Dr. Michael Greger

And because aging is a significant risk factor for most of our leading killers, you know, so my first book in the series, How Not to Die, was, you know, first half of the book is just 15 chapters, each of the 15 leading causes of death.

Talking about the world diet.

may play in preventing, arresting, or reversing each of our top 15 killers.

Say, wait a second.

I mean, if death is from disease, why isn't How Not to Die kind of all the longevity book anybody needs?

But it's because aging is a risk factor for multiple different diseases.

So, for example, if all cancer were cured tomorrow,

it would only add about three years to the average lifespan.

I said, wait a second, why is that?

It's like our second leading killer.

It's because if you don't die of one age-related disease, you'll just die of another one.

So the only reason you didn't die of a heart attack, ah, because you died of cancer the month before, but you were going to die anyway from something else.

So by slowing down the aging process,

then we can reduce the risk of many different diseases at the same time, the stroke and the dementia and cancer, heart disease, which rise exponentially with age.

Really?

So something like, you know, having a high cholesterol can increase your odds of having a heart attack or number one killer of men and women by as much as 20-fold.

But an 80-year-old...

has 500 times the risk of having a heart attack compared to a 20 year old.

So age.

But I mean, of course, the reason we focus on things like cholesterol is because it's a modifiable risk factor.