I think Dr. Atria is a more accurate source for longevity advice. He stresses cardiovascular health first and is a proponent of pharmacological medications for longevity such as Bempedoic Acid and Rapamycin.
On the other hand, Bryan is touting a bunch of supplements and no pharmacological medications. I really think that supplements don’t move the needle much. Exercise, sleep and diet are all good as well, but it’s not going to increase lifespan beyond normal limits.
If you want to live over 100, you need medications like Rapamycin and Bempedoic Acid (and others) to help you get there, IMHO.
I agree but I would make sure to get the exercise / sleep / diet (composition and volume) right as a top priority. Skipping past this foundational work (because it’s hard) to emphasize rapamycin or other longevity drugs is a mistake that too many people make. Maybe we all make this mistake to one degree or another. I’m trying to do better.
Statins can move the needle further towards longevity than sleep and diet even if your quality of life would be better if you slept well and ate right.
In a recent email I received from Johnson I learned he is now selling prepared meals sent to your home (a rapidly growing field) of course priced at the very high end of the price range. I predict there will be an initial public offering of his enterprise in the near future and he will make another billion dollars or two. I have to admire his genius, making billions so quickly by essentially providing close to nothing of value. I mean, like a lot of people on this forum I take care of the exercise / sleep / diet factors. I take a couple of proven drugs and supplements. All of this is done at a very reasonable cost. What could every product Johnson offers together do for any of us other than drain our bank accounts?
If you read these forums, you will see that Attia gets some of the treatment. We all need financial support, there is nothing wrong with making money. Attia doesn’t take 100+ supplements and is a lot more careful in dishing advice. He refuses to take stance on a diet because he feels there is not enough data. I respect that.
I just find Bryan Johnson methods very inconsistent and incongruent.
He does the kitchen sink amount of intervention - some of with very little evidence like blood exchange, 100+supplements, etc… and then he proceeds to drop one intervention that has arguably the most evidence for healthspan and longevity (other than exercise).
And that’s fine, he is free to experiment on himself… BUT NO
Now he wants to apply his madman, throw everything at the wall and see what stick approach to the masses. This is where my personal feelings about BJ went from general disinterest to distaste.
BTW, I respect David Sabatini (the scientist who discovered m-tor) for not taking rapamycin because he feels like there is not enough data… but he also wouldn’t never consider doing BJ’s bullshit regimen either because he is a true scientist.
Aside from the general lifestyle advice BJ provides (sleep, healthy diet etc), I think Attia’s advice is definitely more proven and safe for the masses. I don’t equate them, and I have seen the critique here you mentioned.
I was mostly referring to not seeing the same level of attack from the general public over Attia making money as I do for Johnson, but yes, it definitely does exist.
I think it’s ok they both make money, fwiw. And yes! I was impressed Sabatini doesn’t take it. In fact, that probably discouraged me from starting for quite some time.
I had no intention to take it either until I read some compelling evidence about it being helpful with periodontal disease and jaw bone restoration. These are some of the conditions I am suffering from from years of neglect on my part.
However if Dr. An’s human studies on periodontal disease don’t show improvement, I will have to reconsider taking it again.
Bryan was loaded before he started. Money is not his main objective.
Further I think a lot of criticism from longevity community is very ungrateful of how much he has given, from attention and data and his personal plan and recently products.
If you did want to get deeper on understanding his motive, besides not wanting to get old and die like all of us who enjoy our lives, I think his past religion and relationship with his family and ex wife provides more insight.
I think BJ is a net positive for the longevity field. He brings a lot of attention to the longevity field. He himself is ofc not a biomedically trained scientist. Attia is trained in the field that we operate within. What I find liberating about BJ is his extreme approach is his attempt to be transparent, this even though his kitchen sink approach is not my kind of approach. Even though he is an amateur cell physiologist, he has the backing of people who are in the field. That reminds me of elite level sportsmen, trying to break records, having coaches around to aid them in their focused attempt. Trying to control every detail to achieve peak performance. I sympathize with this kind of wholehearted kind of effort.
If he ventures too far into the field of selling longevity, then the market aspect might corrupt him.
Lots of decent responses in this thread and I cannot respond to all of them.
Ex-athlete here. I was active in many sports, too many to list and I don’t want to waste everyone’s time. Ice Hockey and bicycle road racing are my honorable mentions. I did well. At this point I’d have to say that BJ is healthy looking, not sure he is an athlete. Fair enough, he is not chasing those types of records. His effort looks good at a glance. He was not headed in the right direction and he looks very fit now.
I have a broad-based STEM degree. I took a lot of courses that I did not need to graduate with a EE or Business degree on my way to a BS in Management Information Systems. I was dual listed for a Computer Engineering EE degree but the physics scared me off. Bryan Johnson is not a scientist but he has learned a lot. He is a passionate educated consumer and student of services that already existed or are emerging. He is not doing R&D and he does not have to foundation or team for that. I worked for a biotech in Silicon Valley so I know what I am talking about(in so far as the basics are concerned). All that he can do is to try almost everything, take tests that reflect his involvement and post the results.
He’s quirky, I get it, I put up with him because he is doing what I would do if I had $100 million. He’s a guinea pig, and he is paying to be stuck with the needles and provide the results. I see him creating a more healthy weight watchers, nothing more so far. Weight Watchers didn’t invent or create anything either.
He may be trying to make money, I don’t blame him and I don’t care. I gave up on trying to make money after being cheated so many times by so many. All the power to him, but I bet he ends up with less not more money. Only a few make it in any kind of business.
I give him a solid B+ to A- for the effort to consolidate the technologies and supplements into an easy to purchase system.
This is all true and BJ is consolidating everything into a package to buy. When the drugs become available he will be right there to capitalize on them. He has the funds to hire the team to dispense them.
I like him more and more each time I see him. I think he’s genuine and did not set out to start a business. I listen to much of what he says and take other info with a grain of salt. I do not buy his products. But I still refer to his original protocol, including food, lifestyle, third-party supplements, and other interventions.
In the coming years I think I’ll get a full blood workup and a full body scan. Not saying I am going to buy them from him, but he is making many people aware of these products which is a great thing.
Great. He’s gone back to the basics and you just can’t argue with them. But the basics aren’t going to stop you from dying. That’s just wishful thinking.
You need something like Rapamycin to move the needle. I’m also surprised he’s not going for a lipid lowering drug like Ezetemibe. That one’s cheap and has an immediate effect.
We all know the basics, Bryan. Give us something more.
I agree that people on here all know the basics. That’s a given (hopefully).
But Bryan is trying to encourage the other 95% of people to take an interest in the basics. His philosophy of Don’t Die is trying to get the average person to live long enough in good health so that given the pace of discovery (especially with the promise of AI) we might stand a chance to still be alive to take advantage of any age reversal therapies if and when they become available.
Will he be successful? I think it’s probably unlikely but it’s still a noble thing to try.
“I realized that this article is quite harsh at times.”
I find that article to be the best analysis of blueprint I have read. Yes it is harsh, but how could it not be harsh. Summarizing your concluding thoughts (please correct me if I have anything wrong) Johnson overstates how healthy he is, overstates his success in combating aging, is misleading in that the products he sells have little to do with the results he has obtained, and pushes a regime including severe caloric restriction and ultra low bodyfat levels which have severe negative effects on mood, energy and vitality and questionable positive impact on overall health and longevity.
Given all this how positive could the article be.
