WHY IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT METABOLIC HEALTH

Scientists have harped on the perks of a STRONG METABOLISM for decades. Now, a new source of ENERGY is joining them: INFLUENCERS, PODCASTERS, AND BIOHACKERS.

- ANDREW ZALESKI

Calley Means (above, left) and Casey Means, MD (above, right), with Joe Rogan. Casey's company, Levels, uses an app (right) to track multiple factors in metabolic health, including A1c and triglycerides.

AS YOU MAY have noticed, the term metabolic health is all over social media, hyped by influencers, credentialed doctors, and crafty marketers who want to sell you the next book or tool that's going to right-size your metabolic health and fix your whole life.

Your metabolism involves so much more than your weight, science now knows. It's the engine that drives every chemical process that happens in our cells: movement, core temperature, the body's ability to fight off disease, how fast aging happens. Get your metabolism in order, the influencers say, and you'll have more energy, increased focus, less stress, and a longer life overall. Plus, okay, you might even lose a pound or two (or 10, or more!). Surely all this can't be true. Right?

Let's hope it is true, because the most recent data available shows that more than 30 percent of American adults have metabolic syndrome-and its prevalence is rising. What's more, a 2022 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that among 55,081 American adults, just 6.8 percent "had optimal cardiometabolic health."

So the field is ready for disruption.

ENTER THE METABOLIC DISRUPTORS

PERHAPS NO ONE has done more to bring metabolic health into public conversation over the past year than the Stanford-educated brother-sister duo Calley Means and Casey Means, MD. The siblings coauthored that 2024 best seller Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health. "I think we have a crisis of chronic disease in the country, and it's just demonstratively tied to metabolic health," says Calley, a 39-year-old former consultant for food and pharma companies.