Peter Attia's Longevity Book Outlive: The BEST or WORST longevity book?

Dr. Attia's book Outlive is like no other longevity book. It defies the wisdom of other longevity books and it's the #7 best-selling book on Amazon overall. Is it great? Or just another best-selling fad diet book?

BOOKS:

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia

The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study

The Longevity Diet by Valter Longo

The Path to Longevity: The Secrets to Living a Long, Happy, Healthy Life by Luigi Fontana

How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older by Michael Greger

The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer
by Elizabeth Blackburn & Elissa Epel.

Lifespan: Why We Age - and Why We Don't Have To by David Sinclair

Age Later: Health Span, Life Span, and the New Science of Longevity by Nir Barzilai

The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner

Age Proof: The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life by Rose Ann Kenny

Unaging: The four factors that impact how you age by Robert Friedland

How We Age: The Science of Longevity by Coleen Murphy

Healthy at 100 by John Robbins

VIDEOS:

Do Older Adults Really Need More Protein by Miche, PhD

CLIP: Minnesota Coronary Experiment

PAPERS:

Survival of the fittest: VO2max, a key predictor of longevity?

Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Mortality Risk Across the Spectra of Age, Race, and Sex

Association of Cardiorespiratory Fitness With Long-term Mortality Among Adults Undergoing Exercise Treadmill Testing

The association of resistance training with mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Associations of Muscle Mass and Strength with All-Cause Mortality among US Older Adults

Low muscle mass and mortality risk later in life: A 10-year follow-up study

Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults

Handgrip strength and all-cause dementia incidence and mortality: findings from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study

The impact of dietary protein intake on longevity and metabolic health

A word of caution against excessive protein intake

Systematic review and meta‐analysis of protein intake to support muscle mass and function in healthy adults

Effects of protein supplementation on lean body mass, muscle strength, and physical performance in nonfrail community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Effects of protein supplementation on lean body mass, muscle strength, and physical performance in nonfrail community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Comparative ecologic relationships of saturated fat, sucrose, food groups, and a Mediterranean food pattern score to 50-year coronary heart disease mortality rates among 16 cohorts of the Seven Countries Study

Unhappy Meals by Michael Pollan

Evidence of regression of atherosclerosis in primates and man

Swine in atherosclerosis research

Familial and diet-induced hypercholesterolemia in swine. Lipid, ApoB, and ApoA-I concentrations and distributions in plasma and lipoprotein subfractions.

Test of effect of lipid lowering by diet on cardiovascular risk. The Minnesota Coronary Survey.

Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73)

0:00 My book problem
2:26 Muscle loss
3:19 Why this review
4:32 Exercise
7:09 Strength
9:24 Centenarian decathlon
11:08 Diet
17:26 Epidemiology
23:37 Ketogenic diet
24:47 High protein diet
27:22 Salt and blood pressure
31:02 Excess protein
32:46 My opinion of Outlive

[SALVATlN]

I'm convinced that half of Peter Attila's success is his incredibly pleasant speaking voice. Not only is he pleasant to listen to, but he sounds so intelligent. He's basically who you would cast in a movie to tell the president that a large asteroid is coming towards Earth.

Chris, you would be cast as the nerd that the president didn't listen to at first, but was right all along.

[miken]

One thing for sure is that I hope Chris lives a good long time and keeps cranking out these amazing in depth and honest video essays. Thanks for your work and careful reading. Best of health to you and your wife.

[jacjac_]

I couldn't take Attia seriously after watching the interview with Rich Roll where he refused to talk about diet. I think of you are a longevity expert and can't defend your own diet because it's so meat heavy, I can't take you seriously and you are not an expert. The anology of a politician asking for your vote but refusing to talk politics is on point.

[RedSeaCrossing_]

Fruits and vegetables cost next to nothing when you compare it to meat and / or fast food.

[RXP]

Dr. Greger just endorsed this video as a critique for Attia's book on his facebook. Well done Mr. Chomper!

[prieten]

This 65 year old needs to brag. Today I went to my doctor for a blood pressure medicine refill. He said I needed my six month blood test to see what else was going on. Compared to the last one in June, 2023, my LDL cholesterol was down from 134 to 102, my kidney function eGFR was up from 52 to 67, and my blood sugar was down from 94 to 90. My weight has gone down by 4.5 lbs. Oh, I forgot to mention: I have gone vegan. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him that.

[MarkSheeres]

A Kenyan friend of mine tells me they have a proverb that goes something like this: an older man sees sitting, what a younger man must stand to see. That to say, you bring a lifetime of science and learning and experience to the table that younger commentators lack, and you get automatic extra credibility in my book. Thanks so much for sharing that knowledge with us. And your pleasant demeanor and sense of humor is just icing on the cake.

