Eat These Foods + Spices for 8 Weeks To Get 3 Years Younger | Kara Fitzgerald : 1461
The Human Upgrade: Biohacking for Longevity & Performance
Dave Asprey
4.6 • 7.4K Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Your biological age can drop by over three years in just eight weeks, and the tools to do it are already in your kitchen. This episode breaks down the cutting-edge science of methylation, polyphenols, Yamanaka mimetics, and epigenetic reprogramming that is rewriting what we know about anti-aging, longevity, and human performance.
-Watch this episode on YouTube for the full video experience: https://www.youtube.com/@DaveAspreyBPR
Host Dave Asprey sits down with Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, ND, IFMCP, a leading voice in functional medicine and epigenetic aging research. Her award-winning clinical studies published in Aging (2021, 2023, and 2025) proved that targeted diet and lifestyle interventions can measurably reverse biological age on validated epigenetic clocks. She is the author of Younger You, an IFM faculty member and Certified Practitioner, and one of the most rigorously credentialed researchers working at the intersection of functional medicine, nutrition, and longevity science today.
Together, they go deep on Yamanaka factors, the Nobel Prize-winning discovery that can wind back a 90-year-old cell to its 20s, and the emerging class of compounds called Yamanaka mimetics, polyphenol-based supplements that may replicate some of those same cellular rejuvenation effects without the risks. They cover why polyphenols do the heavy lifting in biological age reversal, how AI is accelerating longevity research, and why the dark matter of nutrition may matter more than macros, carnivore protocols, or ketosis for long-term health. They also get into oxalates, mitochondria, fibroids, ovarian rejuvenation, and why the original Horvath clock may be more relevant than scientists thought.
This is essential listening for anyone serious about biohacking, longevity, supplements, functional medicine, anti-aging, brain optimization, human performance, and using smarter not harder strategies to take control of your biology.
You'll Learn:
- How diet, supplements, and meditation reversed biological age by over three years in eight weeks in a randomized controlled trial
- What Yamanaka factors are and why scientists are calling partial cellular reprogramming the future of anti-aging
- Which polyphenols do the heaviest lifting for epigenetic rejuvenation, including EGCG, urolithin A, rosemary, marjoram, and yarrow
- Why the Horvath epigenetic clock may actually be touching on programmatic aging rather than just exposomic wear and tear
- How AI is unlocking patterns in longevity data that no human researcher could find alone
- The problem with high-oxalate superfoods and how to get polyphenol benefits without the inflammatory downside
- Why ovarian rejuvenation may be the highest-leverage Yamanaka application for women's longevity and brain health
- How compounds like AKG, sodium butyrate, and forskolin may act as Yamanaka mimetics already available today
- What the PRC2 polycomb clock reveals about programmatic aging and why it matters more than second-generation clocks
- Why perimenopause does not have to be painful, and how functional medicine addresses it at the root
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Dave Asprey is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, founder of Bulletproof Coffee, and the father of biohacking. With over 1,000 interviews and 1 million monthly listeners, The Human Upgrade brings you the knowledge to take control of your biology, extend your longevity, and optimize every system in your body and mind. Each episode delivers cutting-edge insights inhealth, performance, neuroscience, supplements, nutrition, biohacking, emotional intelligence, and conscious living.
New episodes are released every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday (BONUS). Dave asks the questions no one else will and gives you real tools to become stronger, smarter, and more resilient.
Keywords: Kara Fitzgerald, biological age reversal, epigenetics, DNA methylation, Yamanaka factors, polyphenols, EGCG, urolithin A, anti-aging, longevity, biohacking, functional medicine, supplements, mitochondria, epigenetic clock, cellular reprogramming, AKG, sodium butyrate, methylation, Steve Horvath, Vittoria Sebastiano, coleus, perimenopause, ovarian rejuvenation, pluripotent stem cells, PRC2, dark matter of nutrition, TRIM study, dihydroxyflavone, BDNF, Prenuvo, chemical cellular rejuvenation
Resources:
• Learn more about all of Dr. Fitzgerald’s work at: https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/
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Timestamps:
0:00 – Trailer
1:28 – Explaining Study
3:45 – What Is The Diet
6:49 – Age Reversal
8:17 – Polyphenols vs. Supplements
9:27 – Food vs. Supplement Dosing
12:41 – Oxalate & Polyphenol Trade-offs
18:41 – Yamanaka Factors Explained
28:59 – Chemical Cocktails
32:15 – PRC2 Clocks & Programmatic Aging
40:28 – Seasonal Eating
43:40 – Carnivore Diet: Short vs. Long Term
45:31 – Inuit Diet
46:39 – Flavones & Brain-Crossing Compounds
48:50 – Why Only Men in the Study?
51:05 – Women, Perimenopause & the Protocol
53:20 – Fibroids & Gaps in Women's Research
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It was a very, very exciting moment for our biostatistician, Josh Middlethorf, to tell us that compared to the control group, |
| 0:08.8 | we had lowered biological ages measured by that first clock by over three years in our study subjects in eight weeks time. |
| 0:15.7 | With some food and supplements. And meditation. |
| 0:18.2 | So our set of transcription factors, so these guys dictate gene expression, manipulate what |
| 0:26.2 | proteins are being created from our DNA, and they were able to take a somatic cells and expose |
| 0:30.7 | them to these transcription factors and bring it all the way back, reduce its age, if you |
| 0:35.6 | will, all the way back to pluripotent stem cells. So they've looked at really old skin cells, taking samples from people in their 90s, and they can wind them back, you know, to their 20s. I mean, they can just shave decades off. In the meantime, probably rosemary, marjoram, and yarrow would be really good. There's some of the highest polyphenol foods, |
| 0:54.4 | and I eat about two tablespoons of all those. |
| 0:56.9 | And we're going to go really deep on things like polyphenols, |
| 0:59.4 | and what they really do in the body, |
| 1:01.2 | reversing cells back to the way they were when they were in the womb even, |
| 1:04.6 | and some more research like that. |
| 1:06.0 | So this is a fascinating episode. |
| 1:09.1 | You're listening to The Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. |
| 1:16.3 | As you age, one very important thing quietly declines. |
| 1:19.9 | It's your stem cells. |
| 1:21.2 | You're not going to feel them declining. |
| 1:22.6 | And it's not just a number, but it's their ability to repair and recover and renew every |
| 1:27.4 | part of your body. |
| 1:28.3 | And that's why your recovery can stall, even if your habits are the right ones. |
| 1:32.9 | Like that hangover that hits harder or the gym workout that leaves you aching for days |
| 1:37.6 | or waking up tired, even though you did get eight hours of sleep and you thought it was |
... |
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