How to Be a Super Ager (with Eric Topol)

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

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Summary

What if we could delay--or even prevent--Alzheimer's, cancer, and heart disease? What if much of what you know about aging is wrong? Listen as cardiologist and author Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Institute talks about his new book Super Agers with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. They discuss why your genes matter less than you think, how your immune system can help prevent cancer and Alzheimer's, and why a simple shingles vaccine could reduce the risk of dementia. From the surprising anti-inflammatory powers of Ozempic to the critical importance of deep sleep for brain detoxification, Topol shares insights that can extend your healthy lifespan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:07.9	I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Sholem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:13.8	Go to EconTalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this episode, and find links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.2	You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done going back to 2006.
0:26.7	Our email address is mail at econTalk.org. We'd love to hear from you.
0:36.9	Today is May 28, 2025, and my guest is Dr. and author Eric Topal.
0:42.5	This is his fourth appearance on the program.
0:45.2	He was last year in June of 2019 talking about deep medicine.
0:49.4	Our topic for today is his new book, Super Agers, an evidenceidence-Based Approach to Longevity. Eric, welcome
0:56.2	back to Econ Talk.
0:58.1	Thanks so much for us. Great to be with you.
1:00.2	This book is quite an extraordinary summary of what we know and do not know about the human
1:06.7	body and its health. And after reading it, I was struck by two things I'd like to start
1:10.9	with, the extraordinary complexity of so many things we had little knowledge of, I would say 40 or 50
1:18.7	years ago, but for some of these topics, I think it's less than that, and how little we
1:23.5	understand despite the growth in knowledge. So we know a lot more.
1:28.5	We know about things being connected to other things, but we are often missing some fundamental
1:35.1	understandings of the processes that we want to make better.
1:39.1	Is that a fair summary?
1:41.7	I agree with you totally.
1:43.0	Yes. Talk about that a little bit. Well, one of the things that we had a
1:50.0	misconception, which I think the data is clear, is how long it takes for these big three diseases,
	...

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