Huberman Lab
Transform Your Metabolic Health & Longevity by Knowing Your Unique Biology | Dr. Michael Snyder
08 Sep 2025
My guest is Michael Snyder, PhD, professor of genetics at Stanford and an expert in understanding why people respond differently to various foods, supplements, behavioral and prescription interventions. We discuss how to optimize your health and lifespan according to what type of glucose responder you are, which genes you express, your lifestyle and other factors. Dr. Snyder also explains the key ages when you need to be particularly mindful about following certain health practices. We also discuss how people respond in opposite ways to different fiber types. This episode ought to be of interest and use to anyone seeking to understand their unique biological needs and how to go about meeting those needs. Sponsors AGZ by AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Wealthfront*: https://wealthfront.com/huberman David: https://davidprotein.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman Function: https://functionhealth.com/huberman *This experience may not be representative of the experience of other clients of Wealthfront, and there is no guarantee that all clients will have similar experiences. Cash Account is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC. The Annual Percentage Yield (“APY”) on cash deposits as of December 27, 2024, is representative, subject to change, and requires no minimum. Funds in the Cash Account are swept to partner banks where they earn the variable APY. Promo terms and FDIC coverage conditions apply. Same-day withdrawal or instant payment transfers may be limited by destination institutions, daily transaction caps, and by participating entities such as Wells Fargo, the RTP® Network, and FedNow® Service. New Cash Account deposits are subject to a 2-4 day holding period before becoming available for transfer. Timestamps 00:00 Michael Snyder 03:33 Healthy Glucose Range, Continuous Glucose Monitors CGM, Hemoglobin A1c 09:02 Individual Variability & Food Choice, Glucose Spikes & Sleepiness 12:18 Sponsors: AGZ by AG1 & Wealthfront 15:16 Glucose Spikes, Tools: Post-Meal Brisk Walk; Soleus “Push-Ups”; Exercise Snacks 21:06 Glucose Dysregulation, Diabetes & Sub-Phenotypes, Tool: Larger Morning Meal 28:34 Exercise Timing, Muscle Insulin Resistance 30:49 Diabetes Subtyping, Weight, Glucose Control; Incretins 35:41 GLP-1 Agonists, Diabetes, Tool: Muscle Maintenance & Resistance Training 38:40 Metformin, Berberine, Headaches 41:01 GLP-1 Agonists, Cognition, Longevity, Tool: Habits Support Medication; Cycling 47:41 Subcutaneous vs Visceral Fat, Organ Stress 49:10 Sponsors: David & Eight Sleep 51:58 Meal Timing & Sleep, Tools: Post-Dinner Walk, Routines, Bedtime Consistency 57:16 Microbiome, Immune System & Gut; Diet & Individual Variability 1:02:52 Fiber Types, Cholesterol & Glucose, Polyphenols 1:09:50 Food As Medicine; Fiber, Microbiome & Individual Variability; Probiotics 1:18:48 Sponsor: Function 1:20:35 Profiling Healthy Individuals, Genomes, Wearables 1:26:31 Whole-Body MRIs, Nodules, Healthy Baseline, Early Diagnosis 1:34:07 Sensors, CGM, Sleep, Heart Rate Variability HRV, Tools: Mindset Effects, Increase REM 1:39:30 HRV, Sleep, Exercise, Tool: Long Exhales; Next-Day Excitement & Sleep 1:42:48 Organ Aging, “Ageotypes”; Biological Age vs Chronological Age 1:49:41 Longevity, Health Span, Genetics, Blue Zones 1:52:19 Epigenetics, Viral Infection & Disease 1:58:54 ALS, Heritability; Neuroprotection, Nicotine 2:03:47 Air Quality, Allergies, DEET & Pesticides, Inflammation, Mold; Microplastics 2:15:02 Single-Drop Blood Test & Biomarkers, Wearables, Observational Trials 2:20:33 Acupuncture, Blood Pressure 2:26:40 Immersive Events & Mental Health Benefits 2:34:59 Data, Nutrition & Lifestyle; Siloed Health Care vs Personalized Medicine 2:43:06 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Michael Snyder. Dr. Michael Snyder is a professor of genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine.
His laboratory focuses on how different people respond differently to different types of food and health interventions. And his overall goal is to figure out how different genes and proteins that different people express impact people's immune system function, reaction to different foods and diets, blood sugar regulation, immune system and longevity.
Today's episode could basically be summarized as As you suspected, not everybody responds the same way to the same behavioral, drug, supplement, or other treatment designed to improve health span and lifespan. For instance, the Snyder Laboratory published a paper earlier this year showing that different people spike insulin in response to different types of carbohydrates.
Things like the glycemic index, which we may be familiar with because they are essentially a readout of how much a given food impacts blood sugar. depends on who you are. They identified so-called potato-spikers, they literally refer to them as potato-spikers in this paper, versus grape-spikers, people whose insulin spikes in response to potatoes but not grapes and vice versa.
And while this might seem kind of silly or trivial or micro-slicing, the identification of these different subtypes of people in the general population who respond differently to different types of foods is extremely important.
because I think most all of us are getting a little bit tired of all these discussions about carbohydrates are good, carbohydrates are bad, these carbohydrates are good, these carbohydrates are bad, and on and on. It turns out it depends on which genes and which proteins you make. In other words, individual variability matters.
We talk about that individual variability in the context of nutrition, also in the context of fiber. It turns out that fiber is something that people generally believe is good for your health. I certainly believe that. Well, different types of fibers impact people differently. Some people experience systemic inflammation of their brain and body when they eat certain types of fibers. That's bad.
Other people experience systematic decreases in inflammation when they eat certain types of fibers. The key is to identify which category you're in and therefore which fibers to eat. And as it turns out, different foods have different fiber types. So it's tractable. There are things you can do about it. We also talk about GLP-1 drugs and how those impact longevity.
This is something that's very controversial and very timely right now. And we discuss how different psychological interventions Yep. The Snyder Lab has even looked at how different psychological interventions impact the genes you make and the proteins you make and their effect on healthspan and lifespan.
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