In this episode of Longevity By Design, Dr. Layne Norton, Founder of BioLayne and Carbon app, joins Gil Blander to discuss optimizing nutrition and fitness for a longer, healthier life. Layne emphasizes the importance of prioritizing scientific evidence over popular narratives, highlighting how easily isolated studies can be misinterpreted. He stresses the power of personalized approaches to nutrition and fitness, advocating for a critical approach to information consumption. Layne dives into th...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 89
On this episode of Longevity by Design, Dr. Gil Blander sits down with Dr. Evelyne Bischof, President of the Healthy Longevity Medicine Society. Evelyne discusses her background in internal medicine and oncology and how her work puzzling together patient diagnoses led her to the field of longevity medicine. She highlights the importance of optimizing health span, not just lifespan, and how healthy longevity medicine benefits not only individuals, but population health and the world economy as we...
Jun 04, 2025•57 min
In this episode of Longevity by Design, our host, Dr. Gil Blander talks with Dr. Renee Deehan and Paul Fabian about Inside Tracker 's new Healthspan Habits Score feature. This innovative tool analyzes data from wearable devices and daily journal entries to identify the most impactful habit to improve each week for better health span and longevity. The guests explain how the algorithm processes up to 15 different variables, including sleep quality, step count, and lifestyle factors to create a pe...
May 21, 2025•51 min
Dr. Gil Blander welcomes Dr. Daniel Durand, Chief Medical Officer at Prenuvo, to Longevity by Design for a deep dive into the future of preventative healthcare. Dr. Durand shares how full-body MRI is redefining early detection by making advanced imaging accessible, non-invasive, and radiation-free. He explains why MRI, as a soft tissue imaging modality, offers unmatched insight into early-stage cancers and chronic conditions. The conversation unpacks misconceptions around overdiagnosis and false...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 22 min
In this episode of Longevity by Design, host Dr. Gil Blander welcomes Dr. Eran Segal, Professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science, to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and personalized health. The conversation dives into how AI and machine learning are transforming our understanding of nutrition, disease prediction, and overall longevity. Eran provides a clear overview of AI, machine learning, and deep learning, explaining how these technologies can be applied to variou...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Dr. Gil Blander and Ashley Reaver dive into the science behind GLP-1 agonists, a class of drugs originally developed for type 2 diabetes but now widely used for weight management and longevity. They explore how these medications work, their effects on appetite, metabolism, and inflammation, and why they might be a game-changer for cardiovascular health, brain function, and fertility. While promising, they emphasize the importance of long-term research and consulting with medical professionals be...
Apr 02, 2025•49 min•Season 1Ep. 84
In this episode of Longevity by Design, host Dr. Gil Blander welcomes Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a board-certified family physician and New York Times bestselling author of Forever Strong. Gabrielle discusses the growing epidemic of sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass and strength, accelerated by the use of GLP-1 medications. She emphasizes the importance of muscle health for overall longevity and introduces the concept of "muscle span." Gil and Gabrielle explore the critical role of skeletal muscle as...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 83
On this episode of Longevity by Design, Dr. Gil Blander speaks with Dr. Michael Ringel, COO of Life Biosciences, about the science of aging and longevity. Michael discusses how evolution influences lifespan and why aging occurs. He explains the trade-off between resource allocation for reproduction versus maintenance and repair within the body. Caloric restriction and its effects on lifespan are explored through an evolutionary lens. Michael highlights the challenges and breakthroughs in longevi...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 82
In this episode of Longevity by Design, Dr. Gil Blander sits down with Dr. Jay Olshansky, a leading professor at the University of Illinois Chicago and a renowned expert in aging and biodemography. Together, they delve into the science of longevity, exploring how public health advancements in the 20th century revolutionized life expectancy and what lies ahead in the quest to extend both lifespan and healthspan. Dr. Olshansky unpacks the biological limits of human longevity, shedding light on why...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Can personalized medicine unlock the secrets to living longer and healthier lives? In this episode of Longevity by Design, host Dr. Gil Blander sits down with Dr. David Barzilai, a renowned longevity physician and founder of Barzilai Longevity Consulting, to explore the science of extending healthspan through precision and innovation. Dr. Barzilai shares his journey into biogerontology and longevity science, unpacking key concepts like the hallmarks of aging, the potential of lifestyle intervent...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 52 min•Season 1Ep. 77
On this episode of Longevity by Design, Dr. Gil Blander hosts Dr. Dmitriy Richard Starson, Founder and CEO of Passio, an AI-powered nutrition coaching platform. Dmitriy discusses his career path from astrophysics to the world of nutrition tracking. He explains how his company seeks to make healthy eating more accessible. Passio aims to achieve this through user-friendly technology like food scanning, voice logging, and personalized AI coaching. Dmitriy believes this technology will revolutionize...
