Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Full show notes: bengreenfieldlife.com/pharma
In this special repeat episode, Dr. Sandra Kaufmann breaks down which pharmaceuticals mimic the effects of things you already do for your health: what replaces a sauna session, what replaces a fast, what replaces a cold plunge (use code BENFORGE for $500 off select products), and what she takes with meals to blunt the damage from glucose spikes. I'm re-airing it now because of a new Nature paper finding that lithium is a naturally occurring brain nutrient, and that losing it may be one of the earliest steps toward Alzheimer's, at a dose in exactly the range Dr. Kaufmann described on this show years earlier.
You'll hear why she prefers pioglitazone over metformin for autophagy, how a Japanese gastritis drug connects to Alzheimer's, and how she worked her way up on an emergency blood pressure medication, starting at a dose that nearly knocked her off her feet and climbing to 100mg with no effect at all. The centerpiece is lithium (code BGL10 for 10% off): why the doses hidden inside popular nootropics are a fraction of what she considers useful, and everything it appears to do beyond mood, from controlling a pore in your mitochondria to building bone and growing new neurons. You'll also get her honest take on gene therapy versus pharmaceuticals, why peptides underperform in an older cell, and which molecule finally knocked astaxanthin off the top of her ranking system.
0:00 Introduction
1:09 The lithium news that made me re-air this
2:25 There's a drug for everything
5:58 Your doctor will say no
7:19 Fasting benefits without fasting
8:39 The drug that beats metformin
11:48 Why she won't do gene therapy
13:12 A sauna in a pill
19:43 The drug nobody will take
24:26 Six ways to blunt a glucose load
27:14 Longevity doses, not patient doses
30:51 How much lithium she actually takes
35:55 What lithium does besides mood
40:24 Your NAD timing is probably wrong
45:30 Why peptides fail in old cells
52:02 What finally beat astaxanthin
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Full show notes: bengreenfieldlife.com/pharma
In this special repeat episode, Dr. Sandra Kaufmann breaks down which pharmaceuticals mimic the effects of things you already do for your health: what replaces a sauna session, what replaces a fast, what replaces a cold plunge (use code BENFORGE for $500 off select products), and what she takes with meals to blunt the damage from glucose spikes. I'm re-airing it now because of a new Nature paper finding that lithium is a naturally occurring brain nutrient, and that losing it may be one of the earliest steps toward Alzheimer's, at a dose in exactly the range Dr. Kaufmann described on this show years earlier.
You'll hear why she prefers pioglitazone over metformin for autophagy, how a Japanese gastritis drug connects to Alzheimer's, and how she worked her way up on an emergency blood pressure medication, starting at a dose that nearly knocked her off her feet and climbing to 100mg with no effect at all. The centerpiece is lithium (code BGL10 for 10% off): why the doses hidden inside popular nootropics are a fraction of what she considers useful, and everything it appears to do beyond mood, from controlling a pore in your mitochondria to building bone and growing new neurons. You'll also get her honest take on gene therapy versus pharmaceuticals, why peptides underperform in an older cell, and which molecule finally knocked astaxanthin off the top of her ranking system.
0:00 Introduction
1:09 The lithium news that made me re-air this
2:25 There's a drug for everything
5:58 Your doctor will say no
7:19 Fasting benefits without fasting
8:39 The drug that beats metformin
11:48 Why she won't do gene therapy
13:12 A sauna in a pill
19:43 The drug nobody will take
24:26 Six ways to blunt a glucose load
27:14 Longevity doses, not patient doses
30:51 How much lithium she actually takes
35:55 What lithium does besides mood
40:24 Your NAD timing is probably wrong
45:30 Why peptides fail in old cells
52:02 What finally beat astaxanthin
Shop My Curated Marketplace of Vetted Products! - shoplifemarket.com
Sign up for a FREE Coaching Call! - jointriumphcoaching.com
Check out my FREE newsletter! - bengreenfieldlife.com/newsletter
🔗My Website: bengreenfieldlife.com
🔗My Podcast: bengreenfieldlife.com/podcast
🔗My Books: shopbengreenfieldlife.com/collections/books
Connect with me: ⬇️
Instagram instagram.com/bengreenfieldfitness
Facebook facebook.com/BGFitness
X twitter.com/bengreenfield
TikTok tiktok.com/@bengreenfield
