The debate on red meat and cancer risk revolves around the association between consumption of red meat or processed red meat and the higher risk of cancer. It is suggested that the increased risk may not primarily be due to the meat itself, rather it could be more related to the lack of consumption of other beneficial foods like vegetables and insoluble fiber. The challenges in nutritional epidemiology lie in accurately capturing people's dietary habits and separating the variable of interest from other lifestyle factors, known as the healthy user bias.
View the Show Notes Page for This Episode
Become a Member to Receive Exclusive Content
Sign Up to Receive Peter’s Weekly Newsletter
In this special edition celebrating 300 episodes of The Drive, Peter discusses a variety of popular topics and health interventions and classifies them based on their level of evidence and relevance using the following categories: proven, promising, fuzzy, noise, and nonsense. Peter first delves into the topic of geroprotective molecules, covering rapamycin, metformin, NAD and its precursors, and resveratrol. Next, he explores the significance of metrics like VO2 max and muscle mass, as well as emerging concepts like blood flow restriction and stem cells. The conversation extends to nutrition, addressing questions surrounding long-term fasting, sugar consumption, sugar substitutes, and the contentious role of red meat in cancer. Peter not only provides his current stance on each topic—most of which have been covered in great detail in the previous 300 episodes—but also reflects on how his opinion may have evolved over the years.
We discuss:
- Defining the categories of “proven, promising, fuzzy, noise, and nonsense” [3:15];
- Rapamycin [9:30];
- Metformin [17:00];
- NAD and its precursors [24:30];
- Resveratrol [32:45];
- The importance of VO2 max, muscle mass, and muscular strength for lifespan [38:15];
- Blood flow restriction (BFR) training [44:00];
- Using stem cells to treat osteoarthritis or injury [51:30];
- Fasting as a tool for longevity (and why Peter stopped his fasting protocol) [55:45];
- The energy balance theory [1:06:30];
- The idea that sugar is poison [1:12:00];
- The idea that sugar substitutes are dangerous [1:22:15];
- The debate on red meat and cancer [1:28:45]; and
- More.
Connect With Peter on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube