LEVELS – A Whole New Level
- Episódios
- 318
- Publicação
- semanal
- Último episódio
- 12 nov 2026
Sobre o podcast
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health. Connect with us: Become a Member: https://levels.link/wnl YouTube: https://youtube.com/@levels Instagram: https://instagram.com/levels Twitter: https://twitter.com/levels LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/levels TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@levels 274306
Episódios 318
#319 - What Has Whoop Actually Learned from Studying 3 Million Users? | Dr. Greg Grosicki & Mike Haney
Continuous health data gives researchers something they have rarely had before: the ability to follow the same person, in the real world, across thousands of measurements and long periods of time. That can …
Notas do episódio
Continuous health data gives researchers something they have rarely had before: the ability to follow the same person, in the real world, across thousands of measurements and long periods of time. That can reveal patterns that disappear when we rely on a single clinic visit, a short experiment, or an average drawn across very different people.
Mike Haney talks with WHOOP researcher Dr. Greg Grosicki about what scientists are learning from these massive longitudinal datasets, why your own baseline can sometimes matter more than a population reference range, and what continuous measurement could mean as wearables begin capturing far more than heart rate and sleep.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- Why HRV is often more useful compared with your own history than with someone else’s
- What millions of nights reveal about alcohol, recovery, and next-day behavior
- How wearable signals can begin changing before you feel sick
- What huge observational datasets can and cannot tell us about cause and effect
- Why measuring people continuously may change how we define “normal”
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Greg Grosicki is a research scientist at WHOOP and an exercise physiologist whose work uses large-scale longitudinal wearable data to study cardiovascular physiology, sleep, activity, recovery, and health behavior.
📍What Dr. Greg Grosicki & Mike Haney discussed:
- 00:04 - Compare your HRV with your own history, not someone else's
- 04:20 - Forty people in a lab miss the other 23 hours
- 10:51 - Heart rate, movement, and sleep from one band worn all day
- 13:02 - An 80-year-old can outscore a Tour rider. That is the wrong comparison
- 22:45 - One drink, several drinks, and a last drink before 5 p.m. do not land the same
- 27:28 - Even one drink you do not feel raises heart rate and shortens sleep
- 32:32 - The same drinks hit women harder, and younger adults harder than older ones
- 35:48 - More exercise before drinking made the night worse, not better
- 42:31 - HRV can dip two or three days before you report being sick
- 44:52 - More wear tracks with better numbers. That does not prove the band caused them
- 53:46 - The sharper test is your high-wear weeks against your own low-wear weeks
- 55:32 - HRV can run from about 5 to 400. Stability tells you more than the average
- 1:11:24 - A million nights can hide the one night that is yours
- 1:15:39 - Blood pressure is the measurement he wants on the wrist next
🔗 Helpful Links:
Real-world effects of alcohol on heart rate, sleep, and physical activity by age and sex — PLOS Digital Health (2026)
More than 5 million nights of wearable data on alcohol’s effects. Read the study
Heart rate variability coefficient of variation during sleep as a digital biomarker — American Journal of Physiology (2026)
How HRV stability varies with behavior, age, and sex. Read the study
Wearing WHOOP More Frequently Is Associated with Better Biometrics and Healthier Sleep and Activity Patterns — Sensors (2025)
Longitudinal analysis of nearly one million days and nights. Read the study
Alcohol Use Trajectories During the First 72 Weeks of WHOOP Wearable Platform Membership — JMIR mHealth and uHealth (2026)
Alcohol use patterns across 30,000 members over time. Read the study
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/Metbt5cMxX4
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#318 - How Sleep Changes What and How Much You Eat | Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge & Mike Haney
Sleep and diet don’t operate independently. Controlled studies suggest that when people sleep less, they tend to eat more, move less, and gradually gain weight. The relationship also appears to run in the other …
Notas do episódio
Sleep and diet don’t operate independently. Controlled studies suggest that when people sleep less, they tend to eat more, move less, and gradually gain weight. The relationship also appears to run in the other direction: what and when you eat can influence how well you sleep.
Mike Haney talks with Columbia sleep and nutrition researcher Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge about what the evidence actually shows at that intersection. Rather than chasing a perfect sleep score or a single “sleep food,” her work points toward a simpler idea: adequate, consistent sleep makes healthy eating easier, and a high-quality diet may help support better sleep in return.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- Why even modest chronic sleep loss can accumulate into meaningful sleep debt
- What controlled experiments show about short sleep, calorie intake, and weight gain
- Why sleep deprivation tends to shift food choices toward less healthy options
- How sleep loss affects appetite hormones differently in men and women
- What the research says about eating close to bedtime
- Whether tryptophan, melatonin-rich foods, and specific “sleep foods” actually help
- Why fiber, fruits and vegetables, saturated fat, and refined carbohydrates may influence sleep quality
- How much attention to pay to wearable sleep scores versus how you actually feel
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge is Professor of Nutritional Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Director of its Center of Excellence for Sleep & Circadian Research. Her research focuses on the relationships among sleep, diet, energy balance, body weight, and cardiometabolic health, with extensive work in controlled inpatient and outpatient sleep studies. Vagelos College
📍What Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge & Mike Haney discussed:
- 05:01 - What popular sleep talk still gets wrong
- 09:30 - A wearable score versus how you actually feel
- 10:37 - Sleep pressure and the body clock
- 13:00 - How a little lost sleep becomes real sleep debt
- 19:43 - Short sleep, and about 300 extra calories
- 27:11 - Six weeks short, and about a pound gained
- 29:05 - Why short sleep shifts you toward worse food
- 30:30 - Appetite hormones don’t respond the same in men and women
- 37:03 - What eating close to bedtime actually does
- 40:20 - Tryptophan, melatonin, and “sleep foods”
- 42:42 - Fruits and vegetables, and less broken sleep
- 46:10 - Saturated fat, refined carbs, and a better cycle
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Marie-Pierre St-Onge — Columbia University: Columbia profile
- Short sleep duration increases energy intake — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2011): PubMed
- Prolonged short sleep and body weight — Annals of Internal Medicine (2026): PubMed
- Sleep extension reduces calorie intake — JAMA Internal Medicine (2022): National Institutes of Health
- Fruit and vegetable intake and sleep fragmentation — Sleep Health (2025): PubMed
- Fiber, saturated fat, and sleep architecture — Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (2016): Vagelos College
- Eat Better, Sleep Better: ihn.cuimc.columbia.edu
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/WxvbJu_GnSo
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#317 - What It Takes to Build Medical AI Doctors Will Trust | Dr. Suchi Saria & Mike Haney
Medical AI is full of impressive models that work on retrospective datasets. The much harder problem is turning one into a tool that can operate continuously inside a hospital, earn clinicians’ trust, fit into …
Notas do episódio
Medical AI is full of impressive models that work on retrospective datasets. The much harder problem is turning one into a tool that can operate continuously inside a hospital, earn clinicians’ trust, fit into an overloaded workflow, stay reliable across different health systems, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
Mike Haney talks with Johns Hopkins researcher and Bayesian Health founder Dr. Suchi Saria about the decade-long journey from an academic sepsis-prediction algorithm to AI that clinicians are using in hospitals today. Her experience is a reality check on what it actually takes to make medical AI useful, and an argument for aiming higher than documentation and billing: toward systems that continuously watch patients, catch deterioration earlier, and help prevent avoidable harm.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- Why sepsis fits continuous AI monitoring
- How causal reasoning separates signal from a noisy alert
- Why real-time access to the full record matters
- When a working algorithm still failed to get attention
- How adoption and human-machine teaming became engineering problems
- What happened when the system went live
- How the same infrastructure extends beyond sepsis
- Why healthcare is too conservative about medical AI
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Suchi Saria is the John C. Malone Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University, where she directs the Machine Learning and Healthcare Lab, and is the founder and CEO of Bayesian Health. Her work focuses on building and deploying machine-learning systems that use real-world clinical data to improve diagnosis, treatment, and patient safety.
📍What Dr. Suchi Saria & Mike Haney discussed:
- 04:30 - Why the real AI risk is what it is allowed to do
- 08:32 - Why sepsis is a race against organ failure
- 11:57 - From checklists to reading the full medical record
- 16:30 - How causal reasoning finds a patient’s baseline
- 18:50 - Using uncertainty to avoid another noisy alert
- 22:11 - Why an hour-late warning is already too late
- 25:06 - Reading Epic in real time without slowing it down
- 32:35 - A working algorithm still couldn’t get clinicians’ attention
- 35:53 - What happened when the system went live
- 45:32 - Human-machine teaming, and who still makes the call
- 54:17 - The same infrastructure, beyond sepsis
- 58:35 - Why billing and coding is too small a target
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Suchi Saria — Johns Hopkins Research, publications, and academic background.
- Bayesian Health: Saria’s company commercializing real-time clinical AI.
- TREWScore — Science Translational Medicine (2015): The original real-time early warning model for septic shock.
- TREWS patient outcomes — Nature Medicine (2022): Prospective multisite evaluation after deploying the sepsis warning system in clinical care.
- TREWS clinician adoption — Nature Medicine (2022): Study of provider adoption and effects on sepsis treatment timing.
- Human-machine teaming — npj Digital Medicine (2022): Clinician interviews on what made the deployed AI system trustworthy and usable.
- Bayesian Health Sepsis Flagging Device — FDA (2026): FDA 510(k) clearance for the sepsis prediction software discussed in the episode.
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/uVEKgSvei4s
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#316 - What Should You Actually Do About High Cholesterol? | Dr. Seth Martin & Mike Haney
Heart disease is the leading cause of death, but it’s also one of the most preventable. Decades of research have established a strong causal role for LDL and other ApoB-containing particles in atherosclerosis …
Notas do episódio
Heart disease is the leading cause of death, but it’s also one of the most preventable. Decades of research have established a strong causal role for LDL and other ApoB-containing particles in atherosclerosis, and we now have multiple proven ways to lower them. The harder question is how to turn that evidence into a decision for an individual person.
