Dr. Mark Hyman may take the cake, but Katie Couric Media and the University of Miami’s medical school also demonstrate why “longevity literacy” is now a mandatory skill.
The billion-dollar longevity industry has become the Las Vegas of clinical science: a faux oasis that cares about only one thing: taking your money. To do that, Vegas built casinos; longevity marketers just lie.
Longevity literacy is therefore a skill—the ability to understand how a growing society of wellness chiselers and charlatans present half-truths as settled science and unproven supplements as the best $149 purchase you’ll ever make—but only if you act now .
I remember listening to Hyman many years ago when I was first learning about health. But then, I stopped paying attention to him after he said something to the effect of… I think plant based is best, but it wasn’t popular, so I changed my message to add animal protein (this is not about which is actually healthier, but him admitting his message would never be about what he feels is the truth, just what gets him more eyeballs )
Then many years later, a friend talked to him about something relating to health policy and helping the less fortunate… he told her unless I’m being paid, I’m not giving you any time. (That is his right, but making the public healthy is certainly not his goal… lining his pockets, yes).
I’ve think I’ve noticed Hyman being a guest of Couric’s… if anyone has him as a guest, I immediately dismiss that as a ‘news’ source…
Many of these people are hucksters. More and more I find their advice is not worth listening to. During the pandemic Hyman was a guest on a webinar from my financial advisory firm. They even sent us his hardcover book beforehand. After reading the book and watching the interview I was pretty certain Hyman wasn’t someone I was going to listen to, much less follow.
Lately, I also have become disenchanted with Nick Norwitz, Michael Greger, Andrew Huberman, and others.