STOP Intermittent Fasting If You Want to Stay Young : 1409
The Human Upgrade: Biohacking for Longevity & Performance
Dave Asprey
4.6 • 7.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2026
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
STOP intermittent fasting if you think it automatically keeps you young. In this episode, you’ll learn why short-term fasting results can mislead long-term aging outcomes, and how duration, frequency, refeeding, and protein intake determine whether fasting supports longevity or quietly accelerates decline.
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Host Dave Asprey sits down with Valter Longo, one of the world’s leading longevity researchers with over 30 years of experience studying aging, nutrition, and disease prevention. Dr. Longo is the Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and the Director of the Longevity and Cancer Program at IFOM, the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan. He is the author of the bestselling book The Longevity Diet and was named one of TIME Magazine’s 50 most influential people in health care for his research on fasting-mimicking diets.
Together, Dave Asprey and Dr. Longo explain why many people focus too heavily on short-term effects and extrapolate them incorrectly across a lifetime. They break down how intermittent fasting differs biologically from multi-day fasting, why five-day fasting cycles trigger deeper cellular changes, and how insulin, IGF-1, mTOR, and growth hormone shape aging, regeneration, and disease risk over time.
The conversation covers protein and amino acid intake, muscle preservation, frailty risk, and the tradeoffs between strength, function, and longevity. They explore ketosis, fasting-mimicking diets, stem cell activation, mitochondrial function, neuroplasticity, and why equilibrium and cycling matter more than constant restriction. Dave and Valter also discuss supplements, nootropics, creatine, carnivore-style eating, metabolism, sleep optimization, and how AI may eventually personalize fasting and nutrition based on individual biology rather than population averages.
You’ll learn:
• Why short-term fasting benefits do not predict long-term longevity
• How fasting duration changes gene expression and cellular regeneration
• The difference between intermittent fasting and multi-day fasting
• How protein and amino acids influence mTOR, IGF-1, and aging
• Why muscle, strength, and longevity must be balanced, not maximized
• When ketosis overlaps with fasting and when it does not
• Why supplements can disrupt biological equilibrium
• How AI could support future personalization in fasting and nutrition
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 is the top podcast for people who want to take control of their biology, extend their longevity, and optimize every system in the body and mind. Each episode features cutting edge insights in health, performance, neuroscience, supplements, nutrition, hacking, emotional intelligence, and conscious living.
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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 in health, 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: intermittent fasting longevity, fasting mimicking diet, fasting and aging science, biohacking fasting podcast, longevity fasting research, protein restriction longevity, amino acids aging, mTOR IGF-1 longevity, mitochondria aging science, neuroplasticity fasting, ketosis fasting science, metabolism longevity podcast, anti-aging fasting, functional medicine longevity, supplements fasting debate, nootropics brain optimization, muscle frailty aging, sleep optimization longevity, AI personalized nutrition, carnivore diet longevity debate, Dave Asprey fasting, Valter Longo longevity, longevity diet podcast, human performance aging
Resources:
• Learn More About Valter’s Work At: https://valterlongo.com/
• Join My Fasting Challenge: https://daveasprey.com/#14-day
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• Join My Low-Oxalate 30-Day Challenge: https://daveasprey.com/2026-low-ox-reset/
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• Upgrade Collective: https://www.ourupgradecollective.com
• Upgrade Labs: https://upgradelabs.com
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction & Aging Fundamentals
4:36 Fasting Mimicking Diet Overview
7:03 Insulin, IGF-1 & mTOR
11:03 Body Fat & Fasting Frequency
17:08 The Protein Debate
20:22 Blue Zones & Centenarian Evidence
23:10 Amino Acids & Leucine
30:30 Growth Hormone & Longevity
34:01 Five-Day Fasting Benefits
40:55 Personalization & AI
42:29 Plant-Based Concerns
49:07 Fasting Risks & Limits
53:05 Supplements & Equilibrium
1:03:05 Ranking Longevity Pathways
1:05:05 Modern Environmental Challenges
1:16:21 Final Thoughts
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A lot of people probably focus on the short-term effects of things. |
| 0:05.0 | They'll do something and they'll see what happens, you know, a month or two later. |
| 0:09.0 | And they try to extrapolate that into the rest of someone's life, |
| 0:13.0 | but it doesn't work like that. |
| 0:14.0 | If you look at 100 years of data, the only intervention to make mice and rats |
| 0:19.0 | consistently longer live is protein restriction. |
| 0:21.7 | High animal protein intake have a major increase in diabetes, also a major increase in overweight |
| 0:27.8 | and obesity. If you have high torque activity, this tends to keep the system in a pro-growth |
| 0:32.9 | modality, but also pro-age. A lot of people like to hear about eat a lot of this or avoid that. And in most |
| 0:39.4 | cases, is having it to get it exactly right. Growth hormone is clearly the most powerful that there is. |
| 0:44.8 | When that becomes important, that's a little tricky. As you may goze anything, they're going to |
| 0:49.9 | disrupt this equilibrium. Very sophisticated equilibrium that the human body has built after billions |
| 0:56.7 | of years of evolution, function, strength, and longevity. They're very close, connected. Short-time effects |
| 1:02.5 | and long-term consequences are very, very different. |
| 1:08.4 | You're listening to The Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. |
| 1:15.6 | Are you ready to plug into the latest science of longevity and human performance? |
| 1:21.0 | Come to Beyond the Biohacking Conference, where biology, longevity, and consciousness collide in real life. |
| 1:27.7 | Join us, May 27th through 29th, 2026 in Austin, Texas. |
| 1:32.3 | Experience breakthrough tech, meet world-class experts, |
| 1:35.7 | and connect with people who are also committed to being the best versions of themselves. |
| 1:40.0 | Because strong community isn't optional. |
| 1:42.3 | It's how we live longer. |
... |
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