Mike Haney talks with Johns Hopkins cardiologist Dr. Seth Martin, a co-author of the new 2026 dyslipidemia guidelines, about what the latest evidence says we should actually measure and act on. The throughline is pragmatic: lower exposure to atherogenic particles earlier and for longer, use additional tests when they can change a decision, and distinguish interesting new measurements from ones that have actually been shown to improve outcomes.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- Why the evidence that LDL and ApoB-containing particles cause atherosclerosis is so strong
- What “lower for longer” means and how the new LDL and ApoB goals change with cardiovascular risk
- When ApoB adds useful information beyond a standard lipid panel
- Why the guidelines recommend against routine LDL particle-size testing
- How PREVENT risk scores and coronary calcium scans can help decide when treatment makes sense
- What decades of statin research tell us about benefits, muscle symptoms, and diabetes risk
- How much lifestyle changes typically move cholesterol, and when non-statin drugs enter the picture
- Why common heart-health supplements don’t have the evidence behind proven lipid-lowering therapies
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Seth Martin is a professor of medicine and preventive cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, where he directs the Advanced Lipid Disorders Program and Digital Health and AI Lab at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. He is a co-developer of the widely used Martin-Hopkins LDL cholesterol equation and served on the writing committee for the 2026 ACC/AHA dyslipidemia guideline.
📍What Dr. Seth Martin & Mike Haney discussed:
- 00:04 - LDL and ApoB are causal. Lower for longer
- 07:10 - Guidelines set the standard. Not your doctor
- 11:40 - 2026 shift: earlier treatment, PREVENT, lower goals
- 17:01 - LDL near zero does not eliminate cholesterol
- 19:59 - Hard numbers are back, and lower
- 23:05 - ApoB if a high result changes treatment
- 27:42 - No trial says treat particle size instead of LDL
- 34:51 - PREVENT is for people not already high risk
- 38:52 - Calcium 300 can push the goals. Zero can mean lifestyle first
- 44:29 - The 3% statin line, and the choice just under it
- 51:22 - Muscle symptoms uncommon. Statin can move prediabetes diagnosis earlier
- 56:21 - Lifestyle often lowers LDL about 10%, not the whole benefit
- 59:05 - Other proven drugs when a statin is not enough
- 1:05:31 - Statin beat the supplements. Fish oil can raise AFib risk
🔗 Helpful Links:
- 2026 Guideline on the Management of Dyslipidemia: Read the guideline and supporting materials
- The New Cholesterol Guideline: What to Know — Johns Hopkins: Read the Johns Hopkins summary
- PREVENT-ASCVD Calculator.: Use the PREVENT calculator
- Martin-Hopkins LDL Equation: Learn about the Martin-Hopkins method
- SPORT Trial — JACC (2022): Read the SPORT trial
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/vRfhof5dOZw
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#315 - Can We Treat Disease Through the Nervous System? | Dr. Kevin Tracey & Mike Haney
Most of NextLevel starts with a measurement problem: we can see more biology than ever, but we still have to figure out what to do with it. Bioelectronic medicine flips that sequence. We already know how to …
Notas do episódio
Most of NextLevel starts with a measurement problem: we can see more biology than ever, but we still have to figure out what to do with it. Bioelectronic medicine flips that sequence. We already know how to send electrical signals into the nervous system to change biology, including an FDA-approved vagus nerve treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, even though we still can’t map or read most of the individual nerve fibers carrying those signals.
Mike Haney talks with Dr. Kevin Tracey, a pioneer of neuroimmunology and bioelectronic medicine, about what becomes possible when nerves become a therapeutic target. The opportunity is not simply vagus nerve stimulation, but learning which signals control specific organs, then building systems that can read and write them. That is still some distance away, and Tracey separates it from looser claims about vagal tone and vagus nerve hacks.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- Why the vagus nerve is not one wire
- How one minute a day became an FDA-approved rheumatoid arthritis treatment
- Why a nerve target can be more precise than a drug
- Why mapping the vagus fiber by fiber is only beginning
- Why CRP and cytokines are not a true inflammation readout
- What HRV, breathing, humming, and cold plunges can and cannot show
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Kevin Tracey is a neurosurgeon, scientist, and President and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. His work helped establish how the vagus nerve regulates inflammation and helped launch bioelectronic medicine. He is also co-founder of SetPoint Medical and author of The Great Nerve.
📍What Dr. Kevin Tracey & Mike Haney discussed:
- 00:00 - A nerve can treat one organ. A pill cannot
- 04:43 - The vagus nerve is 160,000 fibers, not one wire
- 07:53 - Why the first fiber-by-fiber map of the human vagus is only months old
- 10:29 - FDA-approved vagus nerve stimulation for rheumatoid arthritis
- 14:33 - Why one minute a day can quiet inflammation for 12 to 24 hours
- 17:39 - Why it took 30 years to get from the mouse finding to patients
- 31:53 - How one minute of current reaches millions of immune cells
- 41:19 - Why arthritis has a known mechanism and epilepsy and depression do not
- 49:16 - What single fibers could change in diabetes, the liver, the gut, and stroke recovery
- 52:59 - Why CRP and cytokine levels still fall short of a true readout
- 1:04:18 - Resting heart rate, not HRV, is the cleaner vagus signal
- 1:09:55 - Why deep breathing and humming are not vagus nerve stimulation
- 1:16:35 - A cold plunge is fight-or-flight first, vagus second
- 1:20:23 - The spleen signal he would measure if he could
🔗 Helpful Links:
- The Great Nerve - Kevin J. Tracey (2025)
- RESET-RA - Nature Medicine
- SetPoint System - FDA
- The inflammatory reflex - Nature (2002)
- Vagus nerve stimulation in rheumatoid arthritis - PNAS (2016), early human study
- Vagus nerve stimulation after stroke, paired with rehab - The Lancet (2021)
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/x_h6Dd_Ap_o
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect:
Connect with Dr. Kevin Tracey at Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#314 - How to Make Health Decisions When the Science Is Unclear | Dr. Anupam Jena & Mike Haney
Most health decisions happen before the science is settled. A study points one way, another points somewhere else, experts disagree about what matters, and even strong population-level evidence may not tell you …
Notas do episódio
Most health decisions happen before the science is settled. A study points one way, another points somewhere else, experts disagree about what matters, and even strong population-level evidence may not tell you what will happen to you.
In this episode, Mike Haney talks with physician and economist Dr. Anupam Jena about how to make decisions under that kind of uncertainty. The goal isn’t to find a single hierarchy of evidence or a perfect source to trust. It’s to understand how much weight to put on any one piece of information, when personal experimentation can actually teach you something, and how the potential downside of an intervention should change the amount of evidence you demand before trying it.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- Why even a high-quality study should rarely change your mind by itself
- Why a meta-analysis is only as useful as the studies that go into it
- What randomized trials can establish, and where they can still fail to apply to real life
- How to judge whether a study’s outcome is actually meaningful, not merely statistically significant
- When N-of-1 experiments can help, and how they can fool you
- A practical framework for deciding whether an intervention is worth trying: potential harm, quality of evidence, biological plausibility, and cost
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Anupam Jena is the Joseph P. Newhouse Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an economist whose research uses natural experiments to uncover unexpected influences on health and medical care. He is also the host of Freakonomics, M.D. and co-author of Random Acts of Medicine.
📍What Dr. Anupam Jena & Mike Haney discussed:
- 04:04 - Why taxi and ambulance drivers die least often of Alzheimer's
- 09:20 - Why half of people still skip a free heart medication
- 13:02 - Why the headlines on coffee keep reversing
- 14:55 - Judge the study on its merits, not on who funded it
- 17:43 - Why even a high-quality study should rarely change your mind
- 23:04 - Why a cold plunge trial cannot separate the bath from the belief
- 26:19 - Why a meta-analysis is only as useful as the studies inside it
- 27:15 - What a randomized trial can establish, and where it still fails in real life
- 33:53 - The coin-flip test for whether a study shows cause and effect
- 36:25 - Absolute risk, relative risk, and what "significant" leaves out
- 43:06 - When an N-of-1 experiment can teach you what a trial cannot
- 46:02 - Getting better does not mean the experiment worked
- 53:55 - Harm, evidence, plausibility, cost: is it worth trying?
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Dr. Anupam Jena — Harvard Medical School profile
- Random Acts of Medicine — Anupam B. Jena & Christopher Worsham
- Freakonomics, M.D. https://freakonomics.com/series/bapu
- Alzheimer’s mortality among taxi and ambulance drivers (BMJ, 2024). Hypothesis-generating, not evidence that driving prevents Alzheimer’s: Read the BMJ study
- Marathon road closures and cardiac mortality (NEJM, 2017): New England Journal of Medicine
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/k9XI7ym7iP8
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect:
Connect with Dr. Anupam Jena on https://x.com/AnupamBJena
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#313 - What Happens When We Start Imaging Healthy People? | Dr. Daniel Durand & Mike Haney
Most medical imaging happens after a symptom, injury, or abnormal test gives a clinician a reason to look. But what changes if imaging becomes a more routine measurement, creating a record of the body before …
Notas do episódio
Most medical imaging happens after a symptom, injury, or abnormal test gives a clinician a reason to look. But what changes if imaging becomes a more routine measurement, creating a record of the body before something goes wrong?
In this episode of Next Level, Mike Haney talks with Dr. Daniel Durand, chief medical officer at Prenuvo, about whole-body MRI as a test case for a broader shift from episodic medicine toward longitudinal health data. Whole-body MRI is controversial, and Durand is clearly an advocate. The conversation takes the skepticism seriously, then asks a larger question: as measurement gets cheaper, more frequent, and increasingly visible to patients themselves, how should medicine decide what is worth knowing?
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- How X-rays, CT scans, ultrasound, and MRI differ, and why radiation matters when you start thinking about repeated imaging
- What whole-body MRI sees well, and where CT, colonoscopy, or blood-based approaches may still be better
- The concerns around incidental findings, overdiagnosis, anxiety, and unnecessary follow-up, and Durand’s response to them
- What the current cancer-detection evidence for whole-body MRI does, and does not, establish
- Why having prior scans could help distinguish a stable abnormality from something genuinely new
- How faster scans and AI interpretation could eventually connect imaging with genomic, proteomic, and other health data
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Daniel Durand is chief medical officer at Prenuvo and president of the Prenuvo Medical Group. He trained at Johns Hopkins, is board-certified in adult and pediatric radiology, and previously served as chief clinical officer and chief innovation officer at LifeBridge Health.
📍What Dr. Daniel Durand & Mike Haney discussed:
- 03:32 - Why imaging belongs in a series about continuous measurement
- 15:32 - Imaging 101: X-rays, CT, ultrasound, and MRI
- 28:57 - How AI is shortening MRI scan times
- 38:52 - Screening versus surveillance
- 40:26 - Which cancers whole-body MRI can miss
- 46:39 - The case against scanning healthy people
- 52:40 - What the cancer-detection data actually shows
- 54:39 - "We're all going to get a body scan"
- 1:03:31 - What would make routine imaging more useful?
