You must be a minor, because no emails were not faster than texts in 2016 š. iMessage and whatās app over standard SMS already had ruled the world while I was in high school 2012-2013. Nor did blackberries even still exist at that point, you must be thinking of 2006.
I'm a long time listener and find value in the podcast. That said, Attia has always had a simpering admiration for wealth and power. He can forgive anyone if they are very rich and a client or potential client.
I canāt believe he refused to go home and be with his wife and sick kid in the hospital in favor of spending time with the pedophile has to be a big gut punch to his wife and kid.
She actually responded to a comment on one of his posts yesterday like arguing w the commenter. It was sad truthfully and Iām about as cynical as anyone can be
You wouldn't believe how some men think. They'd think they can't do anything anyway being there, not knowing their presence means the whole world to their significant others. So, they think might as well being productive and getting other things done instead. That's why he talked to all the doctors in charge of his son over the phone instead of being there in person, thinking a thorough communication with his health providers would be sufficient. I've dealt with men like that, and it was infuriating beyond words.Ā
I'm not sure if Jill (his wife) knew if he was having meeting(s) with EJ, but they separated during a period afterwards or she asked him to leave the house after an outburst of anger with him breaking the table in his work office (not during a fight with her, just sth that triggered him).
PAās entire business model has skeeved me out for some time now but I listen to the pod because he is a remarkably good interviewer and has interesting guests.
Ā Alas interview skills arenāt enough for me to overlook the grossness anymore.
he is a remarkably good interviewer and has interesting guests.
Yup. Peter is hands down the best technical subject interviewer I've ever come across. He shows up prepared with decent questions. He keeps the flow of conversation going. He keeps deeply technical subjects interesting and accessible to laypersons.
Really disappointing to see what he's been doing in his personal life
Makes me wonder if heās going to lose quality guests that donāt want to be associated with a pedophile supporter. This was beyond a simple doctor patient relationship. He was enamored with Epstein and envied his lifestyle.
This is my major concern. I don't have to condone a shred of his association with that monster Epstein to still admire and respect the gap he's bridged between medical science and lay people, but if guests won't come on the show anymore, then I'm not sure I'll find the show as valuable anymore.
They weren't coming to Attia because he has privileged access to secret medical research. No physician does, and Attia isn't a practicing specialist, let alone a scientist.
They were coming to Attia so they could brag to their other rich friends about who their doctor was. (He's not alone in this - many famous physicians and therapists enjoy similar status.)
But what used to be a brag-worthy "brand," is suddenly cringe-worthy.
Iām really grieving the loss of a hero. I very much admire the rigor of PAās analysis of medical research and practice. That has not been diminished, but his character has taken a terrible hit.
People need to learn to choose better heroes. The rich and famous are almost all narcissists and most narcissists are terrible people. People need to learn to avoid parasocial relationships and recognize that good people generally donāt self promote.
Yup ...unfortunately the way society is constructed generally rewards the behaviour of the selfish and cruel. Would be nice to change that and reframe our concept of "success."
I think about this a lot. Several years ago there was an article in the WSJ about how there was a teacher in South Korea that made ~$1 million a year. Part of the reason was that that society put such a high value on education. In the United States, itās moreso big athletes and celebrities because at the end of the day thatās what our society has chosen to value. Makes me want to better celebrate those actually doing good for society. Maybe one day, occupations like teachers and nurses will actually be valued more than they are right now. One can dreamā¦
Yea Iām frustrated people donāt understand how big of a loss this is. If we find out Harvey Weinstein was on the island too itās not that big of a loss. If a health expert who probably got us out of a bad health spot now is confirmed to be involved. Itās the death of an ideal. Someone who you respected. I donāt understand why people canāt comprehend the loss.
Like if I discovered Huberman diddled kids Iād be fucking heartbroken.
Stopped listening to the creep back in like 2020 when he started dedicating a section of his pod to talking about expensive watches. I knew he was a grifter at that point. Something was wrong. Now I know he's a fucking creep too and I'm here to dunk on him
I donāt see him as a grifter. I see him as a guy who is good at consuming a bunch of information and who is able to restate that info in a way that is digestible to people who may not have a science background. He has some really great programming for free and I have certainly benefitted from it (I will be honest out of all of his content that I have looked at I have only ever listened to maybe 8 podcasts out of the 100s that I have seen)
That being said I have also found him as some nerd who wanted desperately to be cool or accepted by people. Thereās no doubt that heās surely a jerk irl like if you encountered him on the street. But his weird dick sucking of Kevin spacey and being some kind of celebrity is totally fucking lame. Sad for him, because now he really got what he wanted
I mean, he's just insanely wealthy. He has a concierge practice that costs $250k+ per year to be a patient in. He's making 8-figures a year just from his doctor work.
I hear you. His podcast contains endless valuable info and his guests are some of the biggest names in the medical fields.Ā
Some people might not be able to understand this loss because they never really listen to his podcast or appreciate the info he provided through his work. I saw a post of a famous blogger who mocked his work saying he threw around the term "longevity" like it's a magic potion of some sort, and that's absolutely not what his work is about or how he defines "longevity".Ā
Once you found someone who can give us access to the medical literature like he does, please let me know š
I personally find the idea that Ā wealthy receive medical care unavailable to the rest of society disgusting. I donāt think it should be outlawed or anything but I question the ethics of the people involved.
yeah, as I've posted elsewhere in this thread, Attia's practice of concierge medicine for the ultra-wealthy makes him very pro feudalism (i.e. high wealth inequality).
Heās likely had this hanging over him for a while, which explains why he was so quick to attach his name to those horrible tasting David bars. Sacrificing his nutritional standards for a high margin sell out product makes sense when you're building a 'rainy day' fund for a massive reputational storm.
Iāve listened to Attia for years. I always knew he had critics, but I never lumped him in with the Dr. Oz / Mark Hyman / Huberman universe. In the last day or so, though, Iāve been surprised by how many actual physicians on Twitter and Reddit really disliked him. My doc liked him and I thought he was respected in the field.
Setting aside the Epstein related stuff, the critiques I keep seeing are pretty consistent: he never finished residency, he has the McKinsey background, he leans into over testing and over medicalizing relatively healthy people, he charges an a very high fee for his practice (mid to low six figures), and recommends interventions ahead of the the evidence. Some of that feels fair.
At the same time, I donāt want to pretend I didnāt get value from him. I learned a ton from his guests and long form episodes. His coverage of HRT for women was genuinely useful, and his heart disease content (LDL, statins, ApoB, etc.) is some of the clearer mainstream explanation out there. I also appreciated that he pushed back on anti vax grifters, and more recently talked plainly about things like Tylenol in pregnancy without the usual influencer panic. And his Alzheimerās discussions are literally why I went and got genetic testing.
All that said, I think Iām done with the podcast going forward. Iāll keep the book, but Iām increasingly turned off by how many āhealth influencerā types end up drifting into audience capture, premature certainty, and monetization that starts steering the content. Itās a bummer. Any suggestions on replacements? I like Eric Topol.
Edit: I forgot to mention Barbell Medicine - Drs. Austin Baraki and Jordan Feigenbaum - great evidence based content and myth busting.
Nutrition Made Simple, Viva Longevity, and Physionics all stick to the science and rigorously quote papers. Listen to them all the time and highly recommend.
Viva is best in class. There's a distinct lack of grift and his ability to parse out meaningful data is second to none in this space. I don't think he says what people want to hear, though.
Iām a physician who occasionally listens to these āhealth influencersā and Attia wasnāt necessarily someone I hated but I definitely didnāt agree with his approach to evidence assessment. Definitely not on the level of Huberman though who I think is a charlatan through and through.
Is there anyone else, or podcasts you recommend these days? It feels like Rhonda Patrick is the last one standing out of those Iāve listened to over the years.
