How does the gut microbiome and its metabolic products affect muscle mass, muscle composition, and physical function? In this presentation, I review the evidence, then I present recent data from our group.
Here’s a video clip about my latest Biological Age measurement!
Most often overlooked on a standard blood test are the mean corpuscular volume (MCW) and Red Blood Cell Distribution Width (RDW). How do they change during aging, and what’s associated with all-cause mortality risk? Also, with the goal of optimizing MCV and RDW, how does my diet correlate with these […]
In this relatively short clip, I talk about how serum levels of creatinine change during aging, what levels are associated with risk of death for all causes, and I show my own data for 15+ years! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK6oBMMasFU
Interestingly, we recorded this as I was recovering from a respiratory infection. Was it SARS-CoV-2, or influenza? I’ll know later this week! https://www.bisu.bio/biohacking-to-100-longevity-lessons-from-15-years-of-self-tracking-ft-michael-lustgarten-phd/
In the first 45 minutes, discuss each of the biomarkers contained within Levine’s Biological Age calculator, Phenotypic Age. After that, I answer questions from the audience and we discuss all things related to aging. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hs2n7U7J-k&t=30s
Here’s a recent podcast that was recorded with Julian Hayes II at Optimal Health for Busy Entrepreneurs: https://theartoffitnessandlife.com/episode20/ Enjoy!
CD8+ T cells are a subset of lymphocytes that play a major role in antiviral defense (Kulinski et al. 2013). However, recently published evidence shows reduced levels of circulating CD8+ T cells in people infected with SARS-CoV-2 (Zheng et al. 2020, Wang et al. 2020; HC= healthy controls, NCP = patients with COVID-19 […]
There are a few ways that we can fight the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Clinical trials aimed at vaccination have recently begun, and at the earliest, could be available within 6-18 months. Similarly, drugs aimed at inhibiting, blocking, or reducing viral replication, including remdesevir and hydoxychloroquine are entering clinical trials, but […]
Exactly 1 month ago, my first biological age measurement of 2020 was 32.75y (https://michaellustgarten.com/2020/02/14/biological-age-32-75y-chronological-age-47y-first-2020-measurement/). When considering that my chronological age is 47y, that’s a 14 year improvement, but I wasn’t (and still aren’t) satisfied. When I sent my blood for analysis, I was battling a mild upper respiratory infection (cough, […]
In terms of all-cause mortality risk, is the reference range for circulating triglycerides (TG, <150 mg/dL) optimal? A meta-analysis of 38 studies in 360,556 subjects with a median age of 48y and a 12-year follow-up reported lowest all-cause mortality risk for subjects with TG values less than 90 mg/dL (equivalent to ~1 […]
Measurement of biological age with Levine’s Phenotypic Age calculator is strongly correlated with chronological age (r=0.94; see https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/). In 2019, I measured all 9 of its analytes 3 times, with biological age readings of 35.39y, 35.58y, and 31.3y, for an average 2019 biological age of 34.09y (see https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/11/01/biological-age-31-3y-chronological-age-46y/). That’s 12 […]
How’s my progress on the road to achieving a resting heart rate (RHR) as close to 40 beats per minute (bpm) as possible? Shown below is my RHR data for August 2018-Jan 2019, which corresponds to the 6-month period after I started tracking RHR. When compared with that period, am […]
A meta-analysis of 10 studies, including 80,139 subjects was recently published that shows a significantly reduced risk of death for all causes in association with higher total dietary fiber intakes (35-39g/day), when compared with lower fiber (Reynolds et al. 2019): Should we supplement with fiber, or get it from […]
Here’s a link to a recent interview, https://biohackstack.com/posts/michael-lustgarten/?fbclid=IwAR059Jf6eT4SyvsqTxHaSir2hQuXKjV5R6kLg-7Df1Kc4c7ZKM6Tw-0qRwY Including: How (and why) did you get involved in research in aging and the human microbiome? How did you get started in health optimization / quantified-self? What are your thoughts on biological age testing? Which tests (epigenetic, blood biomarkers, telomere, etc) and […]
In an earlier post (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/15/drink-green-tea-reduce-and-all-cause-mortality-risk/), I reported that green tea consumption is associated with reduced risk of death for all causes. Now, there’s more recent data! Drinking more than 1 cup of green tea per day is associated with reduced all-cause mortality risk in a pooled analysis of 8 studies […]
The reference range for uric acid is 4.0 – 8 mg/dL for men, and 2.5 – 7 mg/dL for women. Are these values optimal for health? To answer that question, let’s have a look at how circulating levels of uric acid change during aging, and their association with risk of […]
