In this episode of the Human Upgrade podcast, Dave Asprey and Dr. Elizabeth Yurth discuss the philosophy and practicalities of biohacking for longevity. Asprey opens by critiquing the common tendency to prioritize material wealth—such as expensive cars—over personal health, arguing that investing in one’s biology yields a more fulfilling retirement. He outlines the biohacking arc: young adults seek power, energy, and attractiveness; middle‑aged individuals look for sustained energy; and later in life the focus shifts to longevity and appearance. Asprey emphasizes that early adoption of biohacking practices improves cognition, career performance, relationships, and overall well‑being, while noting that benefits can still be achieved later, albeit with more effort. The conversation then turns to fasting, where Asprey cautions against daily fasting without outcome monitoring and introduces spermidine—a postbiotic that mimics fasting’s cellular effects—as a key tool he covered in his book Superhuman. Dr. Yurth, with 30 years of experience in orthopedics, cellular and regenerative medicine, and as medical director of the Boulder Longevity Institute, shares her perspective on nutrition, hormones, and what she calls “human enhancement.” She discusses the professional pushback she faced when shifting from traditional orthopedics to a longevity‑focused practice, and the broader challenge of convincing younger generations (20‑30 year‑olds) to adopt these interventions. The dialogue highlights both the scientific promise of spermidine and the cultural hurdles in mainstream acceptance of longevity medicine.
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And you have to prioritize your health over. I don't. Do I need $100,000 car or do I need my health? I think, you know, we all prioritize putting money into our 401ks for retirement and not thinking about putting money into ourselves because otherwise my retirement is going to be miserable. And hopefully the goal being that you never want to retire because you feel good, you feel active, and you want to be productive. I really think the number of people I see come to my Office driving their $100,000 car in and I mentioned a supplement that's expensive, like, oh, I'm not doing that. And you know, and I say, well, get a cheaper car.
I drive a 10 year old Jeep. So there you go. You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. Today's episode, we're going to talk about longevity, which is actually why I started the biohacking movement. I was so frustrated that no one besides me who was under 30 would come to an anti aging education group in Palo Alto, California, two minutes from Google's headquarters said, well, we need to find some words that tie together control of your own biology. And when you're young, you want power, you want energy, you want attractiveness, and then in middle age you want longevity, and actually not even longevity in middle age you want, you want extended energy. And, and the, and as you start realizing, okay, there's some aging stuff happening, then you start wanting longevity. So there's sort of this arc, but it's all the same things. So if you learn to do this when you're 20 years old, you'll just get better grades and have a better career and be calmer and happier and have better relationships and better community because your energy is better. And when you're 70, you're going to like what, what you look like and feel like. But if you started when you're 70, you can still get benefits. It's just harder. So I'm like, what do we call these tools? Well, we call them biohacking. And one of the areas of interest for me, two of my books have been about this. It's about fasting. And no, I don't think men or women should fast every single day. In fact, my second fasting book was to correct misperceptions about fasting that happen when people get very excited about something in biohacking and decide they're gonna do it every day, forever and without regard to outcomes. So there's a Fasting memetic, or a substance that gives your body the effects of fasting. That is a postbiotic. And I wrote about it in Superhuman, my longevity book. It's called spermidine, and you've heard episodes on it before. So Today I've asked Dr. Elizabeth Y. To come on the show to talk about the new research in spermidine. Since the publication of my book and since our last podcast, she's got 30 years of clinical experience in orthopedics, cellular medicine, and regenerative medicine. I reviewed my labs with her, and she just has a great mind for thinking about things. She runs the Boulder Longevity Institute, where she's medical director with a focus on nutrition, hormones, and get this human enhancement. Are you allowed to say that? Dr. Y. How dare you? Doctor, what do your colleagues say when you say, I'm enhancing humans? Are they. Are they down with that? Or do they just, like, kind of snub their noses?
Really, why I had to leave my orthopedic practice and. And start Border Longevity Institute is because that didn't go over well.
Yeah, the funny thing is half the doctors who are complaining probably come in the back door after hours asking for treatments because they don't like being fat and tired either. And somehow antibiotics just don't fix it. So weird.
So I do love to hear you say that, you know, and. And like, like most of your. You guys who are probably in the collective and stuff, you know, a lot of us didn't get into this field because it didn't exist, unfortunately, when I was 20. But my kids are in their 20s. Everybody in my office is in their 30s. And what we're trying to do is actually sort of, you know, start convincing people in their 20s and 30s ultimately that you have to actually start doing this stuff. Then you're right. Anytime you can start doing it is going to be beneficial. But how do we actually reach.