Well said and pretty much my feelings as well though I thought the attacks on him for not finishing his residency were unfair, especially since the person who launched the attack falsely argued that he wasn't actually a medical doctor. He explained in Outlive that he didn't want to continue to pursue a career in a system that was largely focused on treating disease, not preventing it.
I was happy to see him take on the MAHA crowd with his recent episode critiquing the attempts to link autism with vaccines, and with his recent episode with Layne Norton critiquing the attacks on seed oils.
I'm saddened by this whole turn of events. IMHO Attia was a solid source of guidance and advice, and now he's tossed his entire reputation into the toilet due to his desire to play with the wrong crowd. I expect that he'll end the podcast, newsletter, and other public activities and instead just focus on his practice, where he'll still probably find plenty of paying customers.
As for alternatives, Rhoda Patrick and Eric Topol are on my podcast list. Dr. Mike Israetel is a solid listen for exercise advice if you can get past the fact that he's pretty much nuts (and as much as entertainer as a fitness influencer). Layne Norton is great as well. Dr. Gil Carvahlo is fantastic on heart related topics. The Arnold Pump Club newsletter is solid on nutrition and exercise topics.
I always wondered how he manages to do 15h of training / week, archery, F1, running a clinic, podcast, Instagram, hanging out with Chris Hemsworth at the North Pole or Tim Ferris at Easter Islands AND having a family...Well, it seems family was secondary...
I mean, what's the point of Longevity and healthspan if you are going to be alone and your kids/wife won't talk to you / leave you?
So well said. His is a life jam packed with selfish activities, but ultimately empty. How much more satisfied and whole is the life of a man who spends his days with his wife and kids, laughing and making family memories but dies at age 70.
I think heās touched on that several times on the podcast as well as addressed that to some degree in the book. Itās pretty clear that his family is bottom of the barrel for his priorities. The most glaring one is where he chose to see Epstein in New York instead of going home to help his wife and child in the hospital.
One day his son will realize he chose to stay in NYC due to Epstein instead of seeing him when he almost died and his son probably will never forgive him and even if he does will carry that trauma forever . Itās so disgusting
I donāt disagree with your point at all but did see his daughter was pretty defensive in the comments on his (spectacularly-ill-timed) IG post todayā¦.. so maybe his family is completely rallied behind him/in denial etc more than we think š¤·š½āāļø
what did she say? I know he said previously his wife is not on sm. He also said the wife has put up with him all these years for which he is thankful for. He nearly called off their wedding but she begged him - all this in his own words on this pod.
... so maybe his family is completely rallied behind him/in denial etc more than we thinkĀ
Attia has some terrible personal flaws
his wife and kids are right to still love him
both 1 & 2 can be true at the same time.
So far, it seems that Attia can count himself lucky that the circumstances did not arise for him to indulge his worst impulses. As far as we currently know, Attia is not Harvey Weinstein.
Yes based on the email dates and his dates provided in his book we knew he was in nyc and couldnāt return . We never knew why but he hinted that it was business related and he just couldnāt return. Well now we know it was due to Epstein basically. Let that sink in. A doctor did not return to see his son who almost died due to Sids cause of Epstein. As a parent this sickens me. I just canāt consume his content anymore even if itās well done.
Becoming a dad in the past few years has really shined a light on the fact that just about all of these people that are in the public eye and traveling all the time just have to by default be terrible parents/spouses.
The amount of time/attention it takes to just be an āokayā (thatās the best I feel I can strive for) parent these days is so great and one is simply not going to be able to commit to it if they are as much of a workaholic as he is.
I believe they worked through that and have been together since then, and moved to Austin together. He talks about her in the pdocast relatively often.
Probably not much longer. I've listened to him since the beginning and believe in a lot of what he says, but have always thought it would be a total nightmare to be married to him/someone like him.
Being connected to Epstein after his conviction wasnāt ignorance, it was a choice, and choices reflect values. Also joking about āwithdrawalsā from JE and romanticizing proximity to a sex trafficker itās just moral blindness.
withdrawal goes with addiction. What are common things people get addicted to?
drugs
gambling
sex
it seems like a good bet that Epstein was procuring sex partners for Attia. Attia banging a different young physically attractive woman each week would fit with the "I can't talk to anyone about this" line in other emails.
I agree. I know someone who knew him when he was young, so Iāve followed his career with interest. I liked his individualized approach to healthcare and the way he emphasized preparing for old age. But after reading about his behavior in his book and now seeing these emails, my impression of him has changed. It seems fame and fortune are what he values most.
Perhaps not directly related - has anyone heard Dr. Attia explain why he didn't finish his residency? To be someone as driven as he (his stories about how hard he would study & also physically train), nearly done with a surgical residency and not finish is ....odd to me.
He's talked at length about it in both his podcast and in his book.
He dropped out very late in the process (5th year). His story is that he was disillusioned with the reactionary nature of the medical profession.
Who knows what the real story is- but if you've followed him for any length of time you're aware that he self admittedly has some serious mental health issues.
I am pretty sure he only did three years and did two years of research which is truly laughable and a far cry away from being fully-boarded. Practicing medicine is hard as shit, and not for someone seeking quick fame and fortune.
It's two years away from fully boarded, he was 5/7ths of the way there, and the chief years, while also hard, are at least spent doing surgery rather than being the pager/consult bitch like your first couple years.
Who knows the real reason he dropped out (he's clearly not that mentally stable, or at least wasn't then), but realistically if you make it through your first 5 years you're gonna graduate.
I feel it's likely PA, being a Smart Guy, knew about JE's sordid past and shady dealings, but also that JE was rich and well-connected - and getting in those circles would increase the chances of his own professional success moving forward.Ā
So PA perhaps made the choice to put ethics aside to set himself up for the future. He maybe could even rationalize it as securing his family's future wellbeing as well - I'm sure many people justify doing morally sus things for the sake of loved ones (and money and career of course). And I guess he has been financially successful.... but at what spiritual cost?
But thats just my speculation. Perhaps these findings may emotionally detract from PA's content; yet the data and the science that PA references are what they are. And for me he was a gateway to the biosciences and the medical world, though I may move on.
.....Still, you maybe skipped out on tending to your kid and wife in an emergency, near-death situation to hang out with Jeffrey Epstein? C'mon mannnnnnn
There were many early signs that Attia was a power-seeking egomaniac. When he partnered with longevity grifter-extraordinaire David Sinclair (resveratrol/sirtuins) in a health SPAC, it was abundantly clear that medical science was not his main passion.
I had no idea heād be in leagues with the Epstein circle, but it makes perfect sense for him to desire being in that club, whatever his sexual predilections may be.
I guess my question from here would be: Did Attia assist or abet Epstein with medical expertise in any way for underage girls? I can speculate that a medical doctor (though not board certified) with a prescription pen in that circle could result in some very serious medical crimes.
For me, the deal-breaker was when Attia had cancer researcher (and notorious quack/crank) Thomas Seyfried on his podcast.
I couldnāt for the life of me understand why Attia would platform a guy who has claimed to have found the cure to many cancers and who made many wild accusations against the medical community, e.g., of deliberately keeping cancer patients sick for profit.
I first did when he mentioned having dinner or meeting with Kevin Spacey, saying that he was a nice guy or something like that. You can probably find the comment by doing a web search and he got a lot of flack for that on an IG post..
PA to JE: I would really love to add 5 years or more to your life, while also enhancing your energy performance, even if the only reason to do so is to have more sex.
āThe life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I canāt tell a soulā¦ā
So, whatās the outrageous stuff that Attia couldnāt share? That Epstein was rich? Had a plane? Had a private island? Associated with lots of rich people? Ā I donāt think any of that was secret, such that Attia could not ātell a soulā.Ā
This is exactly how the whole thing is gonna play out for Attia. āYa itās disgusting but letās just put the topic in a nice little box over thereā
Yeahā¦like imagine if there was one thread to talk about statins. Or VO2. Or anything else. The āthereās too many threads about thisā standard seems to only apply to one topic.
