Huberman Lab – notes on Chris Palmer (ketogenic diet) and Kyle Gillett (hormones)

Took notes on parts of both podcasts

Started notes 1 hour+ in

Mitophagy – subset of autophagy
Autophagy is stimulated by fasting states
When body doesn’t have enough food, it hunkers down and recycles dead old parts
Can stimulate through fasting, calorie restriction
Becoming lean and conservative

Mitochondrial dysfunction – associated with many ailments

David Sinclair – Cell journal – mitochondria are unified link in everything we know about aging

Mitophagy – how to get rid of old / defective mitochondria
Most powerful signal is diet – calorie restriction, fasting

Glucose levels in brain need to be reduced
Neurons love glucose – but why is too much glucose bad?

High glucose levels may be a symptom of metabolic dysfunction, possibly mitochondrial dysfunction

Infants – breast milk is most beneficial / healthy food source
If infants have seizures – ketogenic diet can help

Even experts don’t know what causes obesity epidemic
Believes mitochondria is the answer
Maybe epigenetic factors in womb environment

Mitochondrial DNA comes exclusively from moms DNA?
“Unequivocally no”
Mitochondria encoded in 36 genes – but majority of proteins that comprise mitochondria are encoded in nuclear DNA which is inherited from both parents

Diet, drug, alcohol use (including THC), lack of sleep – all impair mitochondrial function

Alcohol disrupts how brain uses all kinds of fuel – including glucose metabolism
If alcoholics switch to ketogenic diet – less alcohol craving, better brain metabolism, reduced brain inflammation

Rats on ketogenic diet – much more responsive to alcohol (“cheap dates”)
5x higher BAC levels!

Hypothalamus – involved in motivation and craving

Brain metabolism deficits can be corrected in short term with ketone supplements (eg, liquid ketone esters / ketone salts)

Ketogenic diet isn’t just about ketones themselves – also lowering glucose levels, ramping mitochondrial biogenesis

If metabolically healthy, ketones themselves *could* have benefit

Started 1:08 in

L-carnitine – oral only absorbs 10%
Increases androgen receptor density

Vitamin D – optimizes testosterone if deficient

Free testosterone should be ~2% of total testosterone – reference range is 1-4%

Longjack – up regulates several enzymes

Tongkat – helps synthesize testosterone; 300-1200mg/day; be careful with standardization
Andrew takes it early in day, has stimulant effect – increases free testosterone for him
No reason to cycle it
Can increase DHEA

Fadogia – increases LH (luteinizing hormone), stimulates production of sperm / testosterone
300mg / day as a safe dose or 600mg / every other day

1st trimester pregnant ladies have high HCG levels in urine

Growth hormone / IGF-1 – usually don’t need to optimize it, but sometimes in diabetics it can be dysregulated
Amino acids before bed can help with growth hormone release
Some weight training regimens can increase growth hormone

Helpful to avoid eating 2 hours before bed as general health protocol
While fasting increases growth hormone release, downstream effects are mitigated so not significant net effect