An Interview with Dr. Lutz Kraushaar
Dr Kraushaar is a health scientist, a researcher in decelerating biological aging, a keynote speaker, a consultant, and a writer.
Dear reader, one of my leadership goals as a writer, editor, and publisher is to introduce influential writers and leaders to my audience via interviews starting in 2019. When I became a Friend of Medium, I asked the early adopters of the program what they expected from this subscription. I found that these avid readers expect curated content and visibility to the work of influential writers.
To fulfill my objectives, I will continue curating impactful, insightful, relatable, and eloquent content, introducing its writers to my audience, and amplifying them in my stories and multiple platforms.
In this post, I will share an interview I had the pleasure of conducting with Dr. Lutz Kraushaar a recent addition to Medium’s writing community but certainly not a newcomer to the world of writing as a seasoned scientist, longevity expert, and consultant. His stories in publications stand out and are chosen for broader distribution due to their profound impact, rich information, and practical insights.
Dr Kraushaar’s distinctive writing style captivates the reader, conveying his tacit knowledge and vast experience in a conversational tone. As I am a reader and curator of multiple publications, His content stands out to me because he skillfully distills extensive scientific information, especially related to health and fitness, making it exceptionally accessible to readers.
This brief interview offers a peek into his background, helping you connect with him on a personal level. I hope you enjoy reading this interview script as much as I did when conducting it to learn about the background of this inspiring and empowering writer.
Guten Tag, Dr Lutz, tell us a bit about your background.
Thank you for the invitation, Dr Yildiz. Let me start with my profession. I am a Doctor of Public Health Sciences with an MSc. in Exercise and Nutrition. That’s my second professional incarnation, as I entered this field of science only at age 40.
Before that, I had an international career in commercial management, initially with a large multinational German company and later on my own as a business consultant.
I admit, the reason for me to make this “one-eighty” from business to science was entirely selfish. I needed to resolve the conflict between my not-so-sterling health behaviors and my wish to age successfully. That is to stay free from chronic diseases, dementia, and dependency without having to deprive myself of all lifestyle pleasures.
I had this suspicion that those popular health gurus who told us about how to achieve that hadn’t really figured it out. Remember when eggs were evil, and stick margarine was a saint? That was in the 1980s. Two decades later, those reputations were reversed. So, if I wasn’t to bet my life on such fickleness, I had to figure it out myself.
At that time, my only presentable health behavior was exercise. Having been skinny since early childhood, I, at age 30, developed a liking for strength exercise. Not the Schwarzenegger-type, steroid-fueled bodybuilding, but rather the all-natural physique improvement.
As a hard-gainer (there is actually a Wikipedia page for those who hardly gain muscle regardless of the amount of bodybuilding effort they put in), my body didn’t show many results, but it felt better than without exercise.
So, it was only logical to learn more about the health effects of exercise by pursuing a trainer license from the number-one authority in this field, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). They had an affiliate in Singapore (Nanyang Technological University, NTU), where I lived at the time.
So I enrolled, and after acquiring my license, I was convinced of two things. First, exercise is a sine qua non for health, and second, everybody reacts differently to the same type of intervention.
This, to me, also meant that not everybody needs to follow every health advice to stay healthy. Only those that are a perfect match to one’s genetic predisposition. But how do you find those matches? That was the reason for me to get my necessary scientific skill set by going the academic route from MSc. to doctorate.
Tell us a bit about your science background.
In three words, it’s lifestyle medicine, biological aging, and single-case experimental designs. Let me explain how these three fit together.
My focus is on the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases through lifestyle interventions. For the lay reader, that translates into: Let’s find a way to keep YOU safe from a heart attack, a stroke, dementia, diabetes, and frailty. To achieve this, I want to make individualized lifestyle medicine accessible to everyone.
The way to do that is to translate clinical research from the group level to the level of the individual. Let me give you an example:
The American Heart Association has created this concept of Life’s Essential Eight. That is a collection of behaviors and biomarkers that most closely correlate with life- and health span. The behavioral ones are not to smoke, to eat a prudent diet, not to become obese, and to exercise and sleep enough. The biomarkers are blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood glucose.
