more accurate than the number of years that you've been alive (i.e., your chronological age). How can this be?

Well, it has been known for some time that the microvasculature of the retina can offer a window into the health of the circulatory system as a whole. Subtle changes in the retinal capillaries have been shown to provide the earliest signs of a vast array of diseases, even conditions that are not specific to the eye, long before symptoms emerge.

Incredibly, a new study suggests that images of your eyes might soon be able to yield insight into how long you have left to live – in time for you to do something about it.

On this episode of humanOS Radio, we welcome Pankaj Kapahi back to the show. Dr. Kapahi is a professor at the Buck Institute, an independent biomedical research institute that is devoted to research on aging. His lab has been exploring how nutrient status influences health and disease, and particularly how nutrients affect age-related changes in tissues and disease processes.

In our previous interviews with Pankaj, we have discussed his work examining how advanced glycation end products (also known as AGEs) drive the aging process. To that end, Pankaj has developed a novel formulation that combats the endogenous formation of AGEs in the body, known as GLYLO, which you can now purchase for yourself.

But how can we gauge the effectiveness of these sorts of interventions in humans? To that end, Dr Kapahi has turned his attention to techniques for measuring biological age (as opposed to chronological age). 

Very recently, Pankaj and his colleagues have developed a retinal aging clocking, which they have dubbed "eyeAge." They found that eyeAge could predict changes in aging at a granularity of less than a year – a much shorter timescale than existing clocks. Retinal imaging is inexpensive and non-invasive, and widely accessible (if you've ever had a standard eye exam where they dilated your pupils, you have already experienced this diagnostic tool yourself).

It's not hard to imagine a future in which annual retinal scans could be used to tell you your current biological age, as well as the rate at which your tissues are aging. With this information, you could figure out whether your current lifestyle approach or medical interventions are working, and make changes as needed. And on a population level, we could use accumulated longitudinal data from retinal scans to identify new avenues for combating physiological aging.

To learn more, check out the interview!

091 - EyeAge Biological Age Clock with Professor Pankaj Kapahi

In our previous interview with Dr. Kapahi, we discussed his work examining how advanced glycation end products (also known as AGEs) drive the aging process. Since we last spoke, Pankaj has been hard at work trying to identify compounds that can rein in the deleterious impact of AGEs, primarily by lowering levels of methylglyoxal. Methylglyoxal is formed as a side product of the breakdown of sugars, and is involved with the formation of AGEs, so it is a logical molecular target here. In his screening process of over 800 compounds, he managed to find five compounds which, when combined, had synergistic protective effects against methylglyoxal toxicity.
This powerful combo now makes up the product GLYLO, and preliminary testing of GLYLO in rodent models revealed, sure enough, that the combo reduced glycolytic byproducts, improved insulin sensitivity, extended lifespan by 30-40% when administered late in life, and reduced caloric intake, and promoted weight loss. Importantly, this effect was shown to be independent of peripheral hormones like leptin and ghrelin. In fact, injecting ghrelin into mice treated with GLYLO did not result in increased energy intake - suggesting that GLYLO was changing how the hypothalamus responded to ghrelin. In other words, reducing methylglyoxal, through GLYLO, appeared to be lowering their body fat set point.

#090 - The Effects of Glylo on Weight Loss, Blood Sugar, and Longevity - Professor Pankaj Kapahi

On this episode of humanOS Radio, I speak with Lynda Frassetto. Lynda is a Professor Emeritus of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at UCSF. During her research career, she and her colleagues investigated regulation of acid-base balance in both healthy and older people, as well as dietary influences on acid-base balance. 

In particular, she has explored how the ratios of potassium to sodium, as well as base to chloride, differ in the modern diet versus the ancestral diet, and how these changes may be linked to greater risk of chronic disease as we get older. 

Anthropological evidence suggests that ancient hominids consumed far less sodium and far more potassium, and specifically more potassium alkali salts (primarily from wild plants). The reduction in potential base in the modern diet increases the net systemic acid load, and this in turn may take a physiological toll in myriad ways. Chronic acid load appears to play a role in osteoporosis, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and even age-related decline in growth hormone secretion.

Naturally, lots of questions emerge from this idea. Which nutritional components determine whether a diet is net acid-producing? And what can we do about it on an individual basis? Should we take potassium supplements to rectify the imbalance? Could restoring a healthy sodium to potassium ratio be a hidden anti-aging tool?

To learn about how you can live a more alkaline life, check out the interview!

#013 - New Discovery Could Mean Better, Next-Generation Sleep Drugs - Professor Luis de Lecea

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