Functional Medicine Is the Cake: Longevity Labs, HRT, Peptides, DEXA Scans & What Actually Is Worth Your Money | Dr. Robin Berzin

WATCH THE FULL-LENGTH EPISODE HERE ON YOUTUBE! 

I've known Robin Berzin since before Parsley Health existed - since a conversation in the Arizona desert where she was telling me about pairing functional medicine with technology and AI before anyone was using either of those terms in the same sentence. Watching what she's built over the past decade, I can honestly say: she saw it before anyone else did.

We recorded this one live at Eudemonia in front of an audience, and it has the energy of two colleagues who've been doing this work long enough to be honest about what works and what doesn't. The longevity space, we both agreed, has a real problem - not the awareness wave, which is wonderful, but the idea that you can biohack your way to health without ever addressing the foundations. Functional medicine is the cake. The plasmapheresis, the cryotherapy, the peptides - that's the icing. You can't skip the cake. And the amount of people spending four thousand dollars a month on peptides without having a doctor look at their actual labs is something neither of us can let go without saying something.

Robin walked through the core labs Parsley has used across 50,000 patients over ten years - ApoB instead of total cholesterol, hs-CRP, fasting insulin, fasting glucose - and the more advanced tests she's now recommending: full body DEXA at 35 and every year thereafter (not 65, as current guidelines suggest), whole body MRI for early detection, and liquid biopsy cancer panels like Galleri by Grail. She also shared her own osteopenia diagnosis - at 44 - and the full protocol she's on, which is one of the more practical and grounded things I've heard on the show. And we spent real time on HRT and the FDA removing the black box warning this week, which is a bigger deal than most people realize. 120 million women in the EMR data. 60% lower risk of dementia, breast cancer, and heart disease. Only 5% of American women are currently prescribed HRT. Those numbers don't add up, and we talked about why.

A few of my favorite things we cover in this episode: 

• Parsley Health's 10th anniversary: how a WeWork with six people became the largest functional medicine longevity clinic in the US
• Functional medicine as the "cake" in longevity - and why plasmapheresis, peptides, and cryotherapy are just the icing
• The DIY biohacking trap: spending $4,000/month on peptides without seeing a doctor who knows your case
• AI for your health - where it works, where it breaks down, and why the prompt matters more than the platform
• The lab panel Parsley has used for 10 years and 50,000 patients: ApoB, hs-CRP, fasting insulin, glucose, and why total cholesterol is a nearly meaningless number
• Why Dr. Berzin tells every patient to throw away the scale and get a full body DEXA scan - and why ACOG's guidance to wait until 65 is wildly outdated
• Whole body MRI (Prenuvo): how she went from never having one to tracking thyroid nodules and advocating for it every few years
• Lp(a) as an independent cardiac risk factor: what's coming in the drug pipeline and what to do right now
• The HRT revolution: the FDA removing the black box warning, the 120 million patient study showing 60% lower risk of dementia, breast cancer, and heart disease, and why only 5% of women are currently prescribed it
• Osteopenia protocol: heavy lifting, 0.7g protein per pound, calcium, magnesium, vitamin D3/K2, strontium, AlgaeCal Plus, and estrogen as a synergist
• Intermittent fasting, metabolic flexibility, and autophagy - what a 16-hour eating window actually does
• The MAHA movement: a nuanced take on disentangling the health mission from the politics

Episode Sponsors:

• You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to fatty15.com/WILLCOLE and using code WILLCOLE at checkout.
• AG1 has over 50,000 verified 5-star reviews and comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee. Visit DRINKAG1.COM/WILLCOLE to get a FREE AG1 Flavor Sampler and a bottle of Vitamin D3+K2 in your AG1 Welcome Kit when you first subscribe, a $72 value.
• Go to AvocadoGreenMattress.com/ABW and check out their mattress and bedding sale!
• Visit TM.org to find a certified teacher near you. That’s TM.org.
• Get 15% off your first order when you visit Coyuchi.com/ABW!

Products Mentioned:  

• Parsley Health 
• Parsley Symptom Index
• Parsley Protein Powder 
• Prenuvo whole body MRI
• Ketotarian by Dr. Will Cole (recommended by Dr. Berzin as her most-recommended patient book)

Happy listening, and we hope you learned a little bit more on the art of being well!

If you like what you hear, please rate and review the podcast, hit subscribe and pass it along to a friend.

In Health,

Dr. Will Cole