- 1:11:49 - Building a baseline of the healthy body
- 1:17:43 - When AI can see more than a radiologist
- 1:21:28 - Is it better to know, even when you can't treat it?
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Dr. Daniel Durand, Prenuvo: Prenuvo medical leadership
- Meta-analysis behind the ~9,000 participants and ~1.6% detection figures. It notes limits, including incidental findings (European Radiology, 2026): PubMed
- Prenuvo-associated study of 1,011 people, 2.2% confirmed cancer detection (Cancer Research/AACR, 2025): AACR abstract
- Incidental findings in whole-body MRI and their psychosocial effects (European Journal of Radiology, 2021): PubMed
- Prenuvo's research overview, including Polaris data (company-reported): Prenuvo clinical research
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/rFZVbzUPSaA
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect:
Connect with Dr. Daniel Durand at LinkedIn
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#312 - Is Moderate Drinking Actually Healthy? | Dr. Tim Naimi & Mike Haney
Alcohol has spent the last 40 years bouncing between two health narratives: a little is good for your heart, or any amount is dangerous. The science doesn’t really support either slogan.Dr. Tim Naimi has spent …
Notas do episódio
Alcohol has spent the last 40 years bouncing between two health narratives: a little is good for your heart, or any amount is dangerous. The science doesn’t really support either slogan.
Dr. Tim Naimi has spent decades studying the health effects of alcohol and, just as importantly, why the research is so difficult to interpret. His read of the evidence is less dramatic but more useful: there’s no good reason to start drinking for your health, very low intake may carry little measurable added risk, and risk rises as consumption does. Understanding why earlier studies made moderate drinking look protective helps explain a lot of the whiplashing headlines.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- Why alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen causally linked to at least seven cancers
- Whether small amounts of alcohol really protect your heart
- Why researchers still don’t have a definitive randomized trial of drinking and long-term health
- How the “sick quitter” problem, selection bias, and confounding made moderate drinkers look healthier
- Why two major recent reviews of alcohol and health produced such different headlines
- How the risk changes with dose, including Naimi’s estimate of a 1 in 25 lifetime risk of an alcohol-caused death at 14 drinks per week
- Why alcohol consumption is falling, and whether GLP-1 drugs could be contributing
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Tim Naimi is a physician and alcohol epidemiologist who directs the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria, where he is a professor in the Division of Medical Sciences.
📍What Dr. Tim Naimi & Mike Haney discussed:
- 00:45 — Why the science on alcohol is so confusing
- 05:48 — How alcohol damages DNA and raises cancer risk
- 09:43 — Is alcohol actually good for your heart?
- 14:22 — Why we still don't have a definitive randomized trial
- 20:30 — The "sick quitter" problem
- 24:56 — Selection bias and the problem with "healthy" moderate drinkers
- 29:35 — Why two major reports produced different headlines
- 31:37 — How alcohol risk changes as drinks per week increase
- 38:21 — Industry funding and conflicts of interest
- 46:15 — How much alcohol is too much?
- 49:48 — Why younger generations are drinking less
- 51:53 — Health consciousness, GLP-1s, and the decline in drinking
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Alcohol Intake and Health Study: No Protective Effect at Low Levels, With Mortality Increasing to 1 in 25 at 14 Drinks Per Week (Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 2026) Paper
- Review of Evidence on Alcohol and Health (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2025) Report
- Association Between Daily Alcohol Intake and Risk of All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses (JAMA Network Open, 2023) Paper
- Do “Moderate” Drinkers Have Reduced Mortality Risk? (Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 2016) Paper
- Alcohol Abstinence in Drinkers with Atrial Fibrillation (New England Journal of Medicine, 2020) Paper
- Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health (2023) Guidance and supporting research
- Alcohol and Cancer (World Health Organization / IARC) WHO overview
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/8GNmcjPfg7U
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect:
Connect with Dr. Tim Naimi at University of Victoria
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#311 - Can Your Blood Predict Your Future Health? | Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray & Mike Haney
From a single blood sample, new proteomic tools can now measure thousands of proteins at once. Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray’s lab is using that flood of data, together with machine learning, to build a much …
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From a single blood sample, new proteomic tools can now measure thousands of proteins at once. Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray’s lab is using that flood of data, together with machine learning, to build a much higher-resolution picture of what’s happening throughout the body and where someone’s health may be headed.
The early signals are striking. In one analysis of people who appeared healthy by conventional measures, every additional 4.1 years of estimated heart age was associated with nearly 2.5 times the risk of heart failure over the following 15 years. Wyss-Coray sees this kind of measurement eventually becoming a “health compass”: something that could show which parts of the body are changing fastest, then help track whether an intervention is actually moving them in the right direction.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- How a drop of blood can now reveal information from thousands of proteins
- Why aging appears to happen in waves rather than at a steady rate
- Why one part of the body may age faster than the rest
- What young-blood experiments in mice taught Wyss-Coray about proteins and brain aging
- How the work is moving from whole organs down to individual cell types
- Why the field’s biggest constraint may now be data collection rather than better AI
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray is the D.H. Chen Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University and director of the Phil and Penny Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience.
📍What Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray & Mike Haney discussed:
- 04:03 Proteins 101: the building blocks hiding information about your health
- 05:09 How one blood sample can measure thousands of proteins
- 09:07 Using machine learning to find patterns in the proteome
- 12:17 Can blood reveal what’s happening inside the brain?
- 13:11 What happened when young blood was given to old mice
- 19:45 Why aging may happen in waves rather than at a steady rate
- 29:24 How stable are protein measurements over time?
- 32:37 Can proteins predict disease years before it appears?
- 40:35 Why one part of your body may age faster than the rest
- 46:31 The missing test: does an intervention actually change the measurement?
- 51:04 Going from whole organs to individual cell types
- 54:10 Why more data, not better AI, is the current bottleneck
- 57:18 A future “health compass” for the body
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Organ aging signatures in the plasma proteome track health and disease (Nature, 2023)Paper
The foundational organ-aging work discussed in the episode, using plasma proteins to estimate aging across 11 organs. - Plasma proteomic signatures of cellular aging predict human disease (Nature Medicine, 2026)Paper
The newer study extending the approach to more than 40 cell types using over 7,000 plasma proteins. - Undulating changes in human plasma proteome profiles across the lifespan (Nature Medicine, 2019)Paper
- Young blood reverses age-related impairments in cognitive function and synaptic plasticity in mice (Nature Medicine, 2014)Paper
- UK Biobank Research resource
The large longitudinal cohort used for much of the disease-prediction work discussed in the episode.
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/1dfMBAZiP8o
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect:
Connect with Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray at Stanford
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#310 - Can We Measure Aging Well Enough to Treat It? | Dr. Nir Barzilai & Mike Haney
Aging science has gotten much better at describing who appears to be aging faster or slower. What medicine still lacks is a reliable feedback loop: a way to tell whether something we do is actually changing the …
Notas do episódio
Aging science has gotten much better at describing who appears to be aging faster or slower. What medicine still lacks is a reliable feedback loop: a way to tell whether something we do is actually changing the biology that drives age-related disease.
Dr. Nir Barzilai argues that solving that measurement problem could turn geroscience from an interesting field of research into something doctors can actually use: measure where you are, intervene, measure again, and learn what works.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- What centenarians reveal about living longer and spending less time sick
- Why changing one hallmark of aging can affect several others
- How TAME was designed to test metformin as an anti-aging drug and to convince the FDA to treat aging itself as an endpoint—and why it failed to get off the ground
- Why metformin, SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP-1 agonists, and some osteoporosis drugs are being studied as potential gerotherapeutics, or anti-aging drugs
- How FAST is searching existing clinical trials for biomarkers that change when an intervention affects aging biology
- Whether aging needs continuous monitoring or can be meaningfully tracked a few times a year
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Nir Barzilai is the Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair in Aging Research and a professor of medicine and genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he directs the Institute for Geroscience.
📍What Dr. Nil Barzilai & Mike Haney discussed:
- 05:10 - Aging is a condition, not just a label
- 05:59 - Why aging is what drives disease
- 08:19 - Should we call aging a disease?
- 10:20 - Why the species may have a ceiling around 115
- 14:34 - Why changing one hallmark of aging changes the others
- 23:08 - Metformin was anti-aging before it was a diabetes drug
- 31:55 - Centenarians live longer and spend less time sick
- 40:12 - How TAME tried to make aging an FDA endpoint
- 48:17 - Metformin, SGLT2s, GLP-1s, and osteoporosis drugs as gerotherapeutics
- 52:26 - FAST: finding biomarkers that actually change with treatment
- 56:49 - Whether aging needs continuous monitoring, or a few checks a year
- 1:01:16 - Where behavior still fits once we have anti-aging drugs
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Hallmarks of Aging: An Expanding Universe (Cell, 2023) Paper
- Compression of Morbidity Is Observed Across Cohorts with Exceptional Longevity (JAGS, 2016) Paper
- Metformin as a Tool to Target Aging (Cell Metabolism, 2016) Paper
- Geroscience-Guided Repurposing of FDA-Approved Drugs to Target Aging (Aging Cell, 2022) Paper
- Biomarkers of Aging for the Identification and Evaluation of Longevity Interventions (Cell, 2023) Paper
- FAST: Finding Aging Biomarkers by Searching Existing Trials FAST Initiative
- ARPA-H PROSPR / FAST award ARPA-H FAST project
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/HbeGjwCw6vk
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect:
Connect with Dr. Nil Barzilai on X: https://x.com/NirBarzilaiMD
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#309 - What AI Sees That Doctors Can’t | Dr. Ziad Obermeyer & Mike Haney
Medical AI is already getting good at doing things doctors do. Dr. Ziad Obermeyer thinks the bigger opportunity is using AI to discover things medicine doesn’t yet know.His work shows both sides of that future …
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Medical AI is already getting good at doing things doctors do. Dr. Ziad Obermeyer thinks the bigger opportunity is using AI to discover things medicine doesn’t yet know.
