Getting old sucks.
And every other day,
there's a new, hyped-up diet or supplement
that promises insane health benefits,
and even ways to slow down aging and live longer.
The truth is though,
there's a lack of proof they can actually do that.
But even though it might sound crazy,
there may be a way to literally cure aging,
and it's thanks to something
that already lives inside all of us.
So, here's the thing:
traditionally, aging is viewed as a natural
and inevitable process.
Something that happens no matter what,
and can't be stopped.
But, if we tweak how we look at aging,
and instead see it is an underlying cause of symptoms,
it is a totally different story.
When you unpack the biology,
the whole range of different biological changes
that happen as we age
make us much more likely
to get a whole range of different diseases.
Things like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's-
basically, the biggest killers in the modern world.
This is Dr. Andrew Steele,
a computational biologist
who wrote a book on aging,
and explored scientific breakthroughs
that prove that aging may not be a biological inevitability
after all.
And this framing suggests
that aging is something that could be influenced,
and even cured.
- Because if you look around the animal kingdom,
aging isn't a universal phenomenon.
For example, humans have a risk of death
that doubles every eight years,
but there are some animals-
things like giant tortoises, salamanders,
some kinds of fish-
and they have a risk of death that doesn't change with time.
They can get old,
without getting elderly.
So the question is:
Could humans do something like this?
Get older without getting elderly?
Well, some people think,
And one of the most promising areas of research
on how we might be able to do it,
is by hacking our stomachs,
or at least the trillions of microorganisms
that make up what we call the 'gut microbiome.'
Your microbiome is something that you're born with.
It's made up of trillions of microorganisms,
of thousands of different species.
- Bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses,
all of the microorganisms that consist of an ecosystem,
and they live all over surfaces of our body.
Your microbiome is unique to you,
kind of like a fingerprint.
And it starts when you're just a little baby,
and changes over time
as you're exposed to new people, environments, and diets.
The largest numbers of these microbes
live in the small and the large intestines,
and they play major roles in our bodies' functions.
There are harmful microbes in there,
but when it comes to the good microbes,
we actually really need them.
- The microbiome is even called a 'supporting organ,'
because it plays such a key role in supporting human health.
- They stimulate our immune systems,
protect us from diseases,
they help us digest food, and so much more.
- The gut microbiome is also able
to break down toxic food compounds,
and they're also able to synthesize vitamins.
And so, in general, the gut microbiome works with us,
and works with so many different elements
to support human health,
and keep us healthy, and keep us happy.
Which is great,
but what gets me excited
is how gut microbiome research is blowing up right now,
and how it's revolutionizing the way
that we think about our bodies.
- So, disturbances to the microbiome
have been connected to diseases
like autism, anxiety, obesity,
autoimmune conditions, and even cancer.
There are some diseases
where it's very clear that the microbiome itself
might be contributing to inflammation,
or causing the disease itself.
The more diversity you can see,
in terms of the types of microbes
that are in your microbiome,
the healthier that person tends to be.
And this is where the implications
for aging and longevity come in:
- Changes to our microbiome
are one of the hallmarks of the aging process.
Older people's gut microbiome tends to be less diverse
than the microbiome of healthy, younger people.
We also know that by intervening in the microbiome,
you can either slow down the aging process
by improving that microbiome,
or you can accelerate it
by accelerating the decline in the microbiome,
which causes a change in the aging of the whole body.
And that's because we've discovered
that there's a huge connection
between the microbes in your gut
and the health of the rest of your body.
And it really seems like our bodies
and our microbiome are acting in tandem
to try and keep us healthy as we get older.
And what this means is there are probably situations
where the quickest disease treatment
is the one that deals directly with the microbiome,
So, we know that different people
have really different gut microbiomes,
so it makes sense that looking at the microbiomes
of people who are already living long and happy lives
is a pretty solid place to start figuring out what works-
and scientists at the Keio University of Medicine in Tokyo
did just that.
They gathered a group of older people,
and I mean, like, really old.
They were all over 100 years old,
with an average age of 107.
And they weren't just living a long life,
they were insanely healthy.
They seemed to be miraculously protected
somehow from diabetes, high blood pressure,
obesity, and even cancer.
And it was found that these people
all had similar strains of bacteria in their guts,
with one strain in particular really standing out.