Jan 22, 2025•56 min•Season 1Ep. 76
In this episode of Longevity by Design, our host Dr. Gil Blander welcomes Dr. Aubrey de Grey, a biomedical gerontologist, to explore the frontiers of aging research and lifespan extension. Dr. de Grey shares his work identifying and addressing the seven major categories of aging-related diseases. He discusses how targeted damage repair offers a promising alternative to traditional methods to slow aging, providing a path to longer, healthier lives. The conversation delves into the hallmarks of ag...
Jan 08, 2025•54 min•Season 1Ep. 75
On this episode of Longevity by Design, Dr. Gil Blander welcomes Dr. John Erdman to discuss prostate cancer and the impact of diet on disease progression. John shares his personal connection to this disease and why he’s dedicated his research to understanding dietary interventions. John explains that prostate cancer is often slow-growing, with most men experiencing decades between early mutations and noticeable tumor growth. He stresses the importance of early detection through regular checkups,...
Dec 18, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 74
In this episode of Longevity by Design, Dr. Gil Blander welcomes Dr. Jens Juul Holst, a renowned Danish physician and physiologist, to discuss GLP-1, a hormone transforming our understanding of metabolic health. Dr. Holst, who discovered and described GLP-1, explains its role as a gut-derived hormone that regulates appetite, insulin secretion, and digestion, offering a groundbreaking approach to managing obesity and type 2 diabetes. The conversation explores how GLP-1 receptor agonists, have evo...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Episode highlights: Introduction: 00:00:00 Why have you decided to become a scientist: 00:02:30 What is fermentation: 00:07:45 What microbes are involved in fermentation: 00:08:40 How those microbes get into the fermented food: 00:09:35 When the Humankind started to utilize fermentation: 00:11:20 What is the difference between Probiotics and Live Cultures: 00:15:15 What are the benefits of fermented food consumption: 00:17:43 What foods are produced through lactic acid fermentation, and what are...
Nov 20, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 72
On this episode of Longevity by Design, Dr. Gil Blander welcomes Dr. Yanina Pepino, Professor of Ingestive Behavior at the University of Illinois, to discuss the fascinating link between taste, personal preferences, and long-term health. Yanina's research shows our food environment significantly shapes cravings. This exposure starts as early as the womb, impacting future preferences. Yanina explains that bariatric surgery and GLP-1 medications are powerful tools for weight management. However, s...
Nov 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 71
In this special "Ask Me Anything" episode of the Longevity by Design podcast, Ashley Reaver and Dr. Gil Blander from InsideTracker delve into their latest innovation, the Nutrition Nutrition Deep Dive Solution. After years of research and development, they share the journey of creating a food recognition platform that helps users track their food intake in real time. The goal is to provide users with personalized recommendations for better health and nutrition based on their dietary habits. Dr. ...
Oct 23, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 70
In this episode of Longevity by Design, our host Dr. Gil Blander speaks with Dr. David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, about the science behind aging and how we can extend both lifespan and healthspan. Dr. Sinclair shares his groundbreaking research on the role of epigenetic changes in aging and the potential to reverse this process. He explains how lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, can greatly impact our longevity, and highlights the importance of regula...
Oct 09, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 69
In this episode of Longevity by Design, Dr. Gil Blander talks with Dr. Renee Deehan, Senior Vice President of Science and AI at InsideTracker. They explore the world of artificial intelligence and its applications in health and wellness. Renee explains the differences between AI, machine learning, and large language models (LLMs). She discusses how InsideTracker has developed a specialized LLM called Ask InsideTracker. This tool allows users to interact with a vast knowledge base of health and w...
Sep 25, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 68
On this episode of Longevity by Design, Ashley Reaver, MS, RD, CSSD, and Dr. Gil Blander, delve into the intricate world of the immune system and its impact on aging with Dr. David Furman, Associate Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. David discusses his groundbreaking research on inflammaging— uncovering how chronic, low-grade inflammation can accelerate the aging process. Discover how David's team developed a new inflammatory age test, soon to be available from his company E...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 67
In this episode of Longevity by Design, our host Dr. Gil Blander welcomes Dr. Renee Deehan and Nimisha Schneider from InsideTracker to discuss the role of personalized health and the advancements made through data science and artificial intelligence. Dr. Deehan elaborates on her background in molecular biology and how she transitioned to computational biology, emphasizing the importance of integrating large-scale biological data to develop high-resolution molecular models of diseases. Nimisha Sc...
Aug 28, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 66
In this episode of Longevity by Design, hosts Ashley Reaver and Dr. Gil Blander welcome Dr. Julie Andersen, a distinguished neuroscientist at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, who discusses her groundbreaking work on neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. She explains how the field of geroscience is transforming our understanding of aging, revealing that common underlying processes in various diseases could lead to universal therapeutic approaches. Dr. Ander...
Aug 15, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 65
In this episode of Longevity by Design, hosts Ashley Reaver and Dr. Gil Blander welcome Dr. Brianna Stubbs, an expert in exogenous ketone metabolism. Dr. Stubbs shares her journey from being a competitive rower to becoming a scientist. She dives into her research on ketone biology and its implications for health and aging. Dr. Stubbs discusses the science behind ketones, explaining how they serve as an alternative fuel for the brain and body, particularly during periods of low carbohydrate intak...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 64
In this episode of Longevity by Design, host Dr. Gil Blander talks with Dr. Robert Lustig, an emeritus professor of pediatrics at UCSF and a renowned neuroendocrinologist. Dr. Lustig dives into the impact of ultra-processed foods and fructose on metabolism, emphasizing how these contribute to obesity and metabolic diseases. He also discusses his journey from academia to public health advocacy, aiming to reform the food industry and reduce chronic diseases. Episode highlights: Introduction: 00:00...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 63
In this Longevity by Design Ask Me Anything (AMA) episode with Ashley Reaver, MS, RD, CSSD, and Dr. Gil Blander, the focus is on user questions about optimizing health and longevity. Dr. Blander discusses the rationale behind InsideTracker's shift to a subscription model, emphasizing the importance of continuous engagement for long-term health improvement. He explains how this model encourages users to maintain their health optimization practices consistently over time, enhancing the overall eff...
Jun 26, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 62
In this episode of Longevity by Design, hosts Ashley Reaver, MS, RD, CSSD, and Dr. Gil Blander sit down with Dr. Gordon Lithgow, a Professor and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Dr. Lithgow's research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of aging and identifying genes and small molecules that can prolong lifespan. With a background in genetics from the University of Glasgow and extensive experience in biotechnology and aging research, Dr. Lithgo...
Jun 12, 2024•49 min•Ep. 61
In this episode of Longevity By Design, co-hosts Ashley Reaver, MS, RD, CSSD, and Dr. Gil Blander welcome renowned professor Dr. Keith Baar. As the head of the Functional Molecular Biology Lab at UC Davis, Dr. Baar has made groundbreaking discoveries about how exercise and nutrition influence the adaptation of muscles, tendons, and ligaments. During this episode, he shares his expertise on the critical role of exercise and nutrition for musculoskeletal health, longevity, and improving quality of...
May 15, 2024•1 hr 6 min
In this episode of Longevity by Design, host Dr. Gil Blander is joined by Dr. Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, a leading figure in aging research. Dr. Scheibye-Knudsen discusses his groundbreaking research on the role of DNA damage in the aging process and its implications for chronic diseases, aging research, and longevity medicine. The goal of his work is "to discover interventions leading to healthier, happier, and more productive lives." Dr. Scheibye-Knudsen's work is on understanding normal and pre...
May 01, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 61
Do you know what senescent (zombie) cells are and how cellular senescence and senolytics impact health? In this episode of Longevity by Design, hosts Ashley Reaver and Dr. Gil Blander are joined by Dr. James Kirkland from the Mayo Clinic, one of the world's leading figures in aging research. This episode is a deep dive into aging research, cellular senescence, and senolytics. Dr. Kirkland discusses the impact of cellular aging (senescence) on healthspan and his discovery of the first senolytic a...
Apr 17, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 60
This episode of Longevity by Design discusses mental health and suicide risk and prevention. The following topics are discussed: depression, suicide, substance abuse, social isolation, among others also. This episode is intended to raise awareness of mental health issues and suicide risk and prevention. The topics discussed may be distressing or triggering for some individuals. Please proceed with caution if you continue to listen to this episode. Our mental health is vital for healthspan and li...
Apr 03, 2024•39 min•Ep. 59
