HoldsUp

Benjamin Levine

Dr. Benjamin Levine is a medical researcher in the fields of cardiology and exercise physiology. His work investigates the cardiovascular impacts of aging and exercise, including methods to address cardiac stiffness and the hemodynamics of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. His published research also covers sports cardiology, autonomic conditions such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and physiological responses to altitude and hypoxia.

72 claims checked on air: 7 context 5 contradicted 2 overstated 50 supported 8 unverified

What they said on air - unverified

3 citing their own research

0:05:39unverifiedvery lowDr. Benjamin Levine: How Exercise Prevents & Reverses Heart

Following three weeks of bed rest, unfit participants returned to baseline fitness and exceeded it within 2 months of training, whereas fit athletes required the full 2 months and did not fully reach baseline.

"what was really interesting is that the three guys who were relatively unfit quickly returned to baseline and even got fitter than they were beforehand. For the fitter people, it took them the full 2 months to get back, and even then they weren't quite back at where they were." (said at 0:05:39)

No published record matching the claim that three unfit participants quickly returned to baseline and exceeded it within 2 months of training while fitter participants required the full 2 months and did not fully reach baseline was located; this does not prove the claim false.

0:18:50unverifiedvery lowDr. Benjamin Levine: How Exercise Prevents & Reverses Heart

The human heart begins to atrophy and shrink predominantly during late middle age, between the ages of 50 and 65.

"what we found is that the heart starts to shrink in that late middle-aged period. You know, if you think about aging, so late middle age is kind of that 50 to 65 period... it's in that late middle range that it starts to atrophy" (said at 0:18:50)

No published record matching the claim that the human heart begins to atrophy and shrink predominantly during late middle age (between the ages of 50 and 65) was located; this does not prove the claim false.

0:31:48unverifiedvery lowDr. Benjamin Levine: How Exercise Prevents & Reverses Heart

Exercise training increases vagal tone and parasympathetic neural activity even when initiated in one's 70s.

"So the ability to increase vagal tone or neural activity in that parasympathetic nerve may be very, very protective against sudden cardiac death, and those things will happen even if you start training in your 70s." (said at 0:31:48)

No published record matching the claim that exercise training increases vagal tone and parasympathetic neural activity when initiated in one's 70s was located; this does not prove the claim false.

0:48:16unverifiedvery lowDr. Benjamin Levine: How Exercise Prevents & Reverses Heart

The maximal heart rate achieved by elite endurance athletes during maximal exercise is equal to or lower than that of sedentary individuals.

"And the heart rate, the max heart rate of an elite athlete, if anything, is lower than that of a sedentary person." (said at 0:48:16)

No published record matching the specific comparative data on maximal heart rate between elite endurance athletes and sedentary individuals was located; this does not prove the claim false.

1:02:43unverifiedvery lowDr. Benjamin Levine: How Exercise Prevents & Reverses Heart

Carsten Lundby's group in Copenhagen demonstrated that when the exercise training dose is increased for individuals who appear to be non-responders, all of them improve cardiorespiratory fitness.

"And so Carsten Lundby and his group in Copenhagen has shown very clearly that if you take someone who's a non-responder—"non-responder" in quotes—and increase their training dose, they all improve." (said at 1:02:43)

No published record matching the claim that Carsten Lundby's group demonstrated that increasing exercise training dose eliminates non-responsiveness in cardiorespiratory fitness was located; this does not prove the claim false.

1:31:47unverifiedvery lowDr. Benjamin Levine: How Exercise Prevents & Reverses Heart

Adding intense arm exercise during intense leg exercise causes blood vessels in the legs to constrict because arterial blood pressure cannot be sustained if all exercising vascular beds are fully dilated, even at maximal cardiac output.

"let's call it the Saltin hypothesis about the cardiovascular limitation to exercise, because if you add arm exercise while you're doing intense leg exercise, you start to constrict the blood vessels even in the legs, because you simply cannot sustain your blood pressure with all the blood vessels relaxed, even with a maximal cardiac output." (said at 1:31:47)

No published record matching the claim that adding intense arm exercise to leg exercise causes vasoconstriction in the legs to maintain arterial blood pressure at maximal cardiac output was located; this does not prove the claim false.

2:12:05unverifiedvery lowDr. Benjamin Levine: How Exercise Prevents & Reverses Heart

Aaron Baggish's Run Across America study found an increase in coronary plaque in runners following the event.

"Aaron Baggish showed in Run Across America that when they did that, they had an increase in plaque." (said at 2:12:05)

No published record matching Aaron Baggish's involvement in a "Run Across America" study demonstrating an increase in coronary plaque following the event was located; this does not prove the claim false.

2:12:15unverifiedvery lowDr. Benjamin Levine: How Exercise Prevents & Reverses Heart

A Cooper Clinic analysis found that increasing exercise intensity is associated with lower coronary calcium, whereas increasing exercise duration is associated with higher coronary calcium.

"we have a new paper from the Cooper Clinic showing that if you try to parse out the exercise dose into intensity versus duration, as you increase the intensity, calcium is less, and as you increase duration, calcium goes up." (said at 2:12:15)

No published record matching the claim that a Cooper Clinic analysis found increasing exercise intensity is associated with lower coronary artery calcium while increasing duration is associated with higher coronary artery calcium was located; this does not prove the claim false. Published analyses from the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study have evaluated cardiorespiratory fitness, total physical activity volume, and coronary artery calcification, but have not reported an analysis demonstrating opposite directional associations for exercise intensity versus duration on coronary calcium.

Fact-checked episodes

Publications