meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Peter Attia Drive

#271 - AMA #51: Understanding and improving your metabolic health

The Peter Attia Drive

Peter Attia, MD

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.77.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2023

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episode, Peter dives deep into the critical topic of metabolic disease. He first sheds light on how poor metabolic health drives up the risk of developing other chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and overall mortality. He explores the array of metrics and tests used to assess metabolic health, underscoring his preferred methodologies utilized with patients. Finally, Peter provides an overview of the factors one can manipulate in order to improve metabolic health.

If you’re not a subscriber and are listening on a podcast player, you’ll only be able to hear a preview of the AMA. If you’re a subscriber, you can now listen to this full episode on your private RSS feed or our website at the AMA #51 show notes page. If you are not a subscriber, you can learn more about the subscriber benefits here.

We discuss:

  • Importance of metabolic health and a primer on metabolic disease [1:30];
  • How poor metabolic health increases one’s risk for other chronic diseases [6:00];
  • How useful is body weight and BMI for estimating metabolic health? [9:45];
  • Overview of various tests and metrics used to understand metabolic health [12:15];
  • Traditional biomarkers and how Peter’s point of view may differ from the guidelines [15:00];
  • Lactate: insights into metabolic health through fasting and resting lactate levels [17:00];
  • Zone 2 output: an important functional test of metabolic health [20:00];
  • Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) [25:45];
  • Visceral adipose tissue (VAT): what is VAT and how does it impact health? [27:00];
  • Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT): how it works and why it is such an important metric for assessing metabolic health [32:15];
  • The utility of a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) [40:45];
  • Liver function and NAFLD [42:15];
  • Sleep as an intervention [46:00];
  • Exercise as an intervention [53:15];
  • Diet and nutrition [59:00];
  • How reducing stress can improve metabolic health [1:05:15]; and
  • More.

Connect With Peter on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey everyone, welcome to a sneak peek, ask me anything, or AMA episode of the Drive Podcast.

0:16.5

I'm your host, Peter Atia.

0:18.3

At the end of this short episode, I'll explain how you can access the AMA episodes in full,

0:22.9

along with a ton of other membership benefits we've created.

0:26.0

Before you can learn more now by going to peteratia-md.com, forward slash subscribe.

0:31.5

So without further delay, here's today's sneak peek of the Ask Me Anything episode.

0:39.8

Welcome to Ask Me Anything, episode number 51.

0:43.2

I'm once again, joined by Nick Stenson.

0:46.0

Today's AMA focuses on questions we've gathered around metabolic disease.

0:50.5

If you've listened to this podcast or read my book, you're probably familiar with what

0:53.7

I call the Four Horsemen.

0:55.6

Which are the major disease processes of aging.

0:58.1

These include cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and metabolic disease,

1:02.5

which is really a continuum of conditions.

1:05.4

In today's episode, we really dive into that fourth horseman, these conditions around

1:10.4

metabolic disease.

1:12.0

These topics that we explore include questions about how metabolic disease feeds the other

1:16.1

three horsemen and why we should be aware of our metabolic health.

1:19.2

We talk about the various metrics that I use with my patients to understand their metabolic

1:23.4

health.

1:24.4

This will include some common ones as well as some less common ones.

1:28.0

Then of course, we get into the various factors that you can manipulate in which to improve

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Peter Attia, MD, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Peter Attia, MD and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.