#264: Prof. Michael Ristow – Longevity, Mitochondria & Free Radicals

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About This Episode:

• Role of mitochondria in lifespan regulation and prevention of metabolic diseases
• Health-promoting effects associated with: low caloric intake, reduced glucose metabolism, physical exercise, sirtuin signaling & more
• How Prof. Ristow’s findings go against the popular “free radical theory of aging”
• How increased formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within mitochondria can increase longevity
• ROS causing a vaccination-like adaptive response that culminates in increased stress resistance and extended longevity
• Mitochondrial hormesis or mitohormesis
• Human vs. non-human trials
• How do insulin, protein and resveratrol affect longevity?
• NAD
• Caloric restriction vs maintenance of lean physique for longevity

Head of Institute of Translational Medicine at ETH Zurich and heads up the Energy Metabolism Laboratory. Prof. Ristow has been involved in research for many years examing Biochemistry and Physiology of Aging, Exercise, Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes.

Prof. Ristow’s group are interested in the biochemical and molecular basis of longevity — in particular the role played by mitochondria in lifespan regulation and prevention of metabolic diseases. Contrary to the widely re-iterated ‘Free Radical Theory of Aging’, his group have been the first laboratory to show that the health-promoting effects associated with low caloric intake, physical exercise and other lifespan-extending interventions like sirtuin signaling are caused by increased formation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) within the mitochondria, causing a vaccination-like adaptive response that culminates in increased stress resistance and extended longevity, a process called mitohormesis.