His work shows both sides of that future: algorithms can amplify bad assumptions when trained on the wrong targets, but they can also uncover signals in medical data that humans miss. Obermeyer argues that as more health data is collected outside the hospital, AI could turn it into a continuous picture of health rather than a series of isolated snapshots.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover:
- Why AI should learn from patients and outcomes, not just doctors
- How an ECG model found hidden risk of sudden cardiac death
- Why medical data access is still a major bottleneck
- How more measurement could actually mean fewer unnecessary tests
- Why healthcare may be entering a “mainframe to PC” transition
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Ziad Obermeyer is an emergency medicine physician and an Associate Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. He also co-founded Dandelion Health and the non-profit Nightingale Open Science.
📍What Dr. Ziad Obermeyer & Mike Haney discussed:
- 02:43 Why better data is fundamental to medical AI
- 05:54 The problem: There’s no variable called “get sick”
- 09:27 Algorithms optimize exactly what you tell them to
- 23:03 Why teaching AI to copy doctors limits what it can discover
- 26:28 How AI could create a new science of medicine
- 28:40 Could AI predict sudden cardiac death before it happens?
- 34:14 Can an algorithm teach us what it sees?
- 36:50 Medicine’s biggest AI bottleneck: access to data
- 49:00 Healthcare’s “mainframe to PC” transition
- 55:08 Why more measurement could actually mean fewer tests
- 58:46 Why medical AI is aiming too low
- 1:02:13 What the next generation of wearables needs to measure
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Dissecting Racial Bias in an Algorithm Used to Manage the Health of Populations (Science, 2019)https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax2342
- An Algorithmic Approach to Reducing Unexplained Pain Disparities in Underserved Populations (Nature Medicine, 2021)https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-01192-7
- An ECG Biomarker for Sudden Cardiac Death Discovered with Deep Learning (Nature, 2026)https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10674-6
- Predicting the Future — Big Data, Machine Learning, and Clinical Medicine (NEJM, 2016)https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1606181
- Nightingale Open Sciencehttps://www.nightingalescience.org/
- Dandelion Healthhttps://dandelionhealth.ai/
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/WDo-iL6O5nU
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect:
Connect with Dr. Ziad Obermeyer on https://ziadobermeyer.com/
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#308 - Why Some Foods Are So Hard to Stop Eating | Dr. Dana Small & Mike Haney
Why do we crave some foods the more often we eat them? Are we addicted?Dr. Dana Small’s research suggests that food craving reaches far beyond taste or willpower, and that “addiction” isn’t a helpful …
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Why do we crave some foods the more often we eat them? Are we addicted?
Dr. Dana Small’s research suggests that food craving reaches far beyond taste or willpower, and that “addiction” isn’t a helpful descriptor. Every time we eat, unconscious signals from the body teach the brain which foods deliver useful nutrients, and train us to want more of those. In other words, we don’t eat crave foods because they taste good; foods taste good because our body craves them.
Understanding that means we can rethink overeating. It’s not a matter of addiction or self-control; it’s our body behaving the way nature intended it to, but in the setting of foods not found in the wild, like those high in both fat and carbohydrates. But we may also be able to train our brain away from these cravings.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
What We Cover
- Taste vs. flavor, pleasure, motivation, and food reward
- How gut nutrient signals teach the brain which foods to seek
- Why fat + carbs produce an unusually strong reward response
- What eight weeks of high-fat, high-sugar snacks did to the brain
- How GLP-1s may cut food wanting while preserving pleasure
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Dana Small is the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Metabolism and the Brain and a professor at McGill University, with appointments in Neurology and Neurosurgery and Medicine. She directs the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center, and her research examines how sensory, metabolic, and neural signals interact to shape food reward, eating behavior, and metabolic health.
📍What Dr. Dana Small & Mike Haney discussed:
- 02:44 - Is food actually addictive?
- 05:02 - Taste and flavor are different senses
- 08:21 - Why “hedonic” vs. “homeostatic” eating is misleading
- 10:42 - The reward from sugar begins after you swallow it
- 22:32 - The “high road” and “low road” of food reward
- 27:41 - How scientists teach the brain to associate a flavor with calories
- 38:30 - Why combining fat and carbohydrates produces more reward
- 47:34 - How beliefs about food can change physiological responses
- 50:02 - Eight weeks of snacks changes how the brain responds to food
- 57:51 - What this science means for people trying to eat differently
- 1:03:50 - How GLP-1 drugs may change food wanting
- 1:07:30 - Can GLP-1s help retrain eating behavior for the long term?
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Habitual Daily Intake of a Sweet and Fatty Snack Modulates Reward Processing in Humans (Cell Metabolism, 2023)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36958330/
- Supra-Additive Effects of Combining Fat and Carbohydrate on Food Reward (Cell Metabolism, 2018)https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(18)30325-5
- Integration of Sweet Taste and Metabolism Determines Carbohydrate Reward (Current Biology, 2017)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28803868/
- Rethinking Food Reward (Annual Review of Psychology, 2020)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31561741/
- In Defense of Pleasure: We Need to Rethink Food Reward and Obesity (PLOS Biology, 2025)https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003497
- Mind Over Milkshakes: Mindsets, Not Just Nutrients, Determine Ghrelin Response (Health Psychology, 2011)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21574706/
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/lXlCqNqjgHY
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#307 - It Took Months to Interpret His Genome. Claude Did It in 30 Minutes. | Dr. Euan Ashley + Mike Haney
Twenty-five years ago, sequencing the human genome seemed poised to usher in an era of personalized medicine. Dr. Euan Ashley helped turn that promise into an actual clinical experiment, leading one of the …
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Twenty-five years ago, sequencing the human genome seemed poised to usher in an era of personalized medicine. Dr. Euan Ashley helped turn that promise into an actual clinical experiment, leading one of the first efforts to interpret an entire human genome in the context of a real patient’s health. The challenge quickly became apparent: medicine could suddenly generate billions of data points about one person, but making sense of them was painfully slow.
That history feels newly relevant. Ashley recently gave an AI system his own 15-year-old genome data and watched it reproduce most of an analysis that had originally required months of work by a team, in about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, genomics is being joined by wearables, multi-omics, and other technologies capable of tracking far more of our biology over time.
In this episode of NextLevel, we use the genome revolution as a case study for what happens when our ability to measure the body advances faster than our ability to interpret and use the information. The next leap in personalized medicine may depend less on collecting another mountain of data than on building the tools, reference datasets, and healthcare systems capable of turning that information into decisions.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Euan Ashley is Chair of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University and the Roger and Joelle Burnell Professor of Genomics and Precision Health, with appointments in medicine, genetics, and biomedical data science. He’s also the author of The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them.
📍What Dr. Euan Ashley & Mike Haney discussed:
- 03:33 What happened to the promise of personalized medicine?
- 06:33 The first clinical interpretation of a human genome
- 11:26 AI interprets in 30 minutes what once took months
- 21:25 Why genomics still needs better, more diverse reference data
- 27:41 Building a molecular map of exercise with MoTrPAC
- 32:01 Exercise changed nearly every organ researchers measured
- 39:05 Why your personal baseline can matter more than a "normal" range
- 42:46 How wearables opened a new era of longitudinal health data
- 47:48 The biggest barrier to continuous, personalized healthcare
- 51:39 What medical AI needs to become genuinely useful
- 57:05 How AI can ace medical benchmarks for the wrong reasons
- 58:20 The heart measurement Ashley considers a medical "holy grail"
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Clinical Assessment Incorporating a Personal Genome, The Lancet, 2010. Landmark integrated clinical analysis of a complete human genome.
- Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC), NIH Common Fund. Large-scale project mapping how exercise changes tissues and organs.
- MoTrPAC: Human Studies Design and Protocol, Journal of Applied Physiology, 2024. Human study of molecular responses to endurance and resistance training.
- The Mitochondrial Multi-Omic Response to Exercise Training Across Rat Tissues, Cell Metabolism, 2024. MoTrPAC study on molecular changes across organs after exercise.
- Harmonizing Standards and Resources for the Medical Genome, Nature, 2026. Ashley et al. on genomic reference standards and clinical-grade sequencing.
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/bD2YVGdwviE
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#306 - Does Intermittent Fasting Actually Work? | Dr. Courtney Peterson & Mike Haney
Is intermittent fasting biohacker wellness hype or legit health intervention? Some studies show real benefits, others find nothing, and the occasional headline calls it bad for your heart.Dr. Courtney Peterson …
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Is intermittent fasting biohacker wellness hype or legit health intervention? Some studies show real benefits, others find nothing, and the occasional headline calls it bad for your heart.
Dr. Courtney Peterson has spent nearly two decades running some of the field's most tightly controlled feeding trials, and her data points to a clear pattern: there is a real effect to a restricted eating window, but when you eat may matter as much as how long you fast. Her studies found that eating in a short window early in the day lowers blood pressure and improves insulin sensitivity, even without weight loss. A physicist by training, she brings that same rigor to a field built mostly on people's own food diaries.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Courtney Peterson is an Associate Professor of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She holds a PhD in physics from Harvard and leads clinical trials on intermittent fasting, meal timing, and circadian rhythms.
📍What Dr. Courtney Peterson & Mike Haney discussed:
- 0:00 Introduction
- 02:39 The three types of intermittent fasting
- 05:29 The 2012 mouse study that started the field
- 11:24 Why fasting works through appetite, not extra calories
- 13:48 Her six-hour study: lower blood pressure, no weight loss
- 25:34 Why results depend on who's being studied
- 28:45 The shift worker whose health got worse
- 36:45 Her theory: timing over fasting length
- 43:08 Heart attacks, blood pressure, and the body's clock
- 45:55 The camping trip that reset people's body clocks
- 58:11 Early findings from her unpublished aging study
- 1:08:16 Should you eat ice cream for breakfast?
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Time-Restricted Feeding without Reducing Caloric Intake Prevents Metabolic Diseases in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet (Hatori et al., 2012) — https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2012.04.019
- Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Insulin Sensitivity, Blood Pressure, and Oxidative Stress Even without Weight Loss in Men with Prediabetes (Sutton et al., 2018) — https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2018.04.010
- Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves 24-Hour Glucose Levels and Affects Markers of the Circadian Clock, Aging, and Autophagy in Humans (Jamshed et al., 2019) — https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11061234
- Calorie Restriction with or without Time-Restricted Eating in Weight Loss (Liu et al., 2022) — https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2114833
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/dKauIgX3IH4
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#305 - What You Can Learn from Measuring Everything | Dr. Michael Snyder & Mike Haney
What if we could measure the human body the way engineers monitor a jet engine?For nearly two decades, Stanford geneticist Dr. Michael Snyder has been trying exactly that. By continuously tracking everything he …
Notas do episódio
What if we could measure the human body the way engineers monitor a jet engine?
