HoldsUp

Mark Hyman, MD · 2025-05-28 · Mark Hyman (host), Jeff Bland

Longevity Doctor: I’m 79 With the Health of a 40 Year Old, Here’s How I Did It!

33 research-tied claims examined: 4 contradicted 5 overstated 3 context 16 supported 5 unverified

16

Supported by research

0:04:51Jeff Blandsupportedhigh

The human body produces over 2 million new white blood cells per minute.

"We're making over 2 million new white blood cells, immune cells, a minute. We are constantly reproducing our immune system." (said at 0:04:51)

Standard hematological physiological research demonstrates that the body produces well over 2 million white blood cells per minute. Under basal conditions, the bone marrow produces approximately 10^11 (100 billion) mature neutrophils—the most abundant leukocyte type—daily. Dividing this daily production across 1,440 minutes per day equates to roughly 70 million neutrophils produced every minute, not including the turnover of other leukocyte classes such as lymphocytes, monocytes, and eosinophils.

0:24:24Mark Hyman (host)supportedhigh

Linus Pauling published a paper in the journal Science in 1968 describing orthomolecular psychiatry and using nutrients to resolve psychiatric symptoms.

"He kind of was the father of this concept of orthomolecular medicine, which was first sort of described in a Science journal paper which in 1968 was talking about orthomolecular psychiatry: how to use nutrition and different nutrients to change biochemical reactions, to drive pathways that were stuck, and to unlock them to create a resolution in psychiatric symptoms" (said at 0:24:24)

Linus Pauling published his seminal paper 'Orthomolecular Psychiatry: Varying the concentrations of substances normally present in the human body may control mental disease' in the journal Science in April 1968. In this paper, he introduced the concept of orthomolecular psychiatry, arguing that mental disorders could arise from localized cerebral deficiencies or biochemical abnormalities and that providing optimal concentrations of endogenous nutrients (such as vitamins and amino acids) could correct these biochemical pathways and alleviate psychiatric symptoms.

0:30:18Mark Hyman (host)supportedhigh

The PREDIMED trial was a nutritional randomized controlled trial that evaluated approximately 7,000 people.

"7,000, which by the way, to do a nutritional study, a randomized control trial with 7,000 people and diet, is so hard to do. It's so expensive. It's such a big study, and most studies are done with a couple hundred people, or 100 people, or 50 people. This is 7,000 people." (said at 0:30:18)

The PREDIMED study (Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea) was a multicenter nutritional randomized controlled clinical trial conducted in Spain that evaluated a total of 7,447 participants (aged 55 to 80 years at high cardiovascular risk) assigned to one of three dietary interventions (Mediterranean diet with extra-virgin olive oil, Mediterranean diet with nuts, or a control low-fat diet).

0:31:53Mark Hyman (host)supportedhigh

The PREDIMED trial randomized participants to either one liter of olive oil per week or a handful of nuts daily compared to a low-fat diet.

"they basically randomized people to either a liter of olive oil a week or basically a big handful of nuts every day compared to a low-fat diet." (said at 0:31:53)

The PREDIMED trial (Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea) evaluated primary cardiovascular prevention by assigning participants at high cardiovascular risk to one of three dietary interventions: a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil (provided at 1 liter per week), a Mediterranean diet supplemented with mixed nuts (provided at 30 g/day, equivalent to about a handful), or a control group given advice to follow a low-fat/reduced-fat diet.

0:32:23Jeff Blandsupportedmoderate

A study published in Nature compared Tanzanians eating a traditional African plant-based diet to those on a Westernized diet, finding that transitioning to the Western diet triggered inflammatory immune gene expression, elevated cardiovascular-associated lipoproteins, and insulin resistance.

"and in fact, there's a paper just published in Nature that is fascinating in Africa, in Tanzania. They studied Tanzanians that were eating the traditional African diet, which was things like fermented banana and a very high plant-based diet, versus people that had been moved in the same country over into the Westernized diet. And they compared the health outcomes and the effects on the immune system. They studied immunological activities of all these subsets of immune cells, and just as we would expect, the people that transitioned in Tanzania with the same genes transitioned to the Western diet, they got the genes of their immune system suddenly expressing inflammation, expressing high levels of lipoproteins that are associated with cardiovascular risk, with insulin resistance." (said at 0:32:23)

A randomized controlled crossover trial published in Nature Medicine evaluated 77 healthy young men in the Kilimanjaro region of Northern Tanzania who switched between a traditional heritage diet (including a traditional fermented banana beverage, 'Mbege') and a Westernized diet. The trial found that transitioning from the traditional African heritage diet to a Western-style diet rapidly induced a pro-inflammatory immune profile and altered metabolic pathways linked to noncommunicable diseases, whereas the traditional diet and fermented banana beverage produced predominantly anti-inflammatory metabolic and immunological effects.