[veganfortheanimals]

You discussed running and weight training. When I was a teen, I was a runner, then I stopped running when I got into bodybuilding. Now that I'm older, I wanted to be more athletic so I started running and continued weight training (but stepped away from the bodybuilding bit)...it's the best of both worlds, but the cardio aspect is huge. Combine that with good sleep, WFPB diet, lots of water, and I personally avoid alcohol and that's a great formula for optimizing health, and the science backs it up, not just my opinion

[kerrybyers]

Dr. Attia is an investor in the deer jerky (company) he eats, so can’t diss red meat. He projects a very self assured manner with a touch of feigned humility. Very convincing.

[VegaNCalleDQuesT]

Absolute banger. I’ll say it a thousand times - you’ve got one of the only channels where I’m glued to the video from start to finish. Thank you 🙏🏽

[graysonric]

My friend’s grandmother just died at 112. She watched “General Hospital” for over 60 years. So maybe the secret of longevity is watching a soap opera on daytime tv😀

[wendyjackson]

I quit keto by listening to Peter Attia's podcast. He sounds unsure. His claims are intuitive and not scientific. Going low fat vegan is the way.

[sophiekarnak]

The first time I heard Peter Attia was an interview several years ago where he was asked how he reconciled pushing a high meat/keto diet with all the research on the importance of grains/beans/fiber for the microbiome and he said he thought the evidence on the importance of the microbiome was really weak and he wasn't convinced. And every interview I've seen since then follows the same pattern — any time anyone brings up something that would challenge his claims, he dismisses it as based on "weak" or "flawed" evidence without actually engaging or refuting it — he just says "I'm not convinced, " as if that's all his followers need to know in order to dismiss decades of research by hundreds of scientists.

[TheProofWithSimonHill]

Great work Chris! Your point on whether people who are overweight need that much protein is well noted. I still think 1.2-1.6g per kg is the best target but if you’re overweight base that on your ideal body weight not your current weight. That way we are considering how much muscle someone has.

Glad you brought up the inconsistency with treating epidemiology. I’ve always been skeptical of the way Peter cites the VO2 max studies without mentioning they don’t adjust for diet quality (seems a considerable confounding variable).

[michaeljuliano]

So happy you created this video. I’ve used much of what Peter advises as a base template for my own health BUT have also had an off-and-on relationship with it because some of what he says just hasn’t added up for me. Your Tale of Two Cities comparison nails what I’ve been feeling right on the head.

Another thing I’ve really disliked about content from some of these very respectable doctors is how they throw themselves on these different medications (lipid lowering meds in this case) for the best possible blood markers (David Sinclair did/does this too with Metformin and a Statin as well I believe) while us civilians can only get this stuff with a prescription, which means we need to have something concerning already going on.

A video like this really needed to be made so thank you again for taking the time to do so!

[armmanny]

Great video, Chris!

I agree with your take on the book, and in the end, I think it all boils down to reading as much as we can, taking the useful/reasonable bits, while staying both open-minded and skeptical.

I incorporated some extra exercises into my regimen based off his recommendations but I still think he's wrong when it comes to food and nutrition 🤷🏽‍♂️

[didisTradingClub]

Finally someone debunking Attia. I can’t stand all these eloquent would be experts but in reality they are just influencers, that want to sell something.

You are true hero!

[helicart]

As elegant a speaker as Peter is, I wrote him off as a longevity expert some years ago.
His 'brand' that longevity is most dependent on exercise and (high protein intake) is just bogus in the extreme in my view.
Why so?
I am an Australian physiotherapist. I continue to spend many hours every month with the geriatric population.
Those over 90 yo today were born prior to 1933.

Now, these people do not have a history of spending any time in a gym, nor doing calisthenics or long distance running regularly.
They are known generationally as frugals, who spent most of their time working for money, or producing their own food.
The most common activity I have found among them is dancing.

Further, most of them are women, and they definitely did not and do not do the type of exercise promoted by Peter Attia.
So the over-representation of non exercising non high protein consuming women among over 90's, is the biggest black hole in Peter's beliefs.

Finally, Asians in Australia are over represented among 90+ yo people. They do not do "gym time" nor endurance cardio, nor eat high protein.

So which 90+ year old people is Peter basing his longevity evidence ignoring altogether?

[gibbsey]

Thank you again for this fantastic episode Chris! My favourite episodes of yours are when you deep dive into a popular author/science based influencer type and break down some of the claims they make. I’d love further episodes like this and maybe discussing Andrew huberman and max lugavere type figures. Keep up the good work!

[KTPurdy]

I unsubscribed from Peter after 4 months of steep physical decline. In response to Peter's protein admonitions, last spring I doubled my intake. This rise in protein intake drove my body's inflammation through the roof. My decline was alarming. At age 63, it took me several months for me to recover from Peter's advice. I find him dangerous.