Now, when you look at the data that gave rise to those recommendations, you’ll see that those people who meet all those precepts typically remain disease-free up to 90 years of age. No surprise there.
But when you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that less than 3% of the population can maintain such sterling health behaviors. And what the health associations don’t tell you is that half of those who meet only half of the Essential Eight standards still make it to the finish line of life without any of the dreaded diseases.
To me, that illustrates two things. First, if three percent is the result of 50 years of exhorting people to improve their health behaviors, then it’s high time we changed our strategy. Second, obviously, not everyone needs to abide by all health recommendations to stay healthy. What we don’t know is which combination works for whom.
This is where my background comes into play. I work on operationalizing the single-case experimental method, or N-of-1 method, so that every layperson can turn herself or himself into a do-it-yourself quasi-clinical trial in which she or he test-drives any lifestyle advice of their choice.
Think of it as a fitting-room approach to health behaviors. The benchmark biomarker is biological (vascular) age. First, because as a predictor of future health, it far outguns all the standard risk factors combined. And second, biological age is so much more relatable and motivating.
With this approach to health, everybody should be able to find their personal goldilocks zone of health behavior combinations without having to toe the line of Life’s Essential Eight perfectly.
What is your typical approach to scientific work with some examples like lab work, literature reviews, research, etc?
Initially, my work was very much of the basic science type. I worked on ways to extract the physical parameters of vascular function from high-definition recordings of non-invasively acquired pulse pressure waves. That enabled me to contribute to the development of a corresponding medical device.
Then, I needed to conduct clinical trials to translate those newly available parameters. I was very fortunate to meet an expert clinician, PD Dr. Med. Pascal Bauer, with a passion for disease prevention, and exactly the right background in angiology, sports cardiology, and preventive medicine.
Together, we did clinical trials and published several papers. Today, we still work closely together, Pascal concentrating on the clinical work and I on translating clinical results into practical interventions.
What key topics excite you in the science world and why?
The ones I just talked about.
At the age of 67, I’m fascinated by the ability to keep that human engine of mine running without any need for medication, without any disease or functional decline (except for the fact that I can’t tolerate as much beer as I used to).
My wife, two years older than me, has a biological age below 40, and unlike me, she also looks that way.
So, the science of healthy longevity is what really excites me.
How do you maintain a work-life balance, and what are the key principles to keep yourself healthy?
On a cringe-worthiness scale of 1–10, work-life balance is a solid 12 to me. I disliked that term the first time I heard it. Is work the opposite of life? Who came up with that?
No, seriously, I can’t see the fault line between work and life. Maybe it is because I am fortunate enough to have made my work my life. The only time I am not thinking or talking about my work is when I’m riding.
Come to think about it, maybe that’s why my wife is so keen on our motorcycle trips. It’s the only time I shut up about my work. So, to answer your question: no work-life balance here.
What do you recommend to aspiring scientists?
Stay curious. Stay critical (particularly of your own work). Don’t try to prove your hypotheses; try to disprove them. In the end, your results will feel so much more exhilarating.
What are your hobbies?
My knee-jerk reaction was to say “Exercise”. But it has become a daily habit that I consider to be on par with other routines of bodily hygiene, like shaving and brushing teeth. Nobody has to brush their teeth as a hobby.
So, here is my real hobby: riding my Harley.
Fortunately, my wife is a fearless co-pilot, so we enjoy this hobby together. Almost all our holidays revolve around riding.
We have made spectacular tours, for example, from Singapore through Malaysia to Thailand’s Golden Triangle, just to participate in the bikers’ meeting there. Or here in Europe, from Germany through France to southern Spain.
My other hobby is reading.
What are the top three books that affected your life?
That’s a difficult one. I think condensing them into three depends on the stage of life you find yourself in.
As a child and adolescent, my answer to that question would have been some adventure novels that presented role-model characters that resonated with me. In terms of Jung’s archetypes, that is the Explorer.
As a younger and middle-aged adult (prior to my science “career”) it was business books. They come in and go out of fashion, but one remains in my memory: Kim’s & Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy.
To answer your question from today’s vantage point:
Number one is Thomas Cleary’s “Instant Zen — Waking Up In the Present”.
It’s a collection of Zen Koans that goose me along my Buddhism-leaning path to Enlightenment (which I’ll probably never reach anyway, but, as they say, the path is the destination).
Number two are the writings of Epictetus and his disciple Marcus Aurelius.
Number three, thanks to Medium’s high standards of writing, is:
Blake’s and Bly’s “The Elements of Copywriting.”
How do you connect with your readers?
By inviting them to comment or ask questions and by responding to those comments and answering their questions. I try to answer all questions, though it might happen that my answer comes with a delay of two or three days.
Why do you write on Medium?
I mentioned my selfish reason for getting started on my scientific endeavor. I realized very early in my academic studies that most people would love to know their “minimum viable health habits.” MVHH.
I use this MVHH term in analogy to its business equivalent, the minimum viable product (MVP). That is, the minimum set of health behaviors that let one hit life’s finishing line running, not in a wheelchair.
Many people would love to know their MVHH. This knowledge is, in my view, the essence of health literacy. I write because I think my writing can help people find their MVHH. I write on Medium because, again selfishly, it is THE platform for people without name recognition to best reach their potentially interested readers.
I tried Quora, where I still occasionally answer questions, but medium members are better educated on average. I also find that the tone of communication between medium members is far more polite and civilized than on Quora and other platforms.
What are your values as a writer?
Simple: to be honest, strictly factual, and intelligible to the lay reader. As far as factuality is concerned, I cite the references that support my arguments in the same way as I present those references in my academic articles in international medical journals.
Why did you join ILLUMINATION, and how did you find it so far?
At the risk of sounding selfish again (I mentioned selfish twice already), it’s because I wanted to be part of a publication whose aspirations for quality, professionalism, and civility perfectly align with mine. And because ILLUMINATION allows me to reach a wider audience that, I believe, might appreciate some of the practical health insights that I present in my posts.
Who are some writers you follow on ILLUMINATION?
Apart from yourself, my favorite writers are Mike Broadly, DHSc, Deni Sahaya, Brandt Amelia, Dr Emmanuel Ogamdi, Professor António Francisco, Dr John Frederick Rose, Dr. Julian Barkan, David Mokotoff, MD, Antonio Segovia, MD., and Aiden (Illumination Gaming). There are more, but I don’t want to mention all here to take your space.
What are your top five stories that you want to share with your audience and why?
This story explains the importance of biological age over calendar age for one’s health and life expectancy. Its take-home message is, “Don’t worry about your chronological age; it really is just a number.”
How Do You Safely Transform Dietary Protein into Healthy Longevity?
This piece enables readers to look at protein for health without any of the ethical issues that have encroached on this conversation.
How To Stay Biologically Young: Three Provocative Findings On How To Exploit Exercise
This is the first of a three-part series that explains why exercise can compensate for some dietary sins and how to use exercise to stay biologically young.
Superfoods And BioAge Clocks: Can You Use Them To Beat Aging And Disease?
In this post, I illustrate, using a recent study publication, how its enthusiastic media reports fail to align with the study data.
And number 5 is my personal recipe for an “anchor meal” breakfast that promotes vascular rejuvenation.
What are the success factors for you as a writer on Medium?
To attract readers, to learn through their responses what their pain points are (in terms of health and healthy aging), and to be able to personally connect with the readers through relevant conversations.
What do you recommend to the new writers on ILLUMINATION?
Most importantly, here is what I recommend they not do:
Do not pay attention to those whose headlines tell you how much money they made. If you are writing on Medium for the money, you are on the wrong platform anyway.
Think about it. Publicity on Medium (like anywhere else on the internet) follows a power law distribution. That is, only a minuscule percentage of writers can make serious money. More than 90% couldn’t even pay the rent from their medium income.
The only other recommendations I have are
Continuously improve your style
Keep in mind the above-average educational background of ILLUMINATION readers and serve your content accordingly
Be responsive
What are your plans as a writer?
Simple: to get better.
Oh, and one more thing: to be a role model for healthy aging to