The longevity benefits of proper protein intake and strength training | Rhonda Patrick & Peter Attia

This clip is from episode #252 of The Drive - Latest insights on Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, exercise, nutrition, and fasting | Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D.

In this episode, Peter is joined by Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D., a scientist with expertise in the areas of aging, cancer, and nutrition who translates complex scientific topics into actionable insights on her podcast, Found My Fitness.

In this clip, we discuss:

- Effects of a low protein diet
- Strength matters and there are two important signals for your muscles: physically working them and protein intake
- Building up a bigger reserve of muscle mass in youth and middle adulthood is very important

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About:

The Peter Attia Drive is a deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing longevity, and all that goes into that from physical to cognitive to emotional health. With over 60 million episodes downloaded, it features topics including exercise, nutritional biochemistry, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, mental health, and much more.

Peter Attia is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their healthspan.

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[dn]

Even if a higher protein diet came with a slightly shorter lifespan, the quality of the lifespan is almost assuredly better. I'm a 72 year old male who has strength trained for over 7 years. The single best thing an older person can do for their health and vitality is to strength train. It will keep your bones and muscles strong. It will be an integral part of my life, til I drop.

[_TravelWithLove]

Thank you very much for sharing your insights and wisdoms filled videos always !! Intelligent and scientific content from you and guests making our world a better place and all of us more healthy !! Outstanding !!

Greetings from California … I wish you and folks good health, success and happiness !! Much Love ✌️😎💕

[Sandra]

Over 60 & have failed muscle/strength. This got me going on the Attia program. My clean diet with more protein, weightlifting & mobility have improved my health and lifestyle just within months. Grateful to experts who post their knowledge & experience so that I, we, can benifit from it. Thank you P. Attia & R. Patrick. 😊

[Gref]

You don't know me Mr Attia, but you inspired me to excercise every day - noone could do that for 31 years of my life.
Always hated any kind of movement. Being a fat kid, fat teenager isn't pleasant. Now I'm 35 kg (about 70 pounds) lighter after a year of Rybelsus (Semaglutide) and 6 months of excercise in zone 2 thanks to your podcasts. I excercise since Christmas and can't even begin to describe how great I feel. Muscles got bigger, fat melted away. I ruck, I do zone 2 on stationary bike while listening to your podcasts, I walk 5 days a week, I practice balance movements etc. It's awesome. I was even able to build muscle while on semaglutide thanks to your short on Youtube related to rapid muscle loss in patients on that drug.

I hope you never feel doubt about your work, cuz you shouldn't. Thank you.

Sorry for my grammar, not an American :)

[RadarAustralia]

Love the way (17:00) onward the discussion concerns the nuanced interpretation of how much protein older-aged people should consume protein.

[DrMusicStarr]

This biochemist is Elated to find your channel and this interview. I've been following Dr Patrick. Thank you both. I'm 72 years old . Double hip and a knee replacement. This curtailed my exercise. Dropped 20 lbs w intermittent fasting. I'm going to talk w my Dr about increasing protein and with my PT about increasing resistance training in a way that doesn't aggravate my injuries. Thank you

[andreatriplett]

I have lifted weights for several years but recently starting lifting more often and I had problems with my muscles being very sore well after my workouts and didnt understand why when i did research and learned i was not eating enough protein so i started counting macros...this was such an eye opener for me..I lift 5 days a week mostly and am no longer sore for days after. Also i have noticed an increase in muscle gain.

[funygameur]

This was the best podcast on the subject matter that I've seen.

[MikeHughesShooter]

I’m only one minute into this, and I’ve been looking for this content, or someone to address this dichotomy for about a year now. thank you!

[beachlover]

So true about how quickly you lose muscle mass from bed rest. My daughter who was an athlete prior to being in a horrific car accident couldn't even hold her head up. She got so skinny with very little muscle mass across her whole body from just being in a coma. Muscle deteriorates very quickly when it's not used.

