The full 60 minutes episode:
and testing:
The documents for Peter’s “Timeline Exercise”: The endless possibilities of living well in your marginal decade (Attia)
Attia mentioned he has stopped taking Rapamycin. That’s a bit surprising given how much he has promoted it.
Unfortunately, it’s probably pushback from Bryan Johnson. Attia doesn’t want to lose any clients who may think that Bryan was right about stopping Rapamycin. The problem with Bryan’s rationale is that he relied on results from epigenetic tests, which are, in my opinion, next to worthless.
In the end, I believe that Rapamycin users will have the last laugh.
I think one reason could be that publicly recommending off-label medications could put his medical license at risk.
I’ve been a very long-time Attia follower - almost since The Drive started, I think. I just hope this isn’t the start of Attia moving towards a “wellness” route. Bryan has gradually been dropping medication in favour of promoting healthy lifestyle etc. Attia and his protein bandwagon stuff is also becoming a bit of a meme now. I’m a bit concerned he will end up like Rhonda or Huberman where they are caricatures of themselves.
I don’t feel Bryan has all that much influence on Attia, does he?
That hasn’t stopped him doing that for almost a decade. And, in all fairness, he’s never actually reccomended Rapamycin. He’s talked about using it before. He’s had guests who are in favour of taking it for anti-ageing, and he’s also had guests who strongly advise against it. So unless something has changed, I don’t think this is an issue.
Gotta also remember that Attia is wealthy enough to have “fuck you” money and just not care about what the public thinks. He’s charging patients 6 figures per year. He sells courses and subscriptions. He has a best-selling book. He has all sorts of sponsorships and paid advisory roles. The dude is driving Ferraris for fun, collects watches etc. I can’t see him really caving to opinion of plebs who can’t afford his services.
Edit: Another possibility is that he thinks the risk:reward is no longer worth it - maybe because of benefits from other areas (GLP1RAs, anti-IL-11, maybe artificial intelligence). If you look at Bryan Johnson, he was quickly all-in on pharmaceuticals, taking hormones, gene therapies etc. He’s backed off more and more, now marketing himself as a health lifestyle guy. Problem is, having an early bedtime and getting your cardio still has you dying - just at an above-average age. So if “don’t die” is really the goal, you need something bigger to move the needle. So maybe Attia and BJ are calculating that they have 40-50 years of life left, and that’s plenty of time for longevity escape velocity?
I doubt Brian and Attia influence each other directly. However their clientele is probably influenced by both.
In the end, it’s probably many factors. However better health and longevity through sleep, diet, etc… only gets you to 95. You need a medication or treatment to go beyond that. I’m betting on Rapamycin, SGLT2IS and GLP-1s as well as others.
Sure, but he still has to care about his medical license if he wants to keep practicing. Pushing unproven or from the standpoint of mainstream medicine, potentially risky ideas can draw scrutiny and get you in trouble. And yes, his success and billionaire connections probably inflate the perception of narcissism, but he’s not foolish enough to risk everything. I suspect that’s why his public recommendations like emphasizing exercise as the primary anti-aging lever stay relatively uncontroversial. He’s a practicing doctor, after all.
BJ is a different animal. He can say whatever he wants, but when it comes to actionable (read business) “anti-aging,” his message is also watered down to mostly nutrition and sleep.
I don’t think there is anything sinister about stopping Rapamycin. It’s just the realization that there is no evidence in humans of longevity benefit, and in the long run it may not offer any benefit beyond what can be obtained by maximizing the benefits of exercise, diet, weight control, risk reduction, etc.
Attia’s views seems to have had a few distinct eras:
1 Fasting Era: punish yourself now to extend your lifespan
2 Rapamycin Era: less punishment, more science, more focus on healthspan (and get lifespan for free maybe)
3 Protein/Muscle Era: okay maybe we can’t really extend our lives, death is coming for us all, but maybe we can at least avoid frailty in our later years
I have followed Attia’s evolution on the topic of rapamycin. I think he no longer recommends it because his (and my) interpretation of the evidentiary trend is that the risk/benefit ratio, focusing especially on the benefit, is not supported across the board in humans. If pressed, I think he might say that it could be a good decision for some individuals based on their specific metabolic status. Additional comments I might make align with @KarlT’s comments.
Whatever one might think about Attia’s specific positions on geroprotectives, he is definitely quite comfortable being wrong as the evidence changes and is quick to point that out repeatedly. I think it is not correct to attribute financial motives to his position on a particular drug or supplement. He is at the top of the dogpile in that regard and doesn’t need to be concerned with minor effects. Moreover, if you look at the longevity system he is building, retaining his medical license is not in its critical path, not that anything he is doing would cause him to lose it.
A couple things… he has used it enough for the 4 years at least… he had the benefits for his age and could stop cold turkey. All the possible benefits are still in effect.
He can say he stopped… but in reality- keep using. Who knows.
He was very pro-rapamycin for alzheimer’s.
Matt Kaeberlein stopping would have me take pause… and want to know why.
I have not watched yet, but this was along my thinking. I guess he has been taking it for close to a decade, and the guy is only 52, so he has plenty of time to start up again.
Also, I am not sure I can trust that he really stopped. Maybe, maybe not. He has said he doesn’t want to have a rapamycin mill, but I imagine most patients say I want some because you are taking it, so it must be good.
It was just last week where I heard him say it increases longevity in everything it’s been tested in, so that doesn’t sound like a guy who stops?
But also, if he truly thinks every single drop of protein/muscle matters at the detriment of everything else, which he kinda does, then rapa will contribute to a couple of days where he isn’t maxing out his muscle building potential. And if he is telling the world eat all the protein you can get your hands on, including what I sell, I was always bothered that was easy for him to say while he is offsetting some of it while taking rapa, so this makes his message better, IMO
I’ll also add, in my emails from him, they are advertising to get new docs on board, so it seems he is about to create something much bigger. This might also be contributing to this decision.
EDIT: forget everything I just said. I read the article and it says he stopped rapa for now due to mouth sores. That is not someone trying to shy away from the drug.
He’s planning an app that will go mainstream, available on every phone in the world.
In the full 60 minutes video they just say he stopped taking it for now because of mouth sores.
Indeed… and I might sign up too! I’m interested in everything he has to say if it doesn’t involve protein 
This is what I was referring to… I can’t imagine putting this in his mass emails if he is only adding 1 or 2 docs to his practice?
You can see Peter Attia’s team here (at that point in time): "Early" Longevity Program by Peter Attia Launches - #62 by RapAdmin
Your post lowered my epigenetic methylation age by 1.2 years (ci ±10 years). Keep posting please.
So after 4 plus years of using rapamycin - it’s the mouth sores… ?!?
David Sabatini told him how to eliminate that with a simple mouth wash in their everything rapamycin podcast with Matt Kaeberlein months ago.
I have never had a mouth sore once… so it had no interest to me.
Whatever.
I also call BS
I saw that podcast, too. And yeah, the guy who would fast for one week a month who has to stop due to an occasional mouth sore … I guess he has a great bridge to sell me, too
In Peter Attia’s recent interview, Eric Verdin shared his thoughts on the limitations of mouse models when it comes to the longevity quotient, which PA found compelling. If PA has indeed stopped taking Rapamycin, it might suggest he’s increasingly convinced that evolutionary pathways in humans are already optimized in ways that Rapamycin targets in rodents. I don’t think mouth sores are the reason behind his decision.
