”High protein is the worst thing you can do”

✅ Introduction to episode 24 with Dr. Valter Longo. ✅ How calorie restriction shaped modern longevity science. ✅ Detailed show notes. ✅ The origins and mechanisms of the Fasting-Mimicking Diet. ✅ The dangers of high-protein and ketogenic diets.

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Few have shaped my thinking around diet and fasting like Valter Longo

Our latest guest on the LEVITY podcast is none other than Dr. Valter Longo - one of the most influential scientists in the field of aging and nutrition.

There are two reasons why I featured Longo so prominently in my book Evigt Ung - Min och Människans Dröm om Odödligheten (2022).

First, if you had to name a single scientific thread running through the history of longevity research, calorie restriction is hard to beat. And few have done more to modernize and translate that insight into real-world practice than Longo.

Second, I hold Valter Longo in the highest regard. I've tried his Fasting-Mimicking Diet (FMD), I’ve followed his work on The Longevity Diet, and I find his scientific contributions both rigorous and unusually translational. He doesn’t just publish papers - he builds systems, tests interventions in clinical trials, and tries to implement science into healthcare.

In this conversation, we cover the science, history, and application of fasting, nutrition, and longevity - including new work on cancer, metabolism, and organ regeneration. We also discuss the philosophical and political obstacles that stand in the way of real change.

What you'll learn in this episode:

✅ The story of Longo’s early music career - and why he left it to study aging.

✅ How calorie restriction shaped modern longevity science.

✅ Why Biosphere 2 and Roy Walford's work was both inspiring and cautionary.

✅ The origins and mechanisms of the Fasting-Mimicking Diet.

✅ What Longo learned about autophagy, stem cells, and organ regeneration.

✅ Why protein intake before and after age 65 should be treated differently.

✅ What the media and doctors get wrong about obesity, food, and metabolism.

✅ The dangers of high-protein and ketogenic diets.

✅ Why Longo is deeply skeptical of TRT, growth hormone, and biohacking shortcuts.

✅ How fasting can enhance cancer treatment - and why Longo wrote his new book Fasting Cancer.

✅ Why we need a new kind of “digital school” for lifestyle medicine.

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