[kimim]

My 95 year old father, still mildly active, has been a vegetarian most of his adult life eating eggs and dairy along with beans, bread and cereal as his staples. He has outlived his meat eating parents who died in their 50’s and 60’s. His protein consumption is low, relatively speaking. He did remain quite active for most of his life, having been very athletic in his younger years, and still walks daily. Another factor impacting his longevity, in my uneducated observation, was his removal of major stressors in his 40’s. He retired from a stressful profession in a cosmopolitan area very young and avoided stress triggers. He traveled the world on a limited budget and settled down in a quiet New Hampshire community, building his own log cabin and living there without electricity or public water for many years. While I find this discussion fascinating as a 70 year old seeking to lengthen my health span, I do think other factors need to be taken into consideration and, perhaps, most importantly, stress.

[SheldonBilsker]

Thank you for this excellent video. At 72 I have worked out most of my life. And I continued to do so. 8 months ago I started on a carnivore diet From keto, an intermittent fasting. I have never felt better. My waist measurement went from 37 inches to 33 and a 1/2 inches And stayed there. Many of my chronic Issues have gone.

[amya]

Thank you for this video. After going through breast cancer and the required treatment last year, I decided this year to hire a fitness and nutrition coach. I feel like I was constantly reading and watching videos about protein and how it relates to IGF-1 and the potential increased risk of cancer. It was almost as if I was being persuaded that the only healthy way of avoiding higher IGF-1 and avoiding cancer was to eat a plant based diet and avoiding any animal protein. I shared my concerns with my nutritionist and he shares the same views as Peter and Rhonda. He explained to me that you need animal protein and that there was no concrete evidence that if you increase your protein intake that you will get cancer. He also explained that vegans/vegetarians don’t look as healthy in regard to muscle mass and even long term vegetarians can still get cancer. You need animal protein to build muscle and prevent atrophy.

[Woodstock]

Thank you Dr Attia for your unselfish social media information to help with the longevity and quality of life. At 68 you played a HUGE role in my 55lb weight lose Since September 2022. Cardio and strength training played a significant role. Body hang time 3 x one minute hangs with 30 second rest periods. Thank you. 175 gram of daily protein now feeling terrific. I am enjoying listening to this discussion with guest. Very informative

[jerusalemlady]

❤ thank you so much for this information! I have been pulled back-and-forth not knowing what to do about protein and this finally settled it! Thank you so much. Now I can have peace. ✌️ 🎉

[alphamale]

I’m 76. I train with weights every other day always seeking slight progressive overload. I’ve been doing this for decades. On my off days, I work around the house - painting, gardening, mowing the lawn, etc. I also practice law five days per week. Every day I supplement my carnivore high protein diet with whey protein, creatine, and collagen.
My mother died when she was 47; my father was 66 when he died. They did not have high protein diets.

[SimonPilkington]

Great conversation and good to hear the evolution of both your views. I’d much rather stay strong and active into old age. A delicious, satisfying, high protein diet and the enjoyment of strength training for the win!

[whomadethatsaltysoup]

Excellent presentation! I particularly appreciated the focus on health span, rather than longevity. Doctors often quote obscure statistics from the likes of the Framingham Algorithm whenever they are trying to convince patients to choke down a fistful of medications. All this, to escape an early death from an ever-increasing list of chronic diseases. This advice is normally accompanied by only the most perfunctory suggestion of any lifestyle or diet changes, leaving the patient with the impression that simply popping the pills will lead to life eternal. Yes, we all want a long life: but I'd like to think it is not too much to ask for most of it to be an active and reasonably healthy one.

[karenjohnston]

Will be 80 in May ‘24, so thanks for this info about protein. Had believed that IGF growth factor, whatever that is, would increase if overdid on protein. Will relax on that - thank you!

[SpoileralertGMA]

20:19 this is exactly right lol the fact that both of them chuckled at the current RDA’s is so perfect