For nearly two decades, Stanford geneticist Dr. Michael Snyder has been trying exactly that. By continuously tracking everything he could possibly track in his body—genome sequencing, metabolites, wearable data, whole-body imaging—he has turned himself (and ~100 study subjects) into one of the world's largest experiments in continuous health measurement.
The point wasn’t mindless biohacking. It was to answer a question: Are there clinically useful signals in all that data?
This conversation suggests the answer is yes. Snyder’s experience and that of dozens of his study subjects offer some of the first real evidence that continuous measurement intelligently analyzed can reveal that you’re getting sick before you have symptoms, help find solutions to medical conditions that work for your unique biology, and help you refocus on prevention of disease rather than management.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Michael Snyder is the Stanford W. Ascherman Professor of Genetics and director of the Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine, where he previously chaired the Department of Genetics for 15 years.
📍What Dr. Michael Snyder & Mike Haney discussed:
- 03:10 Why Dr. Snyder started measuring healthy people instead of waiting for disease
- 09:18 Living in the future: tracking his own biology for nearly two decades
- 15:02 Why "normal" isn't enough: the importance of personal baselines
- 22:48 Discovering his own genetically unique form of type 2 diabetes
- 32:06 How wearables detected illness before symptoms appeared
- 39:18 Whole-body MRIs, incidental findings, and why change over time matters
- 46:55 Why everyone has abnormalities, but not everyone has disease
- 55:41 The promise of metabolomics, proteomics, and continuous biological sensing
- 1:06:52 Why AI is essential for interpreting thousands of health signals
1:15:34 What continuous measurement could mean for preventive medicine
1:23:10 The next decade of personalized health and what's still missing
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Personal Omics Profiling Reveals Dynamic Molecular and Medical Phenotypes (Chen et al., Cell, 2012)
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(12)00965-3 - Longitudinal Multi-omics Profiling Reveals Dynamic Personal Health Status (Price et al., Nature Biotechnology, 2017)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.3695 - The Integrative Personal Omics Profile (iPOP): A Decade of Progress in Precision Health (Snyder lab review)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-021-00409-3 - Wearable Sensor Data and Self-reported Symptoms for COVID-19 Detection (Mishra et al., Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2020)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-020-00640-6 - All of Us Research Program
https://allofus.nih.gov/ - Connect with Dr Michael Snyder: https://med.stanford.edu/snyderlab.html
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/eUEYmLC1CcE
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#304 - Did Low-Fat Diets Drive the Obesity Epidemic? | Dr. Arne Astrup & Mike Haney
For decades, we've been told that eating less fat is one of the healthiest things we can do. That advice reshaped the foods we buy, the way we think about weight loss, and even how parents feed their …
Notas do episódio
For decades, we've been told that eating less fat is one of the healthiest things we can do. That advice reshaped the foods we buy, the way we think about weight loss, and even how parents feed their children.
But what if we misunderstood fat in the first place?
In this episode, nutrition researcher Dr. Arne Astrup traces how the war on fat began, why many of its core assumptions haven't held up under decades of research, and what we've learned instead. Rather than asking whether fat is "good" or "bad," he argues that the more useful questions are: What foods actually keep us healthy? Why do some people gain weight more easily than others? And what happens when we reduce nutrition to single nutrients instead of whole foods?
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Arne Astrup is a physician, nutrition researcher, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Copenhagen whose research focuses on obesity, appetite regulation, dietary fats, and cardiometabolic health. He previously chaired the Danish Nutrition Council and helped lead Denmark's landmark ban on industrial trans fats.
📍What Dr. Arne Astrup & Mike Haney discussed:
- 00:00 Introduction
- 01:03 How fear of fat became public health policy
- 07:40 Did low-fat advice help create today's processed foods?
- 10:20 Denmark's trans fat ban and one lesson nutrition got right
- 14:00 "I was wrong." Why dietary fat isn't the main driver of obesity
- 18:45 Why your body fat isn't simply the fat you eat
- 27:00 Why fat can help you eat fewer calories
- 32:00 Are nuts actually easy to overeat?
- 36:00 Cheese, yogurt, and why whole foods don't behave like nutrients
- 41:00 Why insulin resistance changes carbohydrate tolerance
- 55:00 The LDL debate: what saturated fat actually changes
- 1:01:00 Why it's time to stop talking about "saturated fat" as a single thing
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Diets with High or Low Protein Content and Glycemic Index for Weight-Loss Maintenance (DIOGENES Trial): Landmark randomized trial led by Dr. Astrup examining protein, glycemic index, and long-term weight maintenance. New England Journal of Medicine
- Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight Subjects on Ad Libitum Diets with High or Low Protein Content and Glycemic Index: The DIOGENES Trial (12-Month Results). One-year follow-up of the DIOGENES study. International Journal of Obesity
- Dietary Saturated Fats and Health: Are the U.S. Guidelines Evidence-Based? (Astrup et al., 2021): Consensus review arguing that current saturated fat recommendations should place greater emphasis on whole foods and dietary patterns than saturated fat alone. Nutrients (2021)
- Walter Willett's research on industrial trans fats and cardiovascular disease: Early epidemiologic work that helped establish the harms of industrial trans fats and ultimately informed policy changes worldwide. PubMed search for Walter Willett trans fat publications
- World Health Organization: REPLACE Trans Fat Initiative: Background on the global effort to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from the food supply. World Health Organization REPLACE Initiative
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/ajqg7LdM0PM
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#303 - Why Healthcare Needs an Intelligence Layer | Dr. Robert Wachter & Mike Haney
Almost everything your doctor knows about you comes from a snapshot: a blood pressure reading, an annual lab, a handful of numbers meant to represent a constantly changing human body.That's beginning to change …
Notas do episódio
Almost everything your doctor knows about you comes from a snapshot: a blood pressure reading, an annual lab, a handful of numbers meant to represent a constantly changing human body.
That's beginning to change. New sensors promise far more continuous health data, and AI may finally give us the ability to interpret it. But medicine has been through a data revolution before, and almost none of what people initially promised actually happened.
In the first episode of NextLevel, Mike Haney sits down with Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of the Department of Medicine at UCSF and one of medicine's leading thinkers on technological change, to ask what healthcare's messy transition from paper to electronic records can teach us about the AI era.
Wachter explains why digitizing medicine didn't transform care on its own, why your doctor is already overwhelmed by data, and why simply sending them continuous feeds from your watch, ring, or future sensors would make the problem worse.
The missing piece is an intelligence layer: a system capable of deciding what matters, helping patients act when they can, and pulling clinicians in when they're actually needed.
They also explore how AI is changing the balance of knowledge between doctors and patients, the danger of trusting systems that are usually right, what healthcare can learn from airplane cockpits, and why collecting more health data may be much easier than figuring out what any of it means.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Robert M. Wachter is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He’s also the author of six books, including the 2015 bestseller The Digital Doctor, which examined medicine's transition from paper to electronic health records, and 2026’s A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future, his examination of generative AI's arrival in medicine.
📍What Dr.Robert Watcher & Mike Haney discussed:
- 0:00 — Dr. Wachter and medicine's technological revolutions
- 7:00 — How healthcare finally went digital
- 12:40 — Why digitizing healthcare didn't fix it
- 19:00 — AI is fixing problems computers created
- 29:40 — Does AI know more medicine than your doctor?
- 33:00 — The hidden danger of trusting computers
- 42:30 — What healthcare can learn from airplane cockpits
- 56:15 — Why medicine has to move beyond the office visit
- 58:20 — Healthcare's missing intelligence layer
- 1:04:20 — Why more health data isn't enough
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Dr. Robert Wachter, UCSF Department of Medicine: https://medicine.ucsf.edu/people/robert-wachter
- A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future: https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-giant-leap-how-ai-is-transforming-healthcare-and-what-that-means-for-our-future-robert-wachter/e6a7ecb6556f9f02
- The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-digital-doctor-hope-hype-and-harm-at-the-dawn-of-medicine-s-computer-age-robert-wachter/9187727
- Pattern Recognition, Dr. Wachter's newsletter on AI and healthcare: https://robertwachter.substack.com/
- Dr. Robert Wachter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-wachter-3102b963/
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/762DTOa7uTY
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
Coming Soon: NextLevel
Healthcare is entering a new era.AI is improving faster than our ability to measure the human body, while a new generation of sensors promises to change that. Together, they’ll reshape how we understand health …
Notas do episódio
Healthcare is entering a new era.
AI is improving faster than our ability to measure the human body, while a new generation of sensors promises to change that. Together, they’ll reshape how we understand health, disease, and medicine itself.
NextLevel is our new series inside the podcast where we try to make sense of that future through conversations with the people building it.
Our first episode, featuring Dr. Bob Wachter, arrives this week.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
#302 - Social Connection, Longevity, and the Hidden Health Risks of Isolation | Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad & Mike Haney
You probably spend more time thinking about protein than friendships.According to today's guest, you’ve got it backward.In this episode of A Whole New Level, Mike Haney sits down with Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad …
Notas do episódio
You probably spend more time thinking about protein than friendships.
According to today's guest, you’ve got it backward.
In this episode of A Whole New Level, Mike Haney sits down with Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, one of the world's leading researchers on social connection and health. She explains how data now unequivocally show that social isolation drives early mortality. And why simply not feeling lonely doesn't necessarily mean you're getting enough social connection, as well as why even weak connections matter a lot to a healthy social life.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University and one of the world's leading researchers on social connection and health. Her landmark meta-analyses involving millions of participants established social isolation and loneliness as independent risk factors for chronic disease and early mortality.
📍What Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad & Mike Haney discussed:
- 0:00 — Introduction
- 1:18 — How Dr. Holt-Lunstad began studying social connection and health
- 3:00 — Why relationships belong alongside diet, exercise, and sleep
- 4:10 — Social isolation vs. loneliness vs. living alone
- 11:45 — How researchers measure social connection and health outcomes
- 16:20 — The biological pathways linking isolation to disease
- 27:30 — How scientists study social connection without randomized trials
- 33:00 — Family, friends, weak ties, and what kinds of relationships matter|
- 37:00 — AI companions, loneliness, and whether technology can replace human connection
- 46:15 — Is there a minimum effective dose of friendship?