In earlier posts, I reported year-over-year improvements for my resting heart rate (RHR), from 51.5 (bpm) when I first started tracking in August 2018 to 48 bpm in November 2019 (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/12/05/resting-heart-rate-heart-rate-variability-still-making-progress/). Did my year-over-year RHR improvement continue in December 2019? As shown below, in December 2018, my average RHR was […]
Here’s my latest academic paper! mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/1/106
Besides diet (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/12/07/slowing-epigenetic-aging-with-diet/), are there other factors that may impact epigenetic aging? First, let’s have a look at clinically relevant variables, including inflammation, the lipid profile, kidney function, blood pressure, and body size/dimensions (Liu et al. 2019): One of the strongest correlations for the clinical variables with epigenetic aging (AgeAccelGrim) […]
Having a faster rate of epigenetic aging, as measured by the epigenetic age metric, AgeAccelGrim, is associated with a significantly increased risk of death for all causes in a variety of cohorts, including the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study, the InChianti study, the Jackson Heart […]
Although many of my posts aimed at improving health and longevity are focused on diet, in this post I’ll show data that demonstrates that I’ve been able to steadily improve my cardiovascualr fitness. In earlier posts I reported that a resting heart rate (RHR) of 40 beats per minute (bpm) […]
Three studies have investigated the ability of blood test analytes to predict biological age. First, when considering the top 20 variables that were associated with biological age in aging.ai, albumin contributed most to this prediction, almost 2x more than circulating levels of glucose (Mamoshina et al. 2018): Second, albumin was […]
To make it easier to review the aging and all-cause mortality data for the circulating biomarkers that are contained within the biological age calculator, Phenotypic Age (see https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/), here’s a checklist! 1. Albumin: https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/22/optimizing-serum-levels-of-albumin-data-from-20-blood-tests/ 2. Creatinine: https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/11/18/optimizing-biologic-age-creatinine/ 3. Glucose: https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/10/04/blood-glucose-whats-optimal/ 4. C-reactive protein: https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/10/19/optimizing-biological-age-crp/ 5. Lymphocyte %: https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/11/16/lympho-mortal/ 6. Mean […]
Creatinine is one of the 9 blood test variables included on the biological age calculator, Phenotypic Age (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/). The reference range for women and men is 0.5 – 1.1, and 0.6 – 1.2 mg/dL respectively, but within that range, what’s optimal for health and longevity? To answer that question, it’s […]
The percentage of lymphocytes is one of the 9 blood test variables included in the biological age calculator, Phenotypic Age (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/). The reference range for lymphocyte % is 20 – 40% of the total amount of white blood cells (WBCs), but are higher or lower values optimal for health and […]
My average biological age in 2019 is 12 years younger than my chronological age (46y) based on the Phenotypic Age calculator (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/11/01/biological-age-31-3y-chronological-age-46y/), and 16y younger based on aging.ai (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/11/04/years-of-biological-aging-in-the-past-4-years/). One factor that likely contributes to my relatively youthful biological age is my diet. Shown below is my average daily dietary […]
In an earlier post (https://michaellustgarten.com/2018/06/26/maximizing-health-and-lifespan-is-calorie-restriction-essential/), I documented my aging.ai biologic age for 13 blood test measurements from 2016 – 2019. If you missed that post, here are those data: Note that note my average biologic age has slowly increased from 2016 to 2019, from 28y in 2016 (2 measurements), to […]
On June 10, 2019 (for the first time) I measured all of the blood test variables that are included in the biologic age calculator, Phenotypic Age, and ended up with a biological age = 35.39y (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/). While that value is 23% younger than my chronological age (46y), I knew that […]
Platelets are one of the 19 variables that are included in the biological age calculator, aging.ai. The reference range is 150-400 platelets per nanoliter (*10^9/L), but within that range, what’s optimal? In a study of 21,635 adults older than 35y (average age wasn’t reported), platelets between 230-270 were associated with […]
The coronary artery calcification (CAC) score is a measure of how much calcification is in the coronary arteries, and accordingly, is an in vivo measure of atherosclerosis. Why is the CAC score important? Besides its role in atherosclerosis, risk of death for all causes goes up at any age as the […]
High sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (CRP) is one of the 10 variables included in the biological age calculator, PhenoAge (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/). The reference range for CRP is 0 – 3 mg/L, but within that range, what’s optimal? To answer that question, it’s important to know how CRP changes during aging, and what […]
Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is one of the 10 variables included in the biological age calculator, PhenoAge (see https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/). It’s calculated by dividing the fraction of the blood that contains RBCs (hematocrit) by RBCs (MCV = hematocrit/RBC), thereby identifying the average volume contained within red blood cells. Although the MCV reference […]
Circulating levels of white blood cells (WBCs) are one of the 10 variables used to quantify biological age with PhenoAge (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age). The reference range for WBCs is 4.5 – 11 *10^9 cells/L, but within that range, what’s optimal? Several studies have reported that WBCs greater than 5 are associated with […]
In an earlier post, based on data from the Baltimore Longitidunal Study on Aging (BLSA), I suggested that total white blood cell (WBCs) counts between 3500 to 6000 cells per microliter of blood may be optimal for reducing disease risk and for maximizing longevity (https://michaellustgarten.com/2015/08/13/blood-testing-whats-optimal-for-wbc-levels/). However, within WBCs, neutrophils increase, […]
A few months ago, I presented data that a resting heart rate (RHR) ~40 beats per min is associated with maximally reduced risk of death from all causes (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/02/02/resting-heart-rate-whats-optimal/). I started tracking my RHR data in August 2018, and I now have more than a full year of data. RHR […]
Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is one of the 10 variables used to quantify biological age with PhenoAge (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age). The reference range for alkaline phosphatase is 20 – 140 IU/L*, but within that range, what’s optimal? Two separate meta-analyses have investigated the association between serum levels of ALP with risk of death […]
The reference range for circulating levels of glucose is 70-130 mg/dL. That’s a wide range, so what’s optimal, especially considering that glucose is one of the variables used to quantify of biological age (https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age)? In the largest study published for this subject (12,455,361 adults), risk of death for all causes […]
In the first half of this presentation, I talk about my contribution to the gut-muscle axis in older adults, and in the second half, my personalized approach to optimal health! Also, here’s the article that corresponds to the presentation: https://www.leafscience.org/the-gut-microbiome-affects-muscle-strength-in-older-adults/ If you’re interested, please have a look at my book!
Following five lifestyle-related factors is associated with a gain in average life expectancy (Li et al. 2018). What are these factors? Not smoking, having a BMI between 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2, engaging in more than 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (at a minimum, walking ~3 miles per hour; 30 […]
Can biological age be optimized? The red blood cell (RBC) distribution width (RDW%) is one of the variables included in the PhenoAge biological age calculator (see https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/). Although the RDW% reference range is 11.5% – 14.5%, what values are optimal in terms a youthful biological age, and minimized disease risk? […]
In an earlier post, I showed published data that albumin levels decrease with aging, and that lower levels are associated with an increased all-cause mortality risk (https://michaellustgarten.com/2018/07/06/serum-albumin-and-acm/). I also showed my own blood test data (n=11), which included a strong correlation for albumin with my dietary intake of beta-carotene (r = […]
Have a listen, I was on Generation Bold Radio yesterday, 9.14.2019! https://www.generationboldradio.us/
Is green tea consumption associated with reduced risk of death risk from all causes? To investigate this question, Tang et al. (2015) performed a meta-analysis of 5 studies, including 200,884 subjects. As shown below, drinking 2-3 cups (16-24 oz.) of green tea per day was associated with maximally decreased all-cause mortality risk, […]
In an earlier post, I wrote about quantifying my biological age with aging.ai (https://michaellustgarten.com/2018/06/26/maximizing-health-and-lifespan-is-calorie-restriction-essential/). The importance of that post is illustrated by the finding that based on data from 13 blood tests between 2016 – 2019, my average biological age is 29.2y, which is ~33% younger than my chronological age. […]
Muscle strength is increased in mice that are colonized with microbiota from high-functioning older adults https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0531556519304772