The Augmented Life

Why Gut Health Might Be the Key to Aging, Alzheimer’s & Obesity, with Daniel Winer (Co-Founder of Propion) - Nicholas Tubach (Co-Founder & CEO of Propion)


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Can your gut control your lifespan? What if molecules produced by your microbiome could prevent obesity, Alzheimer’s, and inflammation, just by supporting the right immune response?


In this episode of The Augmented Life, Michael Tiffany sits down with Dr. Dan Winer and Nicholas Tubach, the team behind Propion, a new science-backed startup exploring the frontier of postbiotics, specifically indole metabolites like indole-3-propionic acid (IPA). Dr. Winer unpacks how decades of immunometabolism research led him to the gut-liver-brain axis, and how he and Nicholas translated that science into a product aimed at improving healthspan, not just lifespan.


We cover:• The role of adaptive immune cells in obesity• How the gut barrier protects (or harms) other organs• What postbiotics like IPA actually do• How Propion went from gaming chat to startup launchWhy your microbiome might be aging you faster than you think—

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 – Intro


1:00 – How video games led to an obesity discovery


2:45 – T cells, B cells, and metabolic disease


4:30 – Why fat is downstream of gut inflammation


6:00 – From gut to liver to brain: the immune system’s travel map


8:30 – What is “meta-inflammation” and how it links to aging


10:30 – The top environmental drivers of aging


13:00 – Prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics: what’s the difference?


14:30 – How short-chain fatty acids modulate the immune system


16:00 – Discovering indole-3-propionic acid (IPA)


18:00 – The neuroscience link: Alzheimer's and indoles


20:00 – Why Propion chose to go prebiotic first


24:00 – How tryptophan gets converted by gut bacteria


28:00 – Fixing leaky gut and insulin resistance at the root


32:00 – Gut-derived immune cells can end up in the brain


34:30 – Could a virus or gut bug be triggering autoimmune disease?


38:00 – Building Propion: from molecule to market


42:00 – Why prebiotics may be safer (and more scalable)


47:00 – Citizen science + tracking metrics = product evolution


53:00 – What’s next: GLP-1, sarcopenia, and custom formulations

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#immunometabolism #guthealth #postbiotics #propion #agingresearch #longevity #indolemetabolites #microbiome #Alzheimers #obesity #TheAugmentedLife

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The Augmented LifeBy The Augmented Life

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