- 58:10 — Why Americans are participating in fewer clubs and community groups
- 1:03:20 — Why objective isolation predicts health better than loneliness
- 1:10:40 — Making friends as adults and overcoming the friction of connection
🔗 Helpful Links:
Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad
- BYU Faculty Profile: https://psychology.byu.edu/directory/julianne-holt-lunstad
- Social Connection in America Survey: https://www.socialconnectionguidelines.org/
- U.S. Surgeon General Advisory on Social Connection: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf
Key Research
- Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010): https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316
- Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015): https://perspectives.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201500160
- Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation (U.S. Surgeon General, 2023): https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf
- Bowling Alone (Robert Putnam): https://bowlingalone.com/
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/g6D2CIpB2n4
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#301 - What Actually Moves the Needle on Cardiovascular Risk | Dr. Kevin Maki & Mike Haney
High cholesterol. Elevated ApoB. A positive CAC score. Now what?Most people quickly find themselves trapped between two extremes: simplistic advice to “cut saturated fat” and online influencers insisting …
Notas do episódio
High cholesterol. Elevated ApoB. A positive CAC score. Now what?
Most people quickly find themselves trapped between two extremes: simplistic advice to “cut saturated fat” and online influencers insisting cholesterol doesn’t matter at all.
In this episode of A Whole New Level, Mike Haney sits down with clinical research scientist Dr. Kevin Maki to cut through the confusion.Drawing on more than 35 years of cardiovascular research, Maki explains why heart disease risk is about much more than LDL cholesterol alone. He breaks down the roles of inflammation, blood sugar, family history, kidney function, and lipoproteins, while also making a clear case for something many people resist: LDL and ApoB still matter. A lot.
The evidence increasingly suggests that when it comes to atherosclerosis, lower for longer is better. That has important implications for diet, statins, and how early we should intervene.
Mike and Dr. Maki also tackle saturated fat, seed oils, red meat, industry-funded research, and how to separate evidence from online nutrition debates.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Kevin Maki is founder and Chief Science Officer of Midwest Biomedical Research and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health at Indiana University. A former president of the National Lipid Association, he has spent more than three decades designing and leading clinical trials focused on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, nutrition, and lipid management.
His research has included studies on cholesterol-lowering therapies, dietary patterns, red meat, seed oils, inflammation, and cardiometabolic risk reduction.
📍What Dr. Kevin Maki & Mike Haney discussed:
- 0:00 — Dr. Maki’s background in clinical research
- 4:30 — How industry-funded nutrition research actually works
- 15:00 — The Framingham Heart Study and the “Big Four” risk factors
- 20:00 — FLASH-GLICK: the ten factors that drive cardiovascular risk
- 26:00 — Why inflammation may be the next frontier in prevention
- 33:00 — LDL, ApoB, and the “lower for longer” principle
- 42:00 — Particle size, ApoB, and what advanced lipid testing adds
- 47:00 — Why everyone should know their Lp(a)
- 51:00 — Saturated fat, seed oils, and the “compared to what?” problem
- 62:00 — What the red meat evidence actually shows
- 72:00 — Statins, lifestyle, and LDL treatment goals
- 82:00 — Why earlier LDL lowering may provide the biggest benefit
🔗 Helpful Links:
- Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/l8QzuuTYxLI
- Beef Consumption and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11621491/
- Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Lowering and Risk of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Primary Prevention Trials: A Meta-Analysis: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1933287426000395
- PREDIMED Trial (Mediterranean Diet & Primary Prevention): https://www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1056/NEJMoa1200303
- CORDIOPREV Trial: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35525255/
- The Framingham Heart Study: A Historical Perspective: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)61752-3/abstract
- Midwest Biomedical Research: https://midwestbiomedicalresearch.com/
- National Lipid Association: https://www.lipid.org/
✅ Subscribe here on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#300 - Who Should Take GLP-1s? The Science of Obesity, Appetite & Weight Loss | Dr. Robert Kushner & Mike Haney
What are GLP-1 drugs actually doing in the body, who are they for, and why might some people want to think twice before treating them like a six-month shortcut?For years, obesity treatment focused largely on …
Notas do episódio
What are GLP-1 drugs actually doing in the body, who are they for, and why might some people want to think twice before treating them like a six-month shortcut?
For years, obesity treatment focused largely on behavior: eat less, move more, stay motivated. Yet many people lost weight only to regain it. According to obesity medicine pioneer Dr. Robert Kushner, that wasn’t a failure of willpower. It was a failure to fully understand the biology driving weight regulation.
In this episode of A Whole New Level, Mike Haney sits down with Kushner, one of the leading figures in obesity medicine and a lead investigator on the landmark STEP trials, to discuss how GLP-1 medications are changing the field. He explains why these drugs may be the first treatments capable of helping patients “fight biology with biology,” why appetite regulation appears to work differently in different people, and why many patients describe a dramatic reduction in food noise after starting treatment.
But this conversation goes beyond how the drugs work. Kushner also addresses one of the biggest questions facing obesity medicine today: who should actually take these medications? He explains why obesity specialists evaluate far more than a number on the scale, why someone hoping to lose a modest amount of weight may want to think carefully before pursuing treatment, and why successful long-term health still requires changes that no medication can provide.
They also discuss obesity as a disease, the promise and limitations of telehealth prescribing, and why maintaining weight loss often requires something deeper than motivation: a shift in identity.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Robert Kushner is Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Education at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and one of the pioneers of modern obesity medicine. He is a past president of The Obesity Society, founder and former chair of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, and a lead investigator on the landmark STEP clinical trials that helped establish semaglutide as a treatment for obesity.
📍What Dr. Robert Kushner & Mike Haney discussed:
2:06 — Why obesity is more than willpower
4:34 — The benefits and drawbacks of calling obesity a disease6:27 — Clinical vs. preclinical obesity
17:36 — What obesity medicine misunderstood about weight regain
18:44 — “Fight biology with biology”
25:07 — Why weight maintenance is a different challenge than weight loss
26:49 — The identity shift that helps people keep weight off
27:52 — How GLP-1 drugs actually work
31:09 — Why some people experience constant food noise
34:09 — Why GLP-1s treat obesity but don’t cure it
42:17 — The STEP and SELECT trials
44:15 — Who should consider GLP-1 medications?
45:44 — Why obesity treatment is more than an online prescription
50:44 — What happens after you stop taking GLP-1s?
🔗 Helpful Links:
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/qdssFUAWVck
Dr. Robert Kushner: https://drrobertkushner.com/about/
Northwestern Faculty Profile: https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/faculty-profiles/az/profile.html?xid=11686
STEP Trial: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2032183
SELECT Trial: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2307563
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
#299 - Do Athletes Really Need More Carbs? | Dr. Andrew Koutnik & Mike Haney
Most athletes are told the same basic rule: the harder you train, the more carbs you need. But Dr. Andrew Koutnik argues the science is more complicated.In this episode, Mike Haney talks with Dr. Koutnik about …
Notas do episódio
Most athletes are told the same basic rule: the harder you train, the more carbs you need. But Dr. Andrew Koutnik argues the science is more complicated.
In this episode, Mike Haney talks with Dr. Koutnik about how the body fuels exercise, why muscle glycogen may not explain “hitting the wall” as neatly as many people think, and why blood glucose, brain energy, insulin, and metabolic flexibility may matter more than conventional sports nutrition advice suggests.
They discuss whether athletes really need 60, 90, or even 120 grams of carbs per hour, why some athletes may perform well on far less, and how to think about fueling as an individual experiment rather than a universal rule. Because apparently even “eat sugar while running” was too simple for human physiology to leave alone.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙️ About the Guest:
Dr. Andrew Koutnik is a Visiting Research Scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, studying nutrition, metabolism, Type 1 diabetes, and human performance. He earned his PhD in medical sciences from the University of South Florida and has worked with groups including NASA and the Department of Defense.
📍What Dr. Andrew Koutnik & Mike Haney discussed:
- 00:42 Why carbs became central to sports nutrition
- 05:30 How the body uses carbs, fat, ketones, and lactate for fuel
- 13:45 Exercise, insulin sensitivity, and blood glucose
- 21:20 Why muscle glycogen may not explain performance limits
- 31:00 What “hitting the wall” may really mean
- 39:15 The case for lower-carb fueling strategies
- 48:30 Why more carbs don’t always mean better performance
- 58:00 The problem with 90–120 grams of carbs per hour
- 1:08:30 How athletes can test fueling for themselves
- 1:17:00 What this means for everyday exercisers and marathoners
🔗 Helpful Links:Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/FfomxfyCchw
Study discussed: Carbohydrate Ingestion on Exercise Metabolism and Physical Performancehttps://academic.oup.com/edrv/article/47/2/191/8432248Related paper: Substrate Oxidation Does Not Influence Middle Distance Running Performancehttps://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/17/2771
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect:Connect with Dr. Andrew Koutnik: https://andrewkoutnik.com/X: https://x.com/AKoutnikInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewkoutnikphd/Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=2BzUjqkAAAAJ
👋 Who we are:
Levels helps you understand your metabolic health with personalized data, expert guidance, and tools that connect your daily choices to measurable changes in your body. Our goal is to help you make better decisions about food, exercise, sleep, and long-term health.
#298 - Why AI Won’t Replace Doctors—But Will Change Everything Else | Dr. Ami Bhatt + Mike Haney
We can measure more about our health than ever before. Wearables track everything from heart rhythms to glucose trends, and AI can now identify patterns clinicians might miss. But more data does not …
Notas do episódio
We can measure more about our health than ever before. Wearables track everything from heart rhythms to glucose trends, and AI can now identify patterns clinicians might miss. But more data does not automatically mean better health outcomes.
In this episode, cardiologist and digital health expert Dr. Ami Bhatt joins Mike Haney to explore why medicine still struggles with prevention, how continuous health data can help patients take more agency, and where AI may actually improve care—not by replacing doctors, but by helping clinicians navigate the right information at the right time.
They discuss the promise and pitfalls of wearables, the challenge of turning constant streams of health information into useful action, and why the future of medicine may depend on what Dr. Bhatt calls “collaborative intelligence”: humans and AI working together to make better decisions earlier.
