"Book Trailer for How Not to Age"
There may be no such thing as dying from old age.
From a study of more than 42,000 consecutive autopsies,
centenarians—those who live past one hundred—
were found to have succumbed to diseases
in 100 percent of the cases examined.
Though most were perceived, even by their physicians,
to have been healthy just prior to death,
not one “died of old age.”
They died from disease, most commonly heart attack.
If aging kills via diseases, why wasn’t my book
How Not to Die all the longevity book anyone needs?
In it, I ran through what we can do to prevent, arrest,
or reverse each of our 15 leading causes of death,
starting with heart disease, not only the #1 killer of centenarians,
but of men and women in general, and projected to remain that way
in the decades to come. But is it really?
Because the single greatest risk factor
for most of our killer diseases is old age,
one could argue that the leading cause of death
is actually aging.
The rate of death increases exponentially
for age-related diseases
such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, dementia.
So yes, in the same age bracket, having a high cholesterol
can increase your risk of heart disease
as much as twentyfold,
but an 80-year-old may have 500 times the risk
of having a heart attack compared to someone in their twenties.
Yes, eating a plant-based diet may reduce the risk of dementia
as much as threefold,
but the difference in dementia rates
between those older than 85
compared to younger than 65 is 300-fold.
The reason we focus on things like cholesterol
is because it’s a modifiable risk factor.
But what if the rate of aging was modifiable too?
Instead of our current piecemeal approach
of focusing on individual degenerative diseases,
what about slowing down the aging process itself?
I can remember as a nerdy kid
I wanted to cure cancer when I grew up.
But even if all forms of cancer were eliminated,
the average life expectancy in the US
would only go up about three years. Why?
Because dodging cancer would just mean delaying death
from something like a heart attack or stroke.
If one age-related ailment doesn’t get us, another will.
Rather than playing “whack-a-mole”
by tackling each disease separately,
progress in decelerating aging could address
all these issues simultaneously.
Imagine if there was an intervention
that didn’t just reduce your risk of the leading killers,
but also arthritis, osteoporosis, sensory impairments.
Even just slowing aging seven years,
such that the average 65-year-old, for example,
would have the health profile and disease risk
of today’s 58-year-old, would be expected to cut
everyone’s risk of death, frailty, and disability in half
(because such risks tend to double every seven years).
That’s why I wrote How Not to Age.
The problem is the anti-aging field
is said to be a “fertile ground for cons, scams,
and get-rich-quick schemes.”
As a former president of the Gerontological Society of America
has written, there have been “few subjects which have been
more misleading to the uncritical
and more proﬁtable to the unscrupulous.”
Not only does the popular literature on the subject harbor
a “huge amount of misinformation,”
but most anti-aging scientists widely known to the public
are said to be “unscrupulous purveyors of useless nostrums,”
according to the editor-in-chief of a leading gerontology journal.
It's easy to be swayed by charismatic gurus,
but when it comes to something as life-and-death important
as the health and well-being of ourselves and our families,
we should rely not on anecdote, but on evidence.
That’s why I cite everything to the teeth.
How Not to Die had about 2,000 citations;
How Not to Diet, 5,000;
How Not to Age ended up with 13,000 citations,
all of which I have hyperlinked
for you online to access the original sources.
My inspiration for writing How Not to Age
was a consensus document
entitled "Interventions to Slow Aging in Humans"
compiled by the top researchers in anti-aging medicine
(the likes of Drs. Longo, Sinclair, Fontana, a veritable Who’s Who).
They were brought together to identify the most promising strategies
to combat aging.
They identified a list of “essential pathways,”
for example, drugs that can block the hormone IGF-1,
or drugs to block the enzyme TOR.
As I looked through the list, I realized:
Wait, every single one of these pathways could be regulated through diet.
That became the opening section of this book.
The science of aging has been called
“the most dynamic and provocative in modern biology.”
An attempt to classify the theories of aging published
more than 30 years ago identified more than 300 such theories,
and the number has only grown since.
In Part I, I identify the 11 most promising pathways
for slowing the sands of time, ending each with practical proposals
for targeting them each naturally with suggestions
for diet and lifestyle changes.
Part II targets the optimal anti-aging regimen.
The odds of living to age 100 have risen
from approximately 1 in 20 million to as high as 1 in 50.
Why do some make it and others not?
It’s not just a matter of picking better parents.
Studies following identical twins suggest that only
about 25 percent of the variation in lifespan
is explained by gene inheritance.
The media loves stories about hard-living centenarians
who attribute their longevity to some combination
of lard, vodka, and their favorite brand of cigarette.
But how do centenarians and supercentenarians
(those over 110) really eat and live?
What are the best and worst foods and beverages?
