The Human Upgrade: Biohacking for Longevity & Performance
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Original episode
PodcastThe Human Upgrade: Biohacking for Longevity & Performance
Publisher/creatorDave Asprey
Published
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About this episode
Explore Calroy's vascular health and joint support supplements, including Arterosil, Vascanox, and Cartigenix, at https://calroy.com/dave
Cartilage Regeneration, Joint Pain, Nitric Oxide, Blood Flow, Muscle Strength & Longevity with Kiran Krishnan
Host Dave Asprey sits down with Kiran Krishnan, research microbiologist, systems biology researcher, and co-founder of Microbiome Labs, to explore cartilage regeneration, joint pain, osteoarthritis, nitric oxide, vascular health, inflammation, muscle growth, gut health, bone density, and the biological mechanisms that influence how the body ages.
Kiran Krishnan is a research microbiologist, health and wellness expert, and entrepreneur who specializes in the human microbiome, gut health, inflammation, and systems biology. Over the past 20 years, he has founded several successful health and supplement companies, including co-founding and leading Microbiome Labs, a leading microbiome therapeutics brand among healthcare professionals. He is also a co-founder and partner in three other health companies. Kiran has conducted and published scientific research, contributed chapters to scientific textbooks, holds global patents, and is a sought-after speaker on human health and the microbiome.
His latest work explores the relationship between blood vessel health, chronic inflammation, and the body's ability to repair damaged cartilage. Through research involving compounds designed to support vascular function, nitric oxide production, and joint health, Kiran is investigating whether age-related tissue degeneration can be slowed or potentially reversed.
Dave opens the conversation by sharing his lifelong struggle with joint pain, including an arthritis diagnosis at age 14 and three knee surgeries. Kiran explains why cartilage degeneration may begin long before symptoms appear and how declining blood flow, damaged microvessels, and chronic inflammation can interfere with the body's natural cartilage repair mechanisms.
They explore the role of the endothelial glycocalyx, the protective lining inside blood vessels, and why nitric oxide production becomes increasingly important with age. Kiran explains how impaired circulation can affect everything from joint lubrication and cartilage health to cognitive performance, digestion, muscle recovery, and sexual function.
Kiran also discusses research involving Cartigenix, a joint support supplement developed using compounds from Boswellia and celery seed. He describes clinical trials involving patients with osteoarthritis, including reported improvements in joint pain, inflammation, and cartilage regeneration, even among older adults with advanced joint degeneration. Dave and Kiran examine how Cartigenix, Arterosil, and Vascanox target different aspects of joint and vascular health, while distinguishing the Cartigenix trial results from the proposed benefits of combining all three products.
The conversation then shifts to practical strategies for improving circulation and metabolic health. Dave and Kiran discuss why walking after meals may help regulate blood sugar, how the cephalic response prepares the digestive system for food, and why excessive endurance exercise may create trade-offs for recovery and long-term health.
They also challenge conventional thinking about muscle growth and longevity. Kiran explains why functional strength may matter more than muscle size, how nitric oxide and microcirculation influence the delivery of amino acids to muscle tissue, and why maintaining healthy blood vessels could be an overlooked factor in preserving strength as you age.
Finally, Kiran previews emerging research on bone regeneration, gut health, and a new postbiotic-based formulation being developed for bone health, particularly during perimenopause and menopause. He shares early findings involving bone repair and osteocyte production, while Dave explains why maintaining strong bones, healthy joints, and efficient circulation should be foundational priorities for anyone interested in longevity.
This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in cartilage regeneration, osteoarthritis, chronic joint pain, nitric oxide, blood circulation, vascular health, inflammation, muscle growth, strength training, gut health, bone density, menopause, cellular repair, supplements, biohacking, and the science of maintaining physical performance as you age.
You’ll Learn:
- Why cartilage breaks down with age and how impaired blood flow and chronic inflammation interfere with joint repair
- What Kiran's clinical research suggests about cartilage regeneration and joint recovery in people with osteoarthritis
- How nitric oxide and the endothelial glycocalyx influence circulation, cardiovascular health, cognitive function, and longevity
- Why functional strength may be more important than muscle size for healthy aging, and how blood flow affects muscle growth and recovery
- How walking after meals, supporting digestion, and improving vascular function may benefit blood sugar regulation and gut health
- What emerging research suggests about bone regeneration, postbiotics, and maintaining bone density during menopause and aging
Dave Asprey is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, founder of Bulletproof Coffee, and the father of biohacking. With over 1,000 interviews and 1 million monthly listeners, The Human Upgrade brings you the knowledge to take control of your biology, extend your longevity, and optimize every system in your body and mind. Each episode delivers cutting-edge insights in health, performance, neuroscience, supplements, nutrition, biohacking, emotional intelligence, and conscious living.
New episodes are released every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday (BONUS). Dave asks the questions no one else will and gives you real tools to become stronger, smarter, and more resilient.
