Why High Protein Diets Could Be Dangerous | Dr. Valter Longo

Excess protein may dramatically increase the risk of cancer and accelerate aging. Dr. Valter Longo, one of the top scientists in aging research and creator of the Fasting Mimicking Diet, explains why the risk is so high. Dr. Tamiko Katsumoto from Stanford conducted most of the interview. Her background: https://stanfordhealthcare.org/doctors/k/tamiko-katsumoto.html PAPERS: Nature: Optimal dietary patterns for healthy aging https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03570-5 Fasting mimicking diet cycles versus a Mediterranean diet and cardiometabolic risk in overweight and obese hypertensive subjects: a randomized clinical trial by Valter Longo https://www.nature.com/articles/s44324-023-00002-1 Low Protein Intake Is Associated with a Major Reduction in IGF-1, Cancer, and Overall Mortality in the 65 and Younger but Not Older Population https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(14)00062-X Dietary carbohydrate intake and mortality: a prospective cohort study and meta-analysis https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(18)30135-X/fulltext Dietary Amino Acids and Risk of Stroke Subtypes: Results from 3 Large Prospective Cohort Studies https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316625001786 Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2540540 Dietary protein intake in midlife in relation to healthy aging – results from the prospective Nurses’ Health Study cohort https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916523662823 FILM: Fasting and the Longevity Revolution with Valter Longo (awesome): https://www.fastingandthelongevityrevolution.com/ WEBSITES: All things Dr. Longo — books, a documentary, information https://valterlongo.com/ Fasting Mimicking Diet kits (Prolon): https://prolonlife.com/ The Create Cures Foundation (A Longo foundation): https://createcures.org/ Fondazione Valter Longo https://www.fondazionevalterlongo.org/en/ 0:00 Excess protein is dangerous 2:18 Valter Longo's mission & discoveries 8:24 IGF-1's profound role 17:35 Excess animal protein increases cancer risk by 400% 21:15 Foods that increase longevity 32:22 Why is red meat so bad? 37:11 Protein vs carbs 40:36 Plant vs animal protein 46:43 Low carb diets 49:00 Fasting mimicking diets 1:04:22 Cancer and autoimmunity 1:22:17 GLP-1 Ozempic 1:32:52 Protein powder 1:35:30 Chris' takeaways