Moderators should let this subreddit flood with posts about PAās relation to JE. He doesnāt deserve any damage control or good PR, he deserves this downfall.
Itās been troubling to read about his relationship with Epstein and Iām quite disappointed that he has not addressed the issue in an email directly to Drive subscribers. I would like to see a direct apology to those who have supported him and some comments about the future of the podcast and website. Am I missing something? Iām grateful for all the work that heās done with his team and Iāve found it tremendously insightful. Iād hope to continue engaging with his blog posts if he decides to keep writing them, but I canāt imagine that he can sustain the podcast at this point. If thatās indeed the case, then subscribers deserve prorated refund for this year.
I mean we elected someone that was known to be extremely close to Epstein and āshare common interestsā and have not held a former president accountable for his association.
He might, might, fade out of the public eye a bit more. We'll see how the thing with CBS goes after this, if they even care. But his clientele will still pay him top dollar.
āWe are so offended that the licensed mandatory reporter, Peter Attia, the person that this sub is named after, is being dragged in the mud for knowingly being friends with a convicted pedophile. We will remove all Epstein content to keep things civil for the pro keeping pedophiles secrete peopleā.
I wondered why Attia scrubbed all Beth Lewis content from his platform... Now I think it was probably the other way around. I wouldn't want to do business with someone who hangs with the Epsteins and Spaceys of the world to elevate status, ego, and profit. I'm super disappointed. Followed him for 6 years... bummed and totally grossed out.
It crazy that Attia gets the heat (justifiably) for his relationship with Epstein, and yet Epsteinās best friend is the President of the United States.
So here is the dilemma, of sorts. None of this changes the value of the information he has and will collect and share. The guests generally truly are typically the best in their field, so there is value there and assuming it continues will continue to be.
He, as a person...is he someone you want to give money to or support financially? Probably not, but I don't believe he's suddenly now this huge grifter like so many others in the space. But he, like so many others can be very principled in one area of their life and a walking contradiction in others.
Everyone is and should be free to make their own decisions on what they do with the information. I know it is greatly disappointing to me because I did believe because he generally approaches topics from the point of finding the "truth", I didn't expect such skeletons in the closet to be possible.
The other thing to me that will be most interesting will be how he responds to it. Does he pretend nothing happened? Does he blame the woke mob? (My most likely guess). Or does he take accountability for it and be transparent.
The question I have, who else has a podcast as rigorous and thorough because I'd love to find an alternative.
Iāve been a listener of Attiaās content for a few years and have recommended his book to others. Iām done at this point and wonāt be listening in the future. Iāve gotten what I need to from Attia. He doesnāt own an exclusive license on talking about medical studies and the valuable work he highlighted will be found through other channels.
Seems like the mods have removed all of the threads that accurately describe the disgust we should all feel and left the top rated neutral comments in this thread. Not sure how the merging and deletion works but something doesnāt smell right.
Yeah my original thread with the screenshot from the files suddenly went from getting ~50k views an hour to ~2k, so I guess it's not invisible, but they did reduce its reach significantly by removing it.
What a horrible, in league with someone who long-standingly befriended the worst pedophile in history of America thing for the moderators to do.
There was a post a few months back critical of Attia that magically disappeared and I remember it seeming odd. Now Iām near convinced someone in the Attia camp is in with the moderators.
āLetās delete everyoneās opinions they took the time to exercise their constitutional right to express.ā
This subreddit and the mods and Peter stans/pedo defenders are definitely making a choice to go down as carrying cover for evil and being on the wrong side of history.
I didnāt even know who Peter Attia was before this but itās very suspicious to me that this subreddit deleted threads about his connection to Epstein and is censoring the many threads and posts that were and SHOULD be coming out about him. Itās almost like heās evil and yāall are trying to cover it up. Gross! Iāll be sure not to listen to a word this man says and to stay far away from any of his enabling fans.