Keywords: Kiran Krishnan, Dave Asprey, The Human Upgrade, cartilage regeneration, cartilage repair, joint pain, osteoarthritis, arthritis, knee pain, joint health, bone on bone arthritis, Cartigenix, Calroy, Arterosil, Vascanox, nitric oxide, blood flow, vascular health, endothelial glycocalyx, chronic inflammation, Boswellia, muscle growth, muscle strength, strength training, muscle recovery, gut health, microbiome, bone density, bone regeneration, longevity, anti aging, biohacking
Resources:
• Grab A Discount On Calroy's Vascular Health And Joint Support Supplements, Including Arterosil, Vascanox, and Cartigenix, at https://calroy.com/dave
• Get My 2026 Clean Nicotine Roadmap | Enroll for free at https://daveasprey.com/2026-clean-nicotine-roadmap/
• Dave Asprey's Latest News | Go to https://daveasprey.com/ to join Inside Track today.
• Danger Coffee: https://dangercoffee.com/discount/davetube
• My Daily Supplements: SuppGrade Labs (15% Off)
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Thank you to our sponsors!
- ALP | Go to alppouch.com, code DAVE for 10% off.
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Timestamps:
00:00 — Trailer
01:05 — Intro
04:44 — The Glycocalyx Explained
10:30 — Why Joints Degrade
15:16 — Rebuilding Cartilage
21:17 — Nitric Oxide & Gut Health
26:28 — Hacking the Cephalic Response
31:23 — Strength vs. Size for Longevity
37:47 — Muscle Building Supply System
42:51 — New Bone Regeneration Product
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Episode summary
This AI-generated Shortcast summary may omit nuance. Use the original episode when context or exact wording matters.
I’ve had arthritis in my knees since I was fourteen—apparently old-people problems arrived early for me. After three surgeries on one knee, I’m very motivated to avoid a fourth, so I want the systems-level answer: how do blood pressure and blood flow wind up affecting joints?
That’s where my microbiome work led me. Once you study leaky gut and chronic, low-grade inflammation, you see those processes reaching far beyond the gut. In joints, declining vascular function can limit delivery and cleanup, and it becomes a progressive problem for a huge share of adults after thirty.
The vessel lining includes the glycocalyx, a protective carbohydrate matrix, and aging brings less nitric oxide plus less flexible vessels. Your leg muscles help return blood to the heart, so if vessels cannot respond well to pressure changes, tissues may lose both oxygen and nutrient delivery and efficient waste removal.
Cartilage itself has no direct blood vessels; it depends on tiny vessels in nearby bone and diffusion. When that supply falters, inflammatory material accumulates. Chondrocytes normally rebuild cartilage, but sustained inflammation can push them from a building state into one that produces cartilage-degrading enzymes.
That tiny-capillary idea is profound. I think of the glycocalyx as the slippery, almost absurdly important interface that gets red blood cells through spaces that seem too small. We’ve all used heat, compression, infrared, and shockwave in biohacking—but what does your approach do that actually changes the joint environment?
We looked for three levers: restore blood-flow infrastructure, switch chondrocytes back toward rebuilding, and make the improvement durable. The approach we studied aimed to support the glycocalyx, sustain nitric oxide rather than merely spike it, lower inflammatory signals, and use a Boswellia-derived compound plus celery-seed compounds to support rebuilding and pain signaling. In our osteoarthritis trials, we reported cartilage restoration even in older participants with severe joint damage.
I’m not spending half my day on a longevity routine just to break even. So here’s the practical puzzle: movement after carbs can help blood sugar, but I don’t want to steal blood from digestion. And, please, we have to call it the cephalic response—this is not that kind of show.
Movement about fifteen to thirty minutes after eating can make sense, because seeing and smelling food, then beginning a meal, already prepares digestive blood flow. The shortcut is not chewing every bite forty-seven times: take a few diaphragmatic breaths, smell the food, look at it, and reduce fight-or-flight before you eat. Then a walk afterward is a very reasonable option.
That fits my philosophy: protect the arteries, get blood where it needs to go, use gentle functional movement, and don’t beat yourself to death daily. Strong is for longevity; size is more cosmetic. I’m interested in being capable, not trying to win an eighteen-year-old contest at an absurd time cost.
Farmer strength is the resilience you get from carrying, walking, and adapting to varied demands, rather than only isolating muscles. Muscle size mostly does not track longevity, while strength reflects how well you recruit fibers. For muscle and bone, I frame it as three needs: movement sends the repair signal, nutrients supply materials, and vascular delivery is the highway that gets those materials to the target.
We’re also developing a gut-focused postbiotic and bone-support formula, especially with perimenopause and menopause in mind, when gut changes, inflammation, and bone loss can accelerate. In a hospital study of people with long-bone fractures, we saw a faster repair rate in the product group; it’s an exciting area, and we’ll have more to talk about soon.
I love the elegance of organizing the body by what actually has to happen, not by random specialty silos. Thanks, my friend—these conversations are always fun.
Thank you, Dave. It’s always a pleasure. See you next time.
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