#57 How To Reverse Ageing (Part 1 of 4). The History of Longevity Research with Sue Armstrong
The Doctor's Kitchen Podcast
Dr Rupy Aujla
4.7 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2020
⏱️ 100 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
My guest today is Sue Armstrong, journalist and author of the fantastic book “Borrowed Time – The Science of How and Why We Age”.
We have a conversation about all things related to ageing, why it occurs, why there’s renewed interest in it and what we can do about it. Sue beautifully lays out the history of longevity research in her book, the origins of this fascinating scientific discipline and what the latest research means for you.
Sue is a writer and broadcaster specialising in science, health and development issues. As a foreign correspondent, she covered EU affairs from Brussels for 3 years. Based subsequently in South Africa for 8 years, she reported for a variety of media - notably New Scientist magazine, BBC World Service radio, and various UN agencies including the World Health Organization, for whom her major focus was the AIDS epidemic then spreading explosively in East, Central and southern Africa.
On the show today we discuss:
- How Sue's career got started as well as her experience reporting on Nelson Mandelas release from prison
- Her time spent researching and reporting on HIV
- The origins of ageing research and interrelated tales of mavericks, worms and fruitflies
- The different theories of why we age
- Cellular senescence
- The ageing immune system
- Calorie restriction and its pros and cons
- Whether the quest for longevity is a narcissistic endeavour
- True gerontology vs the “immortalists”
And definitely go and check out Sue's book - 'Borrowed Time - The Science of How and Why We Age' which is a really super interesting read.
All other social media links for Sue are noted below here and do check out The Doctor's Kitchen website for full show notes and links to publications and articles that Sue wanted to share with listeners.
Guest Social Media Links
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just a quick announcement for today's podcast. This is actually part one of a four-part podcast series |
| 0:06.8 | I'm dedicating to how to reverse aging. Yes, this is all about gerontology which is for a lot of us |
| 0:14.1 | a subject matter that hasn't really crossed the mainstream barrier. It's all about aging as a |
| 0:20.0 | disease process and how to treat it. You're going to find the next four podcasts in this series |
| 0:26.4 | absolutely fascinating and Sue is a perfect guest to kick it off because she really lays out the |
| 0:33.0 | history of this industry, this scientific field and I know you're going to absolutely enjoy this |
| 0:39.1 | podcast. So without further ado, here it is and look out for the next three after this week's. |
| 0:47.9 | And one of the clearest messages that came from my book which I found absolutely fantastic was |
| 0:54.1 | the single biggest risk factor for that whole panoply of geriatric diseases is the aging |
| 0:59.8 | process itself. So if we can come you know they're the branches of the tree, the roots of the tree |
| 1:05.2 | are the aging process, your immune system that's getting old, your senescent cells that are accumulating, |
| 1:11.3 | the inflammation in all sorts of things, all of these things. So if you can treat, if you can find a |
| 1:18.1 | way of slowing that process or remeliorating that process, you can actually affect all kinds of things. |
| 1:26.8 | Welcome to the Dr. Siskitchen Podcast with me, Dr. Rupi, where we discuss the most important |
| 1:32.4 | topics and concepts in the medicinal qualities of food and lifestyle. This is the podcast to learn |
| 1:39.0 | about actionable changes to your diet and your lifestyle that can lead to health benefits. My guest |
| 1:45.3 | today is Sue Armstrong, who is a writer and broadcaster specialising in science, health and |
| 1:52.1 | development. But as you will learn, her career has spanned so many different topics, it's incredible. |
| 1:59.4 | She has written one of my favourite books from 2019. In fact, it might be one of my all-time |
| 2:05.7 | favourite books. It's an incredible story of aging and the area of gerontology that has garnered a |
| 2:13.8 | lot of interest is essentially how we can treat and reverse aging. Yes, I know it sounds far-fetched, |
| 2:21.7 | but trust me, at the end of this podcast, which is quite long, I definitely realise that it's |
... |
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