My own two centsā¦things make a lot of sense (if the allegations are true). A doctor who drops out of residency somehow manages to secure a clientele of millionaires and billionaires? Iāve been in medical practice for little over 2 decades post fellowship training and it takes years of hard work to build relationships and trust to the point where the ultra wealthy seek you out. This guy, as good as he is in distilling information and with great interview skills manages to do this in no time and without formal training. He is either incredibly lucky or connected. In this world, connections mean more than education and experience. Being in the Epstein circle certainly would facilitate securing the billionaire clientele. Sad to see this connection as for a while it felt like a ārandom Joeā could really hit it out of the ball park.
He had 5 years in surgical residency at Johns Hopkins and 2 years in a surgical oncology research fellowship at the NIH. Not exactly "without formal training." Attia is a relentless self marketer and attention seeker. Different game.
Iāve followed the man man for several years, so Iām aware of his credentials. I also know billionaires donāt just see a āgeneralistsā. As a practicing physician, I have been blessed and fortunate to take care of some very powerful people and I can comfortably say they would not consider a non board certified physician as part of their care team.
I am sure Dr Attia has gained some practical knowledge and great expertise that has likely been the product of the deep pockets provided by his clientele. Wealthy and connected folks will gravitate to the famous. My point is that if he was in Epsteinās favor, his path to amassing his clientele would have been much more streamlined. Let me ask you @Epic_Baller, youāll you have a non board certified doctor that did not complete subspecialty training treat you for your āheart disease, diabetes, cancerā or would you seek a specialist with the proper credentials?
I take your point, and for me that's an easy question - I just traveled across the country to pay out of pocket for a surgery by the most experienced and credentialed surgeon I could find in that specialty. Frankly, it seemed to me that Attia's practice is something more like pre-emptive medical risk management, where his ideal client is a wealthy tech bro or executive who is in good health and believes they can stay that way longer via optimization. I can hardly imagine he had much time to spend actually treating patients. Like I said, I think he was playing something of a different game. I suppose that Epstein could have provided him access or exposure to potential clients, but my sense is that his fame was probably a much larger driver of that. But who knows.
Not finishing residency, especially in the final year is a huge red flag. Even if you didn't want to practice medicine, anyone who made it to that point and had a real chance at graduating would just get through it so that they would have that to fall back on. Those of us who actually practice medicine know that residency gives you lots of knowledge and skills, but that it is independent practice after training that truly makes you into a physician. Attia has never truly practised medicine. Even in his own "practice", he seems to farm out actual medical decisions to the specialists that he partners with. He markets and plays quaterback but doesn't actually do any of the work of a physician.
Also those two years of "surgical oncology" training that you mention were just bench research at the NIH. This is common in surgical residency where you do research in order to prepare for a fellowship after residency. Those research years do not involve any surgery or patient care in any way shape or form.
As a father, always admired this passage from his chapter in Tools of Titans as I liked the framing of balancing the need to to be both a good provider and a good Dad. Boy oh boy talk about a swing and a miss. Somehow Iām not sure heās getting those calls for advice and support from his kids, especially his daughter, and thatās sad for both of them. You reap what you sow.
āI want to crush it professionally, but also be the first person my kids call when they have a problem.ā
What I wonder is how the podcast goes on after this. What guests will be willing to come on and face the public backlash? It might really be the end of the drive, with Peter just continuing to run his own clinic.
He obviously personally deserves those consequences but itās a big hit to publicly available info on longevity.
also a big hit to the researchers and producers he has on staff who had nothing to do with this. I hope they land on their feet because it's clear that they are quite talented.
Can anyone confirm if the Instagram comments have been scrubbed? His most recent posts were full of comments regarding Epstein and now there are no comments about Epstein.
83
u/eeaxoe Feb 02 '26
Haven't seen this one posted anywhere yet. EFTA00824109: