What if the best way to live a long life isn't a longevity hack — but preventing chronic illness in the first place?
In this live episode from the Institute for Functional Medicine Annual Conference, James Maskell sits down with Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, a naturopathic physician and longtime functional medicine researcher, to talk about her groundbreaking work on reversing biological age.
Dr. Fitzgerald shares the story behind her 2018 clinical study, which found that a diet and lifestyle intervention reversed biological age by over three years — a result that stunned the field, since even epigenetic clock pioneer Steve Horvath didn't believe bioage reversal was possible in humans. She explains how follow-up research traced most of that effect to polyphenol-dense "methylation adaptogens," and why she's now pursuing an NIH grant to understand whether polyphenols can move the needle on both exposomic aging (environmentally driven) and deeper, programmed aging (the kind tied to Yamanaka factor biology).
The conversation also covers the longevity summit she hosted last year to unite the functional and longevity medicine communities, her advice for practitioners building a career in this space — community, clarity of purpose, and in-person connection — and her take on where direct-to-consumer lab testing and wearables fit into the future of patient care.
Whether you're a clinician, researcher, or simply curious about the science of aging, this episode offers a grounded look at what it actually takes to move the needle on healthspan and lifespan.
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About the Guest:
Dr. Kara Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on epigenetics and longevity using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her research and practice. She has published two clinical studies on the potential bioage-reversing effects of an 8-week DNA methylation-supportive diet and lifestyle in middle-aged men and women in the journal Aging.
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