  • supports: Immune and metabolic effects of African heritage diets versus Western diets in men: a rand… (Nature medicine 2025) · cited 53x in the literature
    "We conducted a randomized controlled trial in the Kilimanjaro region in Northern Tanzania to investigate the immune and metabolic effects of switching between Kilimanjaro heritage-style and Western-style diets for 2 weeks and consuming a traditional fermented banana beverage ('Mbege') for 1 week... The switch from heritage-style to Western-style diet affected different metabolic pathways associated with noncommunicable diseases and promoted a pro-inflammatory state with impaired whole-blood cytokine responses to microbial stimulation. In contrast, the switch from Western-style to heritage-style diet or consuming the fermented beverage had a largely anti-inflammatory effect." (abstract, results, passage verified)
    pubmedfull study (doi)
0:36:28Jeff Blandsupportedhigh

Delphinidin is an anthocyanidin found in berries.

"Like you think of delphinidin, that's an anthocyanidin that's in berries." (said at 0:36:28)

Delphinidin is well established in plant biochemistry as one of the major dietary anthocyanidins (the aglycone form of anthocyanin pigments) and is abundant in pigmented fruits, particularly dark berries (such as blueberries, bilberries, and blackcurrants) as well as grapes and eggplants.

0:38:31Jeff Blandsupportedhigh

Bruce Ames developed the triage theory of micronutrient insufficiency.

"Bruce Ames, God rest his soul—he just recently passed away, an extraordinary contributor to our field—had this triage theory. The triage theory is just like what you're saying, that there are different levels of insufficiency." (said at 0:38:31)

Biochemist Bruce N. Ames formally proposed and published the 'triage theory' of micronutrient allocation in 2006 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), expanding on it in subsequent publications. The theory posits that when micronutrient intake is moderately inadequate or insufficient, evolutionary mechanisms prioritize scarce nutrients for functions critical to immediate survival and reproduction at the expense of systems required for long-term health maintenance and disease prevention.

0:41:32Mark Hyman (host)supportedhigh

Linus Pauling won two Nobel Prizes, discovered protein structures, and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

"Linus Pauling is, he's a two-time Nobel Prize winner. He discovered the structure of proteins and won the Nobel Peace Prize for the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to ban above-ground testing that happened in the '60s." (said at 0:41:32)

Linus Pauling is an established two-time Nobel laureate, receiving the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (in part for discovering the primary secondary structures of proteins, the alpha-helix and beta-sheet) and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize for his activism against nuclear weapons testing, which contributed directly to the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty banning atmospheric/above-ground tests.

  • supports: Linus Carl Pauling, 28 February 1901 - 19 August 1994 (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1996) · cited 9x in the literature
    "He is best known, perhaps, for his insights into chemical bonding, for the discovery of the principal elements of protein secondary structure, the alpha-helix and the beta-sheet, and for the first identification of a molecular disease, sickle-cell anaemia, but there are a multitude of other important contributions. Pauling was one of the founders of molecular biology in the true sense of the term. For these achievements, Pauling was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. But Pauling was famous not only in the world of science. In the second half of his life, he devoted his time and energy mainly to questions of health and the necessity to eliminate the possibility of war in the nuclear age. His active opposition to nuclear testing brought him political persecution in his own country but was finally influential in bringing about the 1963 international treaty banning atmospheric tests. With the award of the 1962 Nobel Prize for Peace, Pauling became the first person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes" (abstract, passage verified)
    openalexfull study (doi)
0:53:21Jeff Blandsupportedhigh

Toll-like receptors on innate immune cells recognize specific patterns such as gut bacterial lipopolysaccharides.

"because on the surface of your innate immune system you have what are called Toll-like receptors, and those Toll-like receptors pick up information of specific types like gut bacterial lipopolysaccharides and then respond to that by defending you against that message." (said at 0:53:21)

The claim accurately describes fundamental innate immune biology. Toll-like receptors (TLRs), particularly TLR4 expressed on innate immune cells, act as pattern recognition receptors that identify specific conserved microbial molecules, such as bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), and initiate inflammatory and protective host defense responses.

0:54:31Jeff Blandsupportedmoderate

GLP-1 receptor agonist medications affect the immune system through actions on adipocytes.

"And by the way, we now recognize that this new class of drugs that we call GLP-1 agonists that are being used for diabetes and for obesity, those affect the immune system through the adipocyte, the fat cells." (said at 0:54:31)

GLP-1 receptor agonists (such as semaglutide and liraglutide) exert well-documented immunometabolic effects, in part by acting on adipose tissue and adipocytes. Preclinical and clinical studies demonstrate that GLP-1 receptor activation in adipose depots promotes phenotypic remodeling, reducing pro-inflammatory adipokine and cytokine secretion, attenuating macrophage infiltration and activation, and shifting adipose tissue from an inflammatory state to a more metabolically flexible and insulin-sensitive phenotype.

0:56:25Mark Hyman (host)supportedmoderate

Blood levels of phosphorylated tau-217 (p-tau217) serve as a biomarker that can detect Alzheimer's disease pathology decades before symptom onset.

"and there was just a major paper published about p-tau217, which is a biomarker for Alzheimer's that you can detect often even decades before you get any symptoms that then you can intervene with and modify the pathways." (said at 0:56:25)

Plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) is an established, highly accurate blood biomarker for detecting Alzheimer's disease pathology in asymptomatic and preclinical stages. In large observational cohorts, including individuals carrying autosomal-dominant Alzheimer's mutations (such as the PSEN1 E280A Colombian kindred cohort), elevated plasma p-tau217 levels become significantly differentiated from non-carriers approximately 20 years prior to the estimated onset of mild cognitive impairment.

0:59:24Mark Hyman (host)supportedvery low

A 90-day supplementation intervention using Himalayan Tartary buckwheat demonstrated reversal in biological age and immune age.

"you've done studies where you intervene with giving people 90 days of this Himalayan Tartary buckwheat as a supplement and have shown reversal in biological age and immune age." (said at 0:59:24)

A 2024 pilot clinical trial investigated the effects of a 90-day supplementation with a polyphenol concentrate derived from Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) in 50 healthy adults. The study evaluated peripheral blood immune cells using epigenetic clocks and deconvolution methods, reporting significant changes in multiple epigenetic age clocks and immune markers. However, because this was a preliminary pilot study, certainty in the clinical effect remains very low.

0:42:04Jeff Blandsupportedhigh

Linus Pauling founded the field of orthomolecular medicine.

"Orthomolecular medicine is what he discovered, or he founded." (said at 0:42:04)

Historical and biomedical literature confirms that Linus Pauling conceived and introduced the concept and terminology of orthomolecular psychiatry and orthomolecular medicine. Pauling first formalized the field in his 1968 paper published in Science ('Orthomolecular Psychiatry'), defining it as the preservation of good health and the treatment of disease by varying the concentrations in the human body of substances that are normally present.

0:49:46Jeff Blandsupportedhigh

Plants and insects possess an innate immune system, demonstrating that innate immunity is phylogenetically conserved across diverse organism types.

"Plants have an innate immune system, so this is definitely ancient. It's phylogenetically conserved. It goes through all different insects and into organisms of all types." (said at 0:49:46)

Plants, insects, and vertebrates possess innate immune systems that share core evolutionary features and mechanisms, including pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs), conserved intracellular signaling cascades (such as MAP kinase pathways), and antimicrobial peptides. Innate immune mechanisms are ancient and phylogenetically conserved across eukaryotic lineages.

0:52:02Jeff Blandsupportedhigh

The innate immune system is predominantly concentrated at mucosal barrier surfaces, including the gut mucosa, lung epithelium, and nasal passages.

"where is the innate immune system concentrated, where is it localized in the body in higher levels, it's in the mucosal surfaces in your gut. And the first place that our body sees foreigner is where you find most of your innate immune system, like the gut mucosa, the lung epithelia, in the nasal passages." (said at 0:52:02)

The speaker's claim is supported by foundational immunological literature. Mucosal barrier surfaces—including the gastrointestinal tract, the respiratory tract, and nasal epithelium—represent the primary interfaces between the host and external environmental pathogens and antigens. As such, the body localizes and concentrates the vast majority of its innate immune defenses (including mucosal epithelial barrier mechanisms, innate lymphoid cells, macrophages, and innate-like lymphocytes) at these tissue surfaces to provide immediate front-line surveillance and host defense.

1:11:00Mark Hyman (host)supportedmoderate

Diseases traditionally associated with aging, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, are increasingly occurring in teenagers and young adults in their 20s and 30s.

"So even the young are now getting cancer and heart disease and diabetes. And so there we're seeing the disease of aging occurring in teenagers and and in 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds." (said at 1:11:00)

Epidemiological analyses from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies confirm that incidence rates of chronic diseases traditionally associated with older age—namely early-onset cancers, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and ischemic heart disease—have risen globally over recent decades among adolescents and adults in their 20s and 30s.

Unverified means no publication matching the claim was located; it does not prove the claim false. Spotted an error? See the corrections policy - disputes from the people quoted are prioritized.