Dr. Ben Bikman

Yeah, that's right.

It was two years on the drug.

So this is part of why I'm cautious, where I respect the power of this tool.

It is extremely powerful.

Because it's so powerful, I think we should be mindful of going too far with it, which is why...

I am such an advocate.

If it's going to be used at all, let's use it in a very specific context at a very specific dosing regimen with a cycling protocol where we want them to have in their mind, we don't want you on this drug indefinitely.

This is not a lifetime solution.

It is a crutch until you've learned how to walk on your own, if you will, and change your habits.

That to me is... So microdose cycling with the conversation surrounding eating habits.

They are.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, so insulin will promote aging by a persistent chronic mTOR activation.

And insulin inhibits autophagy.

If autophagy is a mechanism for aging that we want to leverage, I'm unaware of any signal that will inhibit autophagy stronger than insulin will.

It abhors catabolism.

It only wants anabolic metabolism.

which can be favorable when leveraged wisely.

But when it comes to aging, if you are inhibiting that catabolic process of autophagy, that's not going to be facilitative.

So I rarely, I have the benefit, having sort of staked my claim as insulin matters, I can defend that so well that I don't often need to step out of it.