Free course: Improve your metabolic health
Get our free email course on how glucose, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and measurement can help you build habits that support better energy and long-term health: https://levels.link/wnl
About the guest: Dr. Ami Bhatt is the chief innovation officer (CIO) at the American College of Cardiology and the Chair of the FDA Digital Health Advisory Committee. She received her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and her Doctor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and was the Director of Outpatient Cardiology, TeleCardiology, and Adult Congenital Heart Disease at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl
🎙 What Dr. Ami Bhatt & Mike Haney discuss:
- 1:19 Why heart disease remains the leading killer despite medical advances
- 10:17 The opportunity and risk of detecting disease earlier
- 17:38 What wearables are actually useful for today
- 30:16 When health tracking creates more anxiety than insight
- 37:12 Why AI should guide doctors, not replace them
- 44:27 Dr. Bhatt on “collaborative intelligence” in medicine
- 1:18:30 Why the future is human judgment plus AI, not AI alone
Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
🔗 Helpful links
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/d0LJvL1uB4k
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect
Connect with Dr. Ami Bhatt on LinkedIn:
#297 - Does Most Chronic Disease Come Down to “Energy Flow?” | Greg Mushen and Josh Clemente
Metabolic health is often simplified to a matter of blood sugar, but at its root, it is a complex system of energy substrate signaling. While many view chronic disease as an inevitable part of aging, a …
Notas do episódio
Metabolic health is often simplified to a matter of blood sugar, but at its root, it is a complex system of energy substrate signaling. While many view chronic disease as an inevitable part of aging, a systems-thinking approach reveals that maintaining high "flux"—the capacity to efficiently move and clear energy through the body—is the primary lever for longevity. Without the stimulus of regular movement, even the most optimized diet can fail to prevent the accumulation of metabolic waste that leads to insulin resistance and heart disease.
In this episode, we sit down with Greg Mushen, a technologist who turned his engineering mind toward his own biology after conventional medicine failed to address his chronic health issues. Mushen breaks down his "Theory of Flux" and why he believes the key to disease resistance lies in meeting our body's "clearance burden". From studying the activity levels of hunter-gatherer populations to debunking myths about walking and V2 max, Mushen provides a data-driven framework for optimizing health through the lens of evolutionary biology and systems engineering.
Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl
In this episode, we cover:
- The Theory of Flux: Understanding health as the dynamic capacity to move nutrients and fuel through the system rather than a static set of markers.
- Insulin Resistance Reimagined: Why blood sugar is a symptom, not the root cause, and how fat accumulation in the liver and muscle disrupts signaling.
- The Power of PAL: Why a Physical Activity Level (PAL) of 2.0 is the "golden ratio" observed in disease-free subsistence populations.
- Walking vs. HIT: De-bunking the idea that you need high intensity to improve V2 max and why the "area under the curve" for oxygen consumption is what matters.
- The Saturated Fat Paradox: Comparing the Messiah and Chimané populations to understand how high activity levels can mitigate the risks of high-fat diets.
- Fiber as a Sensor: Why fiber is more than just "throughput" and acts as a critical environmental sensor for metabolic signaling.
- The "Walking Grifter" Philosophy: Why walking is the most under-leveraged tool for increasing metabolic flux with the lowest recovery cost.
🎙 What Greg Mushen & Josh Clemente discuss:
- [00:53] — Greg’s transition from tech engineering to "debugging" his own biology.
- [06:55] — The mold exposure and chronic fatigue that sparked a deep dive into primary literature.
- [11:36] — How correcting a copper deficiency became a "point of light" for understanding micronutrients.
- [20:53] — Lessons from the Messiah: High saturated fat intake paired with extreme physical activity.
- [25:26] — Defining Flux: The capacity to clear substrate and prevent metabolic accumulation.
- [30:26] — The PAL 2.0 threshold: Why doubling your basal metabolic rate is the key to warding off chronic disease.
- [51:10] — Lipid Kinetics: Using the "sink and drain" analogy to understand LDL residence time.
- [01:00:19] — The Integral of Oxygen: Why walking 15,000 steps can be as effective for V2 max as short bursts of HIT.
- [01:17:16] — Why Greg changed his mind on plant-based vs. animal protein.
- [01:28:24] — Greg's personal stack: From 15k steps and resistance training to PD5 inhibitors and custom fiber blends.
Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
🔗 Helpful links
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/A1KSG2qyVww
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect
Connect with Greg Mushen on LinkedIn:
#296 - The Truth About Protein: Why Exercise is the Secret to Muscle Growth and Longevity | Dr. Stuart Phillips & Mike Haney
Protein is often hailed as the ultimate nutrient for health and longevity, but the science suggests it is only half of the equation. While social media influencers debate the minutiae of protein grams …
Notas do episódio
Protein is often hailed as the ultimate nutrient for health and longevity, but the science suggests it is only half of the equation. While social media influencers debate the minutiae of protein grams, researchers have found that the vast majority of protein's benefits are "baked in" only when combined with physical activity. Without the stimulus of exercise, even the most optimized protein intake fails to move the needle on muscle growth or chronic disease prevention.
In this episode of A Whole New Level, Mike Haney sits down with Dr. Stuart Phillips, a researcher who has spent over 25 years at McMaster University studying the intersection of protein, exercise, and human health. Dr. Phillips breaks down why the current RDA for protein is likely too low for optimal health and why the methodology used to set those standards is decades out of date.
Dr. Phillips explains the "brick wall" analogy of muscle turnover—where synthesis and breakdown are in a constant tug-of-war—and how lifting weights acts as the primary driver for "the bricklayers". From the impact of anabolic resistance in aging to the truth about protein timing and kidney health, he provides a grounded, data-driven perspective on how to maintain a functional reserve of muscle as we age.
Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl
In this episode, we cover
- The RDA Debate: Why the standard 0.8 g/kg recommendation is a "preventing deficiency" baseline rather than an "optimized health" target.
- The Power of Exercise: Why 80% to 90% of protein's benefits are dependent on physical activity.
- Muscle as a Storage Depot: Understanding muscle as a functional reserve that dictates disease resistance and survival.
- Anabolic Resistance: How inactivity and aging make our cells less efficient at using amino acids.
- The Myth of Timing: Why the "anabolic window" is more like a "garage door" that stays open much longer than once thought.
- Protein Quality & Source: Comparing animal vs. plant proteins and why the "food matrix" matters more than isolated powders.
- Kidney Health: De-bunking the 60-year-old hypothesis that high protein intake causes kidney damage in healthy individuals.
🎙 What Dr. Stuart Phillips & Mike Haney discuss:
[00:00] — Why exercise is the "big driver" of protein's health benefits.
[09:00] — Transitioning from the RDA (0.8 g/kg) to an optimized range of 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg.
[30:31] — The limitations of "nitrogen balance" as a methodology for protein needs.
[44:45] — Muscle as a structural substrate vs. carbs and fats as fuel.
[01:10:05] — Anabolic resistance: Why we lose building efficiency as we age.
[01:18:15] — The "Compound Interest" of muscle: Why starting early prevents a late-life mobility spiral.
[01:28:10] — Hormones and muscle: The differing impacts of testosterone and estrogen during aging.
[01:39:15] — Addressing the concerns regarding high protein intake and kidney function.
[01:52:10] — Whole foods vs. supplements: Why the "bricklayers" care about amino acids, but the body cares about nutrients.
[01:60:12] — Debunking the immediate post-workout protein shake myth.
Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
🔗 Helpful links
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/twVUPk-B-vg
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect
Connect with Dr. Stuart Phillips on LinkedIn & X:
#295 - The Science of Preconception: Measuring Fertility, Toxins, and Generational Health | Dr. Ann Shippy & Josh Clemente
Preconception health is one of the most powerful—yet overlooked—windows for influencing a child’s lifelong wellness. While fertility is often discussed in the context of age or medical intervention, emerging …
Notas do episódio
Preconception health is one of the most powerful—yet overlooked—windows for influencing a child’s lifelong wellness. While fertility is often discussed in the context of age or medical intervention, emerging research suggests that the months leading up to conception are a critical "time capsule" for epigenetic health.
In this episode of A Whole New Level, Levels Founder and CEO Josh Clemente sits down with Dr. Anne Shippy, a board-certified internal medicine physician and author of The Preconception Revolution. Dr. Shippy brings a unique, systems-based approach to fertility, moving beyond basic labs to uncover the root causes of infertility and chronic disease.
Dr. Shippy explains why the "check engine light" of infertility is often a signal of deeper metabolic or environmental imbalances—and why age isn't always the primary driver of reproductive success. Drawing on her engineering background and years of clinical practice, she walks through how toxins, mitochondrial function, and the microbiome interact to shape the health of both parents and their future children.
Along the way, the conversation explores the practical "mini-experiments" couples can run to optimize their biology—from tightening blood sugar control with CGMs to auditing the "chemical soup" of modern life. The result is an empowering framework for generational health: shifting the focus from reactive treatments to proactive, data-driven preparation.
Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl
In this episode, we cover
• The Preconception Window: Why the 3–12 months before pregnancy are a critical window for epigenetic influence
• The Engineering Approach: Applying systems-based, data-driven models to the biochemistry of the body
• Environmental Toxins: How PFAS, phthalates, and microplastics in packaging disrupt hormone health
• Sperm Health Trends: Understanding the 50% decline in sperm counts and the role of lifestyle in reversing damage
• Mitochondrial Function: Why cellular energy production is the foundation of egg and sperm quality
• IVF as a Last Resort: Why tuning up the body’s "hospitable environment" should come before invasive procedures
• The Role of Glucose: How stable blood sugar improves fertility and passes on better epigenetics to the baby
🎙 What Dr. Anne Shippy & Josh discuss
[03:35] — Making the career shift from IBM chemical engineer to functional medicine
[05:54] — Using CGMs as a series of experiments to optimize preconception health
[10:04] — Success stories: Reversing "failed" IVF and infertility in the early 40s
[14:48] — Why the children’s health crisis and the fertility crisis share the same root causes
[17:22] — The "Time Capsule": How the egg and sperm pass on epigenetic snapshots
[20:02] — The minimum timeline: Why three months is the baseline for biological change
[22:22] — The impact of processed food packaging on hormone and sperm health in just 21 days
[24:50] — Advanced testing: Moving beyond Quest labs to microbiome and toxin panels
[29:57] — The "Big Three" environmental shifts: Clean air, clean water, and clean food
[42:22] — The "Lightning Round": Prioritizing changes from synthetic fragrances to alcohol and exercise
Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
🔗 Helpful links
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/QG4Jxxu_gyE
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect
Connect with Dr. Ann Shippy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annshippymd/
#294 - Cholesterol Science Explained: Why Your LDL Score Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story | Dr. Ronald Krauss + Mike Haney
High cholesterol is one of the most widely discussed—and established—risk factors in medicine. But reams of research now show that while it is key to cardiovascular risk, it is not the whole story.In this …
Notas do episódio
High cholesterol is one of the most widely discussed—and established—risk factors in medicine. But reams of research now show that while it is key to cardiovascular risk, it is not the whole story.
