Issue #430: 3 Longevity Myths
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, February 18th.
In today’s email:
Learn: 3 Longevity Myths
Try: Check Your Scores
Watch: SNL turned 50
In the News: AI-Built Enzymes
Stat of the Day
The percentage of sodium we eat that comes from processed food or from restaurants - not what we use at home while we’re cooking - that’s only 11% of our total salt. (American Heart Association)
Learn
3 Longevity Myths (that need to go away)
Myth #1 - Eating more Cholesterol = More Cholesterol
Somehow this myth continues to be said in mainstream news all the time.
There’s still debates like…
Are eggs (if you can even find them) good or bad for your heart?
Should you eat just the egg whites? 🤦🏽
This headline was from just last week -
Fortunately the article got the answer right - eggs are NOT bad for your heart. If anything, they are probably good for your heart (remember Issue #310?).
But when something becomes so popular it takes a long time for it to finally go away.
Even now traditional health publications are just starting to catch up.
Cholesterol is a fat produced in the liver that ships it out to cells that need it - it forms the cell membrane for all our cells.
And yes, it’s true that too much cholesterol can clog our arteries and cause heart disease - still the number one killer in the U.S.
But the cholesterol we eat - it doesn’t go into our blood vessels. Most of it becomes waste that we efficiently eliminate from the body. If that wasn’t convincing enough coming from me -
Ancel Keys - famed nutrition scientist back in 1997 (as quoted in Peter Attia’s book, Outlive):
“There’s no connection whatsoever between cholesterol in food and cholesterol in blood. None. And we’ve known that all along. Cholesterol in the diet doesn’t matter unless you happen to be a chicken or a rabbit.”
The U.S. government finally agreed in 2015 - “cholesterol is not a nutrient of concern for overconsumption.”
Action Item
Don’t check the cholesterol on the nutrition label. And if you can afford them, eat a few eggs - they’ve got an amazing nutrient profile (choline anyone?), complete with protein and unsaturated fatty acids.
Myth #2 - Eating Fat Makes You Fat
By now I think we all know this isn’t true.
But words matter. It’s really hard to get past a type of food called “fat” and what we store on our body as “fat.”
So even though we “know” it’s not true, our brains struggle to really get past this connection.
Here’s the deal - unsaturated fats, from foods like olive oil, nuts, and fish, are actually one of the greatest protections against heart disease and death. And no - eating these fats don’t go to our waistline.
One very large study over 4 years showed eating more of these healthy fats lowered risk of heart disease by 30%+. This is better than any drug.
Now what is true is that saturated fat - found in meat and dairy (plus coconut oil) - can increase risk of heart disease. About one-third of people will have higher Apo B (carriers of protein) from eating more saturated fat.
But the real culprit to adding fat - especially visceral fat around your midsection - is from too much sugar (glucose) and fructose.
Even triglycerides - technically a fat and a better indicator for heart disease than LDL cholesterol - increases when we eat sugar.
Action Items
Measure your Apo B - if high (over 60 mg/dL), then monitor saturated fat in your diet and see if this increases Apo B in future tests.
Skip Simple Carbs - whether it’s breads/cereals or drinking sugar water (energy drinks, soda, OJ, etc.), simple cars are the worst when it comes to our metabolism, our heart disease risk, and adding the extra pounds we don’t want.
Myth #3 - Salt is Bad for Us
Sodium is an essential mineral. It gets water into our cells, supports our nerve function, and is vital for our muscles to contract and relax.
Similarly, chloride (the other half of table salt - NaCl) is key to form the acids in our stomach to help with digestion and to even manage the flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide inside our cells.
So why did salt get a bad rap?
Well - like just about everything else, when we started packaging food full of preservatives so it would be shelf-stable and more convenient, it became loaded with salt (see Stat of the Day).
So it’s easy to eat too much salt.
When this happens we retain water - which expands our blood volume and increases blood pressure. Thus increasing risk of heart disease.
Action Item
Before worrying about salt intake, measure your sodium and chloride levels. We’re all different - and based on how much you sweat, how much water you drink, and what you eat - you might not have to worry about salt.
Sodium - aim for between 138 - 144 mEq/L
Chloride - aim for between 96-106 mEq/L
BONUS: If you need more electrolytes - go with a sugar-free powder (like LMNT) and avoid sports drinks with loads of sugar (see Myth #2).
Try
Know Your Numbers
Find out where you stand with your biomarkers (Triglycerides, Apo B, Fasting Glucose and Insulin, Sodium, Chloride) before reading some headline or social media post and changing your diet.
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Laugh
SNL Turned 50
Max here. Love it or hate it, SNL celebrated it’s 50th this past weekend. There was a concert Friday, a musical celebration Saturday and a 50th anniversary special on Sunday. Over 9 hours of content celebrating the show and its 80-year-old creator Lorne Michaels.
You can watch in full on Peacock, but here’s a few of my favorites…
Black Jeopardy: Eddie Murphy steals more than Tracy’s identity
Close Encounter: will she get another Oscar nod for this performance?
Domingo: watch out for the three bros
Q&A: Tina and Amy work the crowd
Weekend Update: it’s an institution with the right dash of Bill Murray
Anxiety: a little mental health callout from The Lonely Island
BONUS: I can’t get enough of The Lonely Island, here’s their medley from Friday’s concert
H&L in the News
Sleep Myths That Steal Rest: Think you can train your body to need less sleep or catch up on weekends? Think again. Experts debunk common sleep myths and share science-backed strategies for deeper, more restorative rest (NYTimes). For the best science-backed routines - check out issues #11 and 12.
AI-Built Enzymes, Limitless Potential: UW’s Baker Lab is using AI to design custom enzymes that could revolutionize industries - from pharmaceuticals to plastic recycling - unlocking nature’s efficiency without fossil fuels. (Fierce Biotech)
Upcoming Ski Trip?: Unlock smoother skiing and prevent injuries with hip mobility. Weak, tight hips can lead to knee and back pain - fix it with simple exercises that improve stability, power, and control on the slopes. (Outside)
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