Can We Actually Measure How Fast You’re Aging? | 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 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: http://levels.link/youtube In this episode: - 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 📍What Dr. Nir Barzilai & Mike Haney discussed: 03:25 - Aging is a condition, not just a label 04:13 - Why aging is what drives disease 06:34 - Should we call aging a disease? 08:36 - Why the species may have a ceiling around 115 12:54 - Why changing one hallmark of aging changes the others 21:26 - Metformin was anti-aging before it was a diabetes drug 30:10 - Centenarians live longer and spend less time sick 38:27 - How TAME tried to make aging an FDA endpoint 46:37 - Metformin, SGLT2s, GLP-1s, and osteoporosis drugs as gerotherapeutics 50:41 - FAST: finding biomarkers that actually change with treatment 55:05 - Whether aging needs continuous monitoring, or a few checks a year 59:33 - Where behavior still fits once we have anti-aging drugs 🔗 Links from the episode: - Hallmarks of Aging: An Expanding Universe (Cell, 2023) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36599349 - Compression of Morbidity Is Observed Across Cohorts with Exceptional Longevity (JAGS, 2016) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27377170 - Metformin as a Tool to Target Aging (Cell Metabolism, 2016) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27304507 - Geroscience-Guided Repurposing of FDA-Approved Drugs to Target Aging (Aging Cell, 2022) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9009114 - Biomarkers of Aging for the Identification and Evaluation of Longevity Interventions (Cell, 2023) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37657418 - FAST: Finding Aging Biomarkers by Searching Existing Trials https://www.afar.org/fast-initiative - ARPA-H PROSPR / FAST award https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/awards/4181 ✅ Subscribe here on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1 📲 Connect: Connect with Dr. Nil Barzilai on X: https://x.com/NirBarzilaiMD 🎙️ 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. 👋 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. DISCLAIMER: A Whole New Level is a podcast intended for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not provide medical, nursing, or other professional healthcare advice, and no doctor-patient relationship is established by listening to or viewing its content. The information presented is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and should not be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical condition. Use of the information provided is at the listener’s own risk. Listeners should always consult qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical concerns or conditions. Never delay or disregard professional medical advice because of something you heard on this podcast. #metabolichealth #levelshealth #healthspan #preventivehealth #longevity #agingresearch #nextlevel