The Longevity Solution: Rediscovering Centuries-Old Secrets to a Healthy, Long Life

I really, really wanted to like this book. I have read two of Dr. Fung's other books: Obesity Code and his Guide to Fasting, articles from his IDM blog, as well as watched many talks and videos by him on youtube.I eagerly pre-ordered this book, as I was hoping to reconcile the conflicting messages from the low-carb lifestyle community and the longevity recommendations from other books, such as Blue Zones, Brain Rules for Aging Well, Spark!, and Aging with Grace (a wonderful book on the Nun Study). The book sort of answers this question by promoting a plant-based (but not vegetarian) diet (similar to Blue Zones and other evidence promoting plant-based) within confined eating windows (intermittent fasting, which brings the benefits of light ketosis). I like this idea as I find it much less constraining than ketogenic regimes, and I also find it very easy to follow.Having said that, the book felt more like a rough draft compilation of one-off recommendations (chapter after chapter about beverage choices...), mixed in with blatant product placement ads right in the text. I found this very disappointing, especially after Fung's straightforward and common-sense messages from Obesity Code and Guide to Fasting. If you are expecting the same quality of work, you will be disappointed.If you are just beginning your book research into aging well, try any of the other titles I've listed above for a more well-rounded approach. I am not afraid of getting old, I am afraid of getting *old and sick*. Other books have addressed this concern for me much more completely than Longevity Solution. If you are brand-new to Dr. Fung's work, I would recommend his other two titles- Guide to Fasting and Obesity Code (I am not overweight, but read this book because of a family history of both middle-aged weight gain and diabetes, I found it extremely useful for preventative practices.)

As Dr. Fung states in his book “You might think that evolution would perfect our damage control responses, allowing us to live forever. But evolution doesn’t care if you age or even if you survive. It ensures the survival of the species, not the individual. Once you’ve had children, your genes will survive even if you don’t, so there is no natural selection toward longer lived species.”But that doesn’t mean you can’t optimize your health approach to live as long and as healthy as possible. Clearly one of the foundational strategies of achieving a long life in which you maintain all your function into old age would be to make certain you have the healthiest diet possible.Dr. Fung has done an excellent job at summarizing the best tips in his latest book. What I found particularly fascinating was his review of how much protein you need and the timing of the protein. This is important because one of the keys to living long and healthy is to make sure you activate a process called autophagy.Autophagy is from the Greek works for self-eating and describes a process in which your body targets damaged and defective intracellular elements and sends them to lysosomes where they are digested to their constitutive elements so they can be recycled into new proteins and structures like mitochondria.By optimizing the amount and timing of your protein levels you can prevent activation of mTOR that will inhibit this valuable process of autophagy repair and rebuilding. The mTOR pathway is crucial as it is the most potent stimulus to shutting down autophagy. The key is figuring out your “Goldilock’s” dose of protein.Too little protein causes disease. Too much protein causes disease. What’s the right amount? Too little protein can lead to devastating muscle loss and if you have too much that will shut down autophagy. Dr. Fung provides extensive information on not only how to calculate your optimal protein dose but also discusses the timing. I recently interviewed him on my website and if you type in his name in my search engine you can see his video interview in which he provides some of this information in greater detail.His book also extensively reviews intermittent fasting and calorie restriction which is the only non-pharmacological method of consistently extending life span and protecting against many age related diseases. We all know that clean water is essential for health but he has a large section on how tea is the second most popular beverage in the world after water and how you can wisely use it to improve your health.His co-author Dr. Nicolantonio does a wonderful job of describing the most important nonessential amino acid, glycine and how it can serve to improve your health through increasing your glutathione levels and many vital proteins. So if you are looking for some solid recommendations to improve your health I would strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of the Longevity Solution.