What about red wine, and fish, olive oil, coffee?
I cover the "longevity vitamin" ergothioneine,
the vegetarian’s Achilles’ heel,
and the ideal exercise and sleep routines.
Then in Part III, I get into the nitty gritty.
What can we do to preserve our bones, bowels, bladder, and circulation;
your hair, hearing, and hormone balance;
your immune function and joint health;
your mind, your muscles; your sex life and skin;
your teeth, your vision, and finally, your dignity in death?
There are chapters on each.
Did you know that 85 percent of bone fracture risk
has nothing to do with your bone mineral density?
I address that in the “Preserving Your Bones” chapter,
talking about the pros and cons of the new osteoporosis drugs,
what supplements to consider,
as well as more natural approaches to protect your skeleton.
I discuss preserving your bowel function,
fittingly, in chapter number two.
I discuss solutions to the constipation epidemic,
proper positioning, laxatives, fiber supplements.
I also compare the six colon cancer screening strategies
and ways to help prevent it in the first place,
as well as bladder function— urinary incontinence,
and prostate enlargement.
In the circulation chapter, I discuss how having a "normal" cholesterol
or blood pressure is not so good in a society
where it’s normal for people to drop dead
of heart attacks and strokes.
I cover statins and stents and, most importantly,
treating the underlying cause of artery function failure.
“Preserving Your Hair” refers to both color and volume.
Why do we gray and lose our hair, and what we can do about it?
I also cover drugs, supplements, and surgeries,
as well as dietary and topical treatments.
In “Preserving Your Hearing”
I break down hearing aids, earwax removal,
and the fact that, in some cultures, there’s no such thing
as age-related hearing loss.
What can we learn from them to protect our own inner ears?
In the hormone chapter, I investigate blockbuster
anti-aging “treatments” like growth hormone injections,
DHEA, the preservation of female fertility,
menopausal hormone therapy, natural alternatives for symptoms
like hot flashes, and the pros and cons of testosterone therapy
for so-called male “andropause.”
In the immunity chapter, I cover immune-boosting foods
to improve cancer surveillance and resistance to infection,
examine the role of supplements like ginseng, vitamin D, and zinc,
and help you decide whether to get vaccinated
against the flu, pneumonia, and shingles.
The joint chapter touches on back pain,
but focuses on osteoarthritis,
covering prescription and over-the-counter drugs, injections,
knee surgery, topical treatments, inflammation-dousing foods,
and supplements, such as glucosamine and chondroitin.
“Preserving Your Mind” takes on the dementia epidemic.
I cover Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia,
the rapidly reversible causes of dementia,
the controversial new drugs,
so-called "brain supplements" like ginkgo,
the role of aluminum and chronic infections like HSV,
and, most importantly, what we can do to prevent, arrest,
and even rewind cognitive decline.
In “Preserving Your Muscles,” I tackle what we can do
to combat age-related muscle loss and frailty,
addressing protein needs of older adults
and supplements like creatine,
as well as touch on essential tremor.
Then, it’s on to “Preserving Your Sex Life.”
I discuss the best ways, natural and otherwise,
to improve male and female sexual interest and function.
I talk about aging body odor, the best vaginal moisturizers
and lubricants, and the role of herbs,
such as ashwagandha and maca root.
(I’ll understand if you want to skip directly to this chapter.)
Then, it’s all about skincare.
I cover the pros and cons of chemical peels,
laser resurfacing,face-lifts, Botox, and filler injections;
how we can prevent and treat wrinkles both topically
and from the inside out by what we eat.
What’s the safest sunscreen?
What’s the value of facial moisturizers,
alpha hydroxy acids, retinoids, collagen supplements,
and anti-aging skin creams and serums?
I also cover varicose veins and nail health,
from brittle fingernails to fungal toenails,
and the role of nail supplements like biotin.
In “Preserving Your Teeth,” I take a bite out
of periodontal disease and tooth loss,
cover oil pulling and fluoride, and detail the best mouthwash.
In the vision chapter, I focus on dietary approaches to cataracts,
glaucoma, and macular degeneration, including the role
of lutein and zeaxanthin.
And the final chapter in the section, “Preserving Your Dignity,”
offers the assurance that you can have control
over your ultimate fate.
The final section, “Dr. Greger's Anti-Aging Eight,”
is intended to be an actionable checklist to complement
my Daily Dozen from How Not to Die.
In addition to the wealth of recommendations
throughout the book, this section is designed
to highlight specific foods, supplements,
or behaviors that have the potential to offer
the best opportunities to slow aging or improve longevity.
My aim with this book was to cover every possible angle
for developing the optimal diet and lifestyle for the longest,
healthiest lifespan based on the best available balance of evidence.