It's a type of bacteria that synthesized a chemical
that could knock out infections
that caused things like severe diarrhea,
and sometimes, even death.
Like tiny bodyguards in these people's guts,
they had bacteria that were producing a bile acid
similar to what would be produced naturally
by their own livers.
And all of this is really interesting,
seeing as it means that this type of gut microbiome
could protect people from infections, pathogens,
and environmental risks.
Now, this is just one example
of unique microbiomes that are linked to living longer.
But, the obvious next thought
from any experiment like this is
if there's a way that we could basically bottle it up
and give it to people.
Or, in other words,
And after doing a little bit of research,
I found out that there's basically three main routes
to answer that question:
First, we could tweak our microbiome
with specific foods or supplements,
like yogurt and fermented foods,
that are called 'probiotics.'
They work by introducing some of those good microorganisms
into your guts when you eat them.
- I think these are gonna be
a very promising treatment in the future,
when we understand a bit more about the microbiome.
But at the moment, the evidence for the existing products
you can buy in the supermarket,
well, it's a bit difficult to say
because we don't know exactly which species of bacteria
are most beneficial.
And there's also the far more practical problem-
in order to get from your mouth to your intestine,
these bacteria need to go through your stomach,
which is a nasty, acidic environment.
And we just don't really know how many of the bacteria
actually make it through to your intestine.
- There's also research being done on 'prebiotics,'
which are substances
that don't really have nutritional value for us,
but they feed the good bacteria in the guts
to keep them doing what they do best.
And then, these pre- and probiotics
can also be combined into what's called 'synbiotics.'
Remember when I said it would be great
to bottle up the microbes
in those super healthy, old people's guts?
Well, the term "bottling it up"
might have been a little bit of an overly nice way
of putting it.
- If we want to try and intervene in the microbiome
to improve all of our aging processes,
it really does seem like we've got some optimistic ideas,
Unfortunately, this is about as gross as it sounds.
It's often done by a process called 'fecal transplantation,'
so basically a poo transplant,
where you might swallow a capsule
containing some freeze-dried components
of somebody else's poo-
but the idea is that person would be young,
they'd be healthy.
Those microbes inside that capsule
would then replenish your microbiome,
and make it biologically younger.
- Nice.
But, if that doesn't sound great,
then the third option is kind of a middle ground,
where instead of introducing actual microbes,
we could just figure out
what specific byproducts they create
that have the positive impacts on human longevity,
and then just specifically use them.
- So what we could do,
would be to effectively cut out the middle microbe,
and rather than giving you beneficial bacteria,
or trying to cultivate a more diverse microbiome directly,
we could just give you that bacterial byproduct.
We could synthesize it in a lab,
and use those things as drugs.
But really, all of these options
are either pretty extreme,
or really early in the experimental
or hypothetical phase.
So, if you're sitting there thinking,
"Okay, well what can I do right now?"
The best answer might be the most simple answer:
You could keep your microbiome in good shape
just by eating well.
I know, I know.
That's a super hot take.
- There's an awful lot of chat about, you know,
things like low-carb diets,
or fasting, or perhaps calorie restriction,
which is the idea of just eating less all of the time.
But the fact is,
it's just gonna take an awfully long time
for us to break apart the huge complexity of human diet.
Okay, so this is all really interesting,
but if we're talking about longevity,
there is a lot more than just gut health
that's being looked into.
And longevity as a whole
has seen a massive spike in interest
since billionaires like Jeff Bezos,
Larry Page, and Peter Thiel
started investing heavily in longevity companies.
There are just so many factors at play.
It's like a massive puzzle with thousands of pieces,
and the gut microbiome is just one of them.
- When I talk about curing aging,
I'm not thinking about a single pill
that's suddenly gonna mean we all live forever.
It's actually gonna mean tackling a whole range
of what are called "hallmarks" of the aging process.
And I think if we wanted to cure aging,
we'd have to come up with treatments for many,
perhaps even all of these things,
and use them to slow down the decline as we get older.
So, while I can't give you the fountain of youth just yet,
I will say that this microbiome research is exploding,
and it's something that experts
are getting increasingly stoked about.
Well, that and the 'longevity escape velocity,'
which is a hypothetical situation
where life expectancy extends longer
than the time that is passing,
which could lead to an infinite life cheat code-
but that's probably something that's best explored
in a whole other episode.