Protein for vegetarians
I am a 54 year old male vegetarian. I do 3 times a week strength training and try and walk about 12-15k steps everyday. I struggle with protein diet. I take protein powder with 2 scoops every day that gives me about 30 gm. And some Greek yoghurt and eggs. Any other suggestions for how I can increase my protein intake? Thanks.
Tracking metrics
I’m trying to make the move to be more metrics focused and have started doing a lot more testing including dexa scans and lab tests. I’m struggling to find an app to store and track this info and drive more insight from it given that i don’t have a medical background. Any suggestions. I’m listening to a podcast where Peter talks about longevity risk assessment matrix with a bunch of inputs. I’m looking for something like this in an app or spreadsheet. Is there anything available short of attempting to build my own?
Exercises
Hello, ((first time Submit questions, so I do it two times :) ) I've greatly appreciated the extensive material on exercise you've shared, especially the recent in-depth work on Zone 2 training. That's a real masterpiece. However, I haven’t found much about how to structure an actual weekly exercise plan, or examples of a routine that might balance strength, conditioning, and recovery. Would you consider creating an AMA episode, or perhaps a dedicated guide, that walks through what your own weekly training looks like—or the principles you recommend for designing one? I think many would benefit from seeing how these concepts translate into a practical plan. Thank you!"
Bone Broth
Hi Peter, I tried searching but couldn't find anything about bone broth. What are your thoughts on including bone broth daily ? Are there specific benefits or concerns about its regular use? And is there a reasonable limit for daily consumption before it could become counterproductive or even harmful ? I actually enjoy it - more than I think about the health point, Thanks in advance for sharing your perspective!
Can you comment on the following question.
Your podcast was fabulous. As a retired pediatrician I have a question for you: I have a former patient who, with very intense early intervention, is a truly amazing outcome ASD individual. He is now a father, with a wonderful one year old child who is developmentally right on target. The mother does not have any ASD background. They are now considering a second child, and this issue of acetaminophen ingestion during pregnancy comes up because she's recently developed a hip issue (posterior acetabular hip impingement and dysplasia), and the ortho has been having her manage the pain by taking 500 mg acetaminophen for pain control-- though usually she tries to limit it to only once a day. They are now considering a second child and ask my thoughts. There seems to be no commentary that I can find regarding how to look at acetaminophen ingestion during pregnancy when the genetics of the father are a potential risk for ASD in his children already. How would you assess the calculus of risk in this particular scenario? (As far as other risks, the mother is 35, and the father is 32. They live in Berkeley, CA with no other known environmental risks.)
Zone 2
Penso que o meu intervalo de treino da Zona 2 estará, mais ou menos, entre 134 e 144 batimentos por minuto. Quando eu subo para a zona 3, acima dos 144, qual é o impacto desse treino para a minha saúde? Continuo a fazer um treino para estimular de forma positiva as mitocondrias? Continua a ser um treino aeróbio! Mas o efeito sobre a saúde das mitocôndrias é inferior ao conseguido na zona 2? Gostaria de perceber a diferença do impacto na minha saúde destes dois tipos de treino: zona 2 e zona 3. Muito obrigada!
High satiety diet
When Dr. Attia discusses diets he has discussed calorie restriction, dietary restriction and time restriction but he has not discussed the satiety per calorie approach to eating. I would like his opinion on this dietary approach to maintain or achieve healthy weight and metabolic health.
Acetaminophen, glutathione, and maternal liver function
Peter and Nick, terrific episode on acetaminophen in pregnancy. Thanks for the careful, rigorous review of the research. One mechanistic angle that is increasingly discussed is acetaminophen’s impact on glutathione. A small fraction is converted to NAPQI, which is detoxified by hepatic and placental glutathione; when glutathione is low or demand is high, that buffer can be stressed, potentially leaving more reactive species around right when maternal and fetal detox capacity matters most. This aligns with Parker’s point about maternal liver health, and relatedly, N-acetylcysteine, the standard antidote for acetaminophen overdose, works largely by replenishing cysteine for glutathione synthesis and restoring non-toxic metabolism. I have not seen definitive studies linking this specific glutathione pathway to autism risk, but it seems to meet Bradford Hill’s plausibility criterion. Curious how you view this: spurious correlation or a genuine, testable link? Might effects be strongest when exposure occurs in sensitive windows with low maternal GSH, and in GST/CYP high-risk genotypes?
Recovery after surgery suggestion
What do we know about recovery from surgery - in particular how to get back to fitness after abdominal or gynaecological surgery. I know you've covered bits about more specific surgery eg shoulder and back here and there but I've not heard anything on recovery more broadly. Thanks from a UK member for a great show!
Carb Loading for Endurance Events
I'm a marathon runner and it seems that over the past few years, advice on "carb loading" before endurance events (including cycling, swimming) has become more and more extreme. The common wisdom these days seems to be to load with 10-12g per kg of body weight for as many as 4 days before an endurance event to max out glycogen stores. I weigh 80kg, so for me, that would be 960g of carbs per day, or 3,840 kCal. This is not just on social media; I've seen the advice in respected publications and coaching blogs. Often this paper is cited: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17465604/ I've heard recommendations to consume large quantities of things like pancakes, fruit juice, sugary cereal, sports drinks and even candy. I don't believe you have covered this topic in detail before and I would be interested in your thoughts on (1) whether the data support a performance-enhancing effect of such large quantities of carbohydrates for hours-long endurance events, and (2) whether there are any risks of adverse health consequences from the metabolic effects of this approach, even if only done several times per year for a few days each time.
Statins and mortality
Maybe it's time to revisit the statin dogma, promoted on this podcast multiple times, throughout all the lipid episodes, etc. This came in my inbox today about the ignored statin trials (see below). I have also heard from so many doctors again and again that statins do not reduce mortality. It would be nice to have an analysis. Thank you. In the EXCEL trial, all three pravastatin dose groups (20, 40, and 80 mg/day) showed more CHD deaths than placebo. Example: 0.50 percent vs 0.20 percent CHD mortality, a 150 percent relative risk increase for patients on pravastatin. In DEBATE, mortality was higher on the statin: 18.1 percent vs 17.4 percent total deaths, and CHD deaths were also worse (7.5 percent vs 6.0 percent). In GISSI-HF, rosuvastatin did not reduce death in patients with heart failure. In fact, total mortality was 28.75 percent vs 28.13 percent, a 2.2 percent relative risk increase with Crestor. SEAS and CORONA fared no better: slight excess mortality on the drug side, with no life-saving signal. And then comes the kicker: IMPROVE-IT, the largest ignored trial, with approximately 18,000 post-ACS patients. Adding ezetimibe to simvastatin reduced LDL a bit further but had no impact on total mortality (13.40 percent vs 13.56 percent).
Science hacks
You recently had Gabrielle Lyon on your show and I felt a twinge of disappointment because I find her more about show and marketing and not about true scientific evidence as her endorsement of products and having anti vaxxers on her show. I’d like you to address your standard on evidence based endorsements and where those lines are drawn with your guests.
TRT for resilience
There is a clear negative association of chronic stress and poor sleep on T production but how do you feel about raising low/marginally low T to optimal physiologic rages as a way to improve insulin sensitivity, mood, libido etc.. and general resiliency when optimizing sleep and stress is not feasible?I
Beta Blockers and VO2 Max
How does Beta Blockers affect VO2 max. i have heard both sides. some articles say it overestimates because you have higher load and HR is not allowed to go up. Others say, since the HR is restricted , the load you can actually take on is lower, so it actually lower VO2 max. The purpose of the question is to understand for someone who is on Beta blockers, how they can measure and use VO2 max to improve Cardio vascular fitness
Autophagy in Skeletal Muscle, no benefit?
Hey Peter, thanks so much for the book after drifting last year! Over the years, I’ve assumed that the importance of skeletal muscle strength in your fasting protocols was its own reason to optimize for muscle anabolism in a fast. To clarify though, is this strategy purely a result of compromise between autophagy benefits and hard data on strength as its own risk factor, or there anything in particular about muscle tissue which uniquely precludes it from meaningful autophagic benefit relative to the other tissue types? Given the extreme energetic demand in those cells, is there just a big anabolic/catabolic flux being capitalized on that is conveniently optimal for both autophagy, and anabolism? Thanks for reading guys!
Post Concussive Syndrome
I have listened to your episodes on concussions and head trauma several times. Are there any resources or protocols for someone who is ten years away from the initial trauma? If prior to the incident, they could read voraciously and after the accident struggle to read more than 10 years later what are resources that could help with this? Thank you!
Overweight to normal weight muscle memory
if you have been overweight in the past by 50 or 60 pounds and you lose all of the fat, do your muscles retain a muscle memory, and in this case, give you an ability to grow larger muscle muscles because they have the memory from when your body was a large larger size? I was thinking this might be an advantage to people who were once overweight and are not anymore, and that their muscles have some memory of the larger size of the past.