Sign up to receive Peter's email newsletter: https://bit.ly/4c602k2 Steve Austad is a distinguished professor of biology at the University of Alabama and director of one of the Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in aging biology. Steve's current research seeks to understand the underlying causes of aging, specifically with a long-term goal of developing medical interventions that slow the age-related decay of human health. In this episode, Steve tells Peter about his unusual childhood and stints as a cab driver and lion tamer. He goes on to describe what led to his focus on studying aging and some of the major challenges and limitations of working with laboratory animals. Steve and Peter talk about the relationship between caloric restriction and lifespan, including some of the most important studies exploring this question. Additionally, they hypothesize what might explain the sex-related differences in longevity between men and women, explain the importance of finding longevity biomarkers, and discuss the most promising molecules as potential longevity agents. We discuss: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:10 - Steve’s background and unusual childhood 00:07:19 - Steve’s adventures driving a cab in New York City 00:12:11 - How Steve drove to LA and accidentally became a lion tamer 00:22:18 - How Steve’s early graduate school experiences led him to study longevity 00:30:35 - The challenges and limitations of working with lab mice 00:43:49 - The connection between caloric restriction and lifespan 00:52:30 - Mice vs. rats and rodent aging experiments 00:57:32 - The impact of dietary composition and the harm of sucrose: Comparing two caloric-restriction studies in monkeys 01:12:22 - Challenges of studying animals due to major differences in the lab animal vs. wild animals 01:28:22 - Human studies of calorie restriction 01:37:18 - Better dietary protocols for humans: Alternatives to long-term caloric restriction 01:42:12 - The protective effect of fasting 01:50:53 - Reflecting on the sex differences in human lifespan, and why women have more neurodegenerative diseases 02:10:17 - The importance of identifying longevity biomarkers and which ones show the potential to change the landscape of longevity research 02:21:35 - Molecules showing the most promise as longevity agents Show notes page: https://peterattiamd.com/steveaustad/ -------- About: The Peter Attia Drive is a weekly, ultra-deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing health, longevity, critical thinking…and a few other things. With over 30 million episodes downloaded, it features topics including fasting, ketosis, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, mental health, and much more. Peter is a physician focusing on the applied science of longevity. His practice deals extensively with nutritional interventions, exercise physiology, sleep physiology, emotional and mental health, and pharmacology to increase lifespan (delay the onset of chronic disease), while simultaneously improving healthspan (quality of life). Learn more: https://peterattiamd.com Subscribe to receive exclusive subscriber-only content: https://peterattiamd.com/subscribe Sign up to receive Peter's email newsletter: https://peterattiamd.com/newsletter Connect with Peter on: Facebook: http://bit.ly/PeterAttiaMDFB Twitter: http://bit.ly/PeterAttiaMDTW Instagram: http://bit.ly/PeterAttiaMDIG Subscribe to The Drive: Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/TheDriveApplePodcasts Overcast: http://bit.ly/TheDriveOvercast Spotify: http://bit.ly/TheDriveSpotify Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheDriveGoogle