HoldsUp

Judith Campisi

Buck Institute for Research on Aging

Judith Campisi, Ph.D., is a professor of biogerontology at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and a co-editor in chief of the journal Aging. Her research focuses on cellular senescence and its roles in the aging process and cancer development. Her published studies investigate mechanisms such as DNA damage, the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), senotherapeutic strategies, and the impact of senescent cells across various tissues and age-related conditions.

32 claims checked on air: 4 context 2 overstated 25 supported 1 unverified 2 flagged

What they said on air - flagged

2 citing their own research

0:31:53overstatedmoderateJudith Campisi, Ph.D. on Cellular Senescence, Mitochondrial

Intermittent short-term fasting in humans improves the efficacy of chemotherapy and prevents some of its side effects.

"he was able to show that with this intermittent short-term fasting, and even in humans, he could not only improve the efficacy of chemotherapy, but prevent some of the side effects." (said at 0:31:53)

While preclinical animal studies robustly demonstrate differential stress resistance (protecting healthy cells while sensitizing cancer cells to chemotherapy), human evidence remains preliminary and mixed. In human clinical trials, such as the randomized phase 2 DIRECT trial (131 breast cancer patients), a fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) was associated with higher radiological and pathological tumor response rates and reduced chemotherapy-induced DNA damage in peripheral lymphocytes. However, that trial found no significant overall difference in clinical toxicity between the fasting and regular diet groups. Furthermore, a 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials evaluating therapeutic fasting during chemotherapy found no significant reduction in overall adverse events or side effects compared to non-fasting controls.

0:45:38overstatedmoderateJudith Campisi, Ph.D. on Cellular Senescence, Mitochondrial

A study in obese individuals found approximately an 8-year difference in lifespan between sedentary obese individuals and moderately exercising obese individuals.

"This was a study that looked at lifespan, longevity in obese people. So both groups were obese, but they compared obese people who were sedentary with obese people who were moderate exercisers. And there was something like an 8-year difference in lifespan." (said at 0:45:38)

The speaker misidentifies the comparison groups from the landmark pooled cohort study of over 650,000 individuals (Moore et al., 2012, PLoS Medicine). That study found a 7.2-year difference in life expectancy (95% CI: 6.5-7.9) when comparing physically active individuals of normal weight with inactive individuals with class II+ obesity (BMI >= 35.0). Within obese individuals alone, moderate-to-vigorous leisure physical activity compared to inactivity was associated with a gain of approximately 3.1 to 4.0 years of life, not 8 years.

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