In this episode of A Whole New Level, editorial director Mike Haney sits down with Dr. Ronald Krauss, one of the world’s leading lipid researchers and a pioneer in understanding how different forms of LDL—and the physiological factors around them—affect cardiovascular risk.
Dr. Krauss explains why the basic link between cholesterol and heart disease is well established among experts—but also why the standard cholesterol panel often misses the deeper metabolic story. Drawing on decades of research, he walks through how lipoproteins, particle size, triglycerides, and metabolic health interact to determine whether cholesterol actually becomes dangerous.
Along the way, the conversation explores why cardiovascular disease remains the leading killer despite statins and decades of research—and how factors like obesity, insulin resistance, and inflammation reshape the lipid landscape in ways that traditional tests may not capture.
The result is a clearer framework for understanding cardiovascular risk: not just how much cholesterol is in the blood, but how it’s being transported, how long those particles circulate, and what metabolic conditions are driving them.
Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl
In this episode, we cover
- Why the cholesterol–heart disease link isn’t actually controversial among researchers
- Cholesterol vs. lipoproteins: why the particles carrying cholesterol matter more than the number itself
- Small dense LDL: how triglyceride metabolism produces the most harmful particles
- ApoB and particle counts: why many researchers prefer measuring particles instead of cholesterol mass
- Lipoprotein(a): the genetically driven risk factor affecting up to a third of the population
- Metabolic syndrome: the cluster of conditions that amplifies cardiovascular risk
- Why carbohydrates and metabolic dysfunction can drive harmful lipid patterns
- The saturated fat debate: why food context and metabolic health matter more than simple fat categories
🎙 What Dr. Ronald Krauss & Mike Haney discuss:
[01:09] — Why the cholesterol–heart disease link is largely settled science
[02:27] — Why cardiovascular disease remains the world’s leading killer
[04:42] — Inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in vascular disease
[06:12] — The discovery of small dense LDL and why particle size matters
[07:14] — Lipoprotein(a) as a major inherited cardiovascular risk factor
[09:18] — “Residence time”: why particles that circulate longer cause more damage
[11:24] — ApoB vs LDL-C: measuring particles instead of cholesterol mass
[13:31] — The HDL paradox: why raising HDL hasn’t improved outcomes
[15:28] — Metabolic syndrome and the five markers that amplify risk
[17:16] — Why the saturated fat debate misses the bigger metabolic picture
Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
🔗 Helpful links
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/sS0orvd2TFs
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect
Connect with Dr. Ronald Krauss on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronald-krauss-81a38021/
#293 - Why You Can’t Exercise Your Way to Weight Loss: The Constrained Energy Model | Dr. Herman Pontzer + Mike Haney
You can’t outrun a bad diet—but it turns out you might not even be able to outrun a good one. In this episode of A Whole New Level, evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Herman Pontzer joins Mike Haney to dismantle …
Notas do episódio
You can’t outrun a bad diet—but it turns out you might not even be able to outrun a good one. In this episode of A Whole New Level, evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Herman Pontzer joins Mike Haney to dismantle the "armchair view" of metabolism and explain why more exercise doesn't necessarily mean more calories burned.
Drawing on his groundbreaking research with the Hadza hunter-gatherer community and global meta-analyses, Dr. Pontzer explains the Constrained Energy Model: the phenomenon where our bodies hit a metabolic ceiling and begin "trading off" energy from vital systems like immunity and reproduction to account for physical activity. This conversation reframes weight loss not as a simple math problem of "calories in vs. calories out," but as a dynamic, evolutionary balancing act.
Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl
In this episode, we cover:
- The Myth of Additive Energy: Why adding a 300-calorie run to your day doesn’t actually result in 300 extra calories burned over the long term.
- The Hadza Paradox: How hunter-gatherers who walk miles every day burn the same amount of total energy as sedentary Westerners.
- Metabolic Trading: How your body "pays" for exercise by dialing down inflammation, stress responses, and reproductive hormones.
- The Business of the Body: Why the human body acts less like a simple machine and more like a corporation reallocating a limited budget.
- The "Set Point" Debate: Whether our bodies are tracking pounds on a scale or the flow of energy in the gut.
- Practical Weight Management: Why diet is the primary tool for weight, while exercise is the primary tool for everything else.
🎙 What Dr. Herman Pontzer & Mike Haney discuss:
[0:01-0:52] The Additive Model vs. The Constrained Energy Model
[1:24-2:48] Dr. Pontzer's Book Burn
[3:33-4:21] Defining Energy Balance
[5:15-6:50] Where the "Armchair View of Metabolism" Breaks Down
[7:07-8:50] Comparing the Additive Model to the Constrained Energy Model
[16:14-18:12] Energy Accounting: Where Daily Calories Go
[18:13-20:57] The Body as a Business Metaphor
[22:13-23:47] Specific Ways the Body Compensates for Increased Exercise
[24:19-25:27] Modifying the Constrained Energy Limit (Diet and Weightlifting)
[47:54-51:23] Diet is Key for Weight Management
Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
🔗 Helpful links
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/6GUWQuT-vRc
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect
Connect with Dr. Herman Pontzer on X: https://x.com/HermanPontzer
#292 - Cardiac Imaging Explained: Why You Need a Calcium Score to Know Your Real Heart Risk | Dr. Matthew Budoff & Mike Haney
Heart disease risk isn’t just about cholesterol. In this episode of A Whole New Level, Dr. Matthew Budoff explains why coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring may be the most important test most people aren’t …
Notas do episódio
Heart disease risk isn’t just about cholesterol. In this episode of A Whole New Level, Dr. Matthew Budoff explains why coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring may be the most important test most people aren’t getting—and why imaging your arteries directly can reveal risk that blood tests alone can miss.
Drawing on decades of research and data from the landmark MESA study, Dr. Budoff explains how calcium scoring predicts real cardiovascular events, how plaque actually forms and progresses, and why some people with high cholesterol never develop plaque—while others with “normal” labs do.
This episode focuses on how to measure your actual cardiovascular risk, not just estimate it.
Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl
In this episode, we cover:
- Why CAC scoring is one of the strongest predictors of future heart events
- Why cholesterol is critical—but only explains about half of heart disease risk
- Why some people with very high LDL have zero plaque—and others with normal labs have dangerous plaque
- Why CAC is best understood as the “tip of the iceberg” of total plaque burden
- When to escalate to CT angiography and advanced imaging
- How plaque regression is possible—and what interventions actually drive it
- The future of cardiac risk prediction: Lp(a), inflammation, and AI-driven plaque analysis
This conversation reframes heart risk around what’s actually happening inside your arteries—not just what shows up in bloodwork.
🎙 What Dr. Matthew Budoff & Mike Haney discuss:
[01:35] — Coronary calcium is the strongest predictor of heart events
[02:38] — What a high calcium score actually means for risk
[04:00] — Why rising calcium is not “healing.”
[11:07] — The role of fat tissue and inflammation in plaque formation
[16:37] — Why do many people with high cholesterol have no plaque
[17:55] — Why imaging is the only way to truly know your risk
[37:07] — Calcium as the “tip of the iceberg” of total plaque burden
[~52:00] — Why CAC is the practical first step before advanced imaging
[~1:02:00] — When CT angiography adds critical information
[~1:14:00] — How plaque regression actually happens in the real world
[~1:22:00] — The next frontier: Lp(a) and inflammation as treatment targets
Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
🔗 Helpful links
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/os-RNhIS3jQ
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect
Connect with Dr. Matthew Budoff on X: https://x.com/BudoffMd
#291 - Why No Diet Wins (and What 40 Years of Nutrition Research Actually Shows) | Christopher Gardner, PhD, & Mike Haney
In this episode of A Whole New Level, Christopher Gardner, PhD, joins Mike to discuss his decades in nutrition research, the challenges of conducting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on diet, and how to …
Notas do episódio
In this episode of A Whole New Level, Christopher Gardner, PhD, joins Mike to discuss his decades in nutrition research, the challenges of conducting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on diet, and how to communicate complex science to the public. Gardner has led some of the most rigorous research ever comparing dietary approaches in real-world conditions, so his insights about what works (cutting processed food and sugar) and what doesn’t (obsessing about macronutrients) are worth a listen.
Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl
In this episode, we cover:
- What a nutritional interventionist is – someone who studies people who are asked to change their diet, tracking them and taking samples to see what might have changed.
- How to square widely-accepted lessons about nutrition (i.e., junk food=bad) with the high degree of individuality in diets that work.
- The concept of "equipoise" in study design, which means making sure both diets being compared are well-represented versions of that diet (e.g., a "kick butt diet A and a crappy diet B" is avoided).
- The dilemma of communicating single-study results to the public and the role of the Netflix documentary on Gardner’s famous twin study in making science engaging.
- Dr. Gardner's experience on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and the methodology used to reach conclusions.
- The focus on ultra-processed foods and the need to message the consensus points of eating more whole foods and vegetables, and avoiding added sugar and refined grains.
- The learnings from the DIETFITS study, which compared low-carb and low-fat diets among 600 people for a year, and why there was more variation among people within a diet than between the two diets.
🎙 What Dr. Christopher Gardner & Mike Haney discuss:
[00:33] Nutritional Interventionist Role
[02:17] Shortcomings of Nutrition RCTs
[03:59] Garlic Study Example
[16:48] Concept of Equipoise in Study Design
[21:54] Value of Communicating Single Study Results
[28:02] Industry Funding and Transparency
[33:11] Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Methodology
[38:48] Ultra-Processed Foods and the Evidence
[48:27] Simplicity vs. Complexity in Nutrition
[50:24] Consensus on Foundational Diet Components
Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health.
Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health.
🔗 Helpful links
Watch the conversation: https://youtu.be/ZQ0G_jfwKoM
Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1
📲 Connect
Connect with Christopher Gardner, PhD, on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cgardnerphd/?hl=en
Aqui estão os 40 episódios mais recentes de 318. Os mais antigos estão no feed do podcast.
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