EP 1410
1410. The Foods That Starve Cancer | William Li
Dr. William Li, two-time New York Times bestselling author and President of the Angiogenesis Foundation, joins Host Dave Asprey to reveal why 50% of the food extracts he tested matched or outperformed cancer drugs in head-to-head lab experiments, why the 720,000 people currently living past 100 share better vascular health, metabolism, gut health, and immune function than the rest of us, and why the real secret to anti-aging is not a pill but the biological defense systems your body already runs every day. They also cover why microplastics embedded in arterial plaque drive a fourfold increase in heart attack and stroke risk and how tire particles travel through your nose directly into your brain, how flow-mediated dilation and pulse wave velocity give you a more accurate picture of biological age than almost any other biomarker available today, why Dave’s four gene therapies including klotho, VEGF, and follistatin represent the leading edge of what longevity medicine is becoming, how the vagus nerve connects your gut microbiome to your brain and why stimulating it may be one of the highest-leverage stress and resilience tools available, and why the fat accumulating in the back third of your tongue could be the earliest warning sign of metabolic dysfunction and sleep apnea you have never thought to check. Essential listening for anyone serious about biohacking, longevity, anti-aging, functional medicine, food as medicine, human performance, metabolism, mitochondria, brain optimization, vascular health, sleep optimization, supplements, and taking full control of your biology with the most cutting-edge science available today.
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In this Episode of The Human Upgrade™...
Centenarians, SuperAgers, flow-mediated dilation, gene therapy, microplastics, and food as medicine with Dr. William Li
Your body already has a built-in cancer defense system, and the foods you eat can rival prescription drugs at activating it. In this episode, you’ll discover what 720,000 living centenarians reveal about longevity, why microplastics are reaching your brain through your nose, and how your blood vessels hold the real key to biological aging.
Host Dave Asprey sits down with Dr. William Li, an internationally renowned physician, scientist, and two-time New York Times bestselling author of “Eat to Beat Disease” and “Eat to Beat Your Diet.” As President and Medical Director of the Angiogenesis Foundation, Dr. Li’s groundbreaking research has led to the development of more than 40 new medical treatments impacting care for over 70 diseases including diabetes, heart disease, blindness, and obesity. His TED Talk, “Can We Eat to Starve Cancer?”, has surpassed 11 million views, making him one of the most trusted voices at the intersection of functional medicine and food as medicine science.
Together they dig into the biology of SuperAgers, the vascular markers that predict how long you’ll live, and why flow-mediated dilation may be the most underrated biohacking measurement tool available today. Dave shares what happened after four separate gene therapies, including klotho and VEGF, and Dr. Li explains why your metabolism, mitochondria, and gut microbiome show up in the data on every centenarian ever studied. They also get into the microplastic crisis, the cribriform plate pathway that delivers airborne particles directly to your brain, and why your tongue is the first place your body quietly stores fat.
You’ll Learn:
- What centenarian research reveals about immune function, gut health, and vascular resilience
- Why 50% of food extracts matched or outperformed cancer drugs in head-to-head angiogenesis testing
- How microplastics travel through your nose directly to your central nervous system
- What flow-mediated dilation and pulse wave velocity tell you about your true biological age
- Why your hind-third tongue fat is an overlooked early warning sign for sleep apnea and metabolism problems
- What Dave’s four gene therapies (klotho, VEGF, follistatin) actually did to his body
- How the vagus nerve connects gut health to brain optimization, stress resilience, and longevity
- Why genetics now accounts for roughly half of longevity outcomes, and what that means for the future of gene therapy
- How to use biohacking tools to compound your health the same way you compound financial returns
Keywords: William Li, Dr. William Li, Eat to Beat Disease, angiogenesis, food as medicine, centenarians, SuperAgers, longevity, anti-aging, biohacking, vascular health, flow-mediated dilation, pulse wave velocity, microplastics, cribriform plate, gene therapy, klotho, VEGF, follistatin, mitochondria, metabolism, gut health, vagus nerve, sleep apnea, functional medicine, human performance, brain optimization, cancer prevention, inflammation, immune system
Resources:
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"50% of the foods that I tested were as or more potent in these test systems as the cancer drugs."
William Li
00:00 – Trailer
A preview of the episode’s biggest insights on longevity, food as medicine, and the hidden threats aging your biology.
00:50 – Intro
Host Dave Asprey introduces Dr. William Li as a superhero of functional medicine and frames why dying of something preventable is no longer acceptable.
02:33 – William’s Background
Dr. Li traces his path from a multi-ethnic Pittsburgh upbringing to living in Italy and Greece, and explains how those experiences shaped his conviction that food, culture, and medicine belong together.
06:21 – Food vs. Cancer Drugs
Dr. Li reveals his mic-drop experiment where 50% of food extracts matched or outperformed cancer drugs in head-to-head angiogenesis testing.
14:09 – Gene Therapy
Dave discloses his four gene therapies including klotho, VEGF, and follistatin, and Dr. Li unpacks where gene therapy currently stands for the general public.
23:50 – Centenarian Research
Dr. Li shares how his great-uncle living independently to 104 sparked his deep dive into what 720,000 living centenarians reveal about immune health, metabolism, and vascular resilience.
27:41 – Stress & the Vagus Nerve
Dr. Li and Dave discuss how geopolitical stress quietly shortens lifespan and why vagus nerve stimulation and heart rate variability tracking are among the most powerful longevity tools available.
37:31 – Vascular Health
Dave and Dr. Li break down flow-mediated dilation and pulse wave velocity as underused but highly accurate windows into true biological age.
42:34 – Microplastics
Dr. Li walks through the 2024 New England Journal of Medicine study showing microplastics in arterial plaque driving a fourfold increase in heart attack and stroke risk, and explains how tire particles reach your brain through your nose.
53:19 – Novel Biomarkers
Dave and Dr. Li explore emerging measurement tools including tongue fat accumulation, retinal imaging for dementia detection, and the stem cells in your cribriform plate that build smell memory.
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