So very, very disappointed that Dr Fung associated his name with this work and co-author. If I had read this before ever picking up the Obesity Code by Dr Fung, I would never have followed his work to begin with - to my detriment. The tone and message of this work, to me, is contradictory to so many teachings Dr Fung has shared, which have been flawlessly based on clear scientific research and unrivaled common-sense. Dr Fung’s simplicity and layered upon layered logic has made his books unmatched in speaking to the lay audience. This book - not even close to the same quality or caliber. It reads as if Dr Fung “phoned in “ his contributions or involvement, and has a smarmy flavor. I’m so sorry I let the fact that Dr Fung’s name was listed on this publication blind me to waiting for initial reviews before purchasing. I won’t make that mistake again.

Disappointed does not even begin to describe my feelings about this book. Clearly Dr Fung did not write the majority of this book. I get the feeling that he “sold out”, putting his name on this book for whatever fee he derived.The book is unreadable. There might be great information within, but it is buried in an unreadable hodgepodge of chapters, with no underlying theme to tie them together.It is not that the technical data is too difficult, it is just presented so poorly.If you are expecting a book on par with The Obesity Code, The Diabetes Code, or The complete guide to Intermittent Fasting, you are going to be severely disappointed.Dr Fung writing and lectures are so compelling. This book is the antithesis of that.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. I had originally forward ordered the hard copy which is not available until March in the UK, so I downloaded the kindle version which I've just finished. I found the book overly wordy with way too much detailed technical information much of which can be found in a variety of similar books. If you're looking for guidance on living a healthy lifestyle, then Dr Valter Longo's book is an easier read. You could also try a book by Lee Know, I think it's called "mitochondria and the future of health" , I found it a really good read and hugely informative. Dr Mercola's "fat for fuel" is also good.

I enjoyed Jason Fung’s other books on Diabetes and Obesity but this book is definitely written in two parts by two personalities and so doesn’t flow as well in my opinion. I was also unhappy to see prominent product placement in nearly every chapter, you wondered why one particular organic supplier or supplement maker was chosen to be mentioned, did they pay for the privilege? I have not seen that in Dr Fung’s previous books and it really put me off this book. Overall the content was nothing new for me so this one got deleted after reading...

Liked the format and the explanations for the theories backed up with the references.Was a bit disappointed with the product placement. May detract from the credibility.Overall a good, informative read.

Disappointing. Not much new information and rather derivative. Feels very much like a book trying to cash in on a bandwagon. I like Dr Fungs other books but this is very different The others ring true and are based on his clinical experience. This appears to be about making a quick buck.

I have read Dr. Fung's other books and have been amazed by what I have "learned", until today. This book has a passage that is such a huge and glaring contradiction to everything else Dr. Fung has been claiming, I actually took the time to question it in an email listed in the Contact Us portion of his website:Message Body:I have just read three of your books, and am in the process of reading the Longevity Solution. Up until today I was amazed with what I was reading and urging everyone to read them. BUT, I just read this passage and almost threw away my Kindle in frustration:Highlighted in location 1456 "As much as 25 percent of the weight lost in low-calorie diets is muscle, (36) which can sometimes be mitigated by eating more protein.(37)This is a COMPLETE CONTRADICTION to what you have previously published, and now I am questioning everything else that I have read!In THREE other books, he insists that your body will NEVER consume muscle unless all of your other fat stores are depleted, that your body is far too smart, etc, etc, etc Fasting will not consume muscle unless you have no other stores, etc, etc, etc, BUT a low calorie diet can cause you to lose 25% muscle??? Isn't fasting low calorie???? This is the response I got...."Dr Fung does not endorse low calorie diets. He recommends low carb diets. This book was jointly written and the comment about muscle loss is specifying a range (which could be none as well)."THREE other books convinced me my body was far too smart to burn muscle while fasting for 7, 14, 21 days and beyond. This book tells me low calorie can cause me lose 25% muscle with low calorie, and this email tells me they have no idea!! Could be none, could be 25%, or could be none?!?!Jointly written? Did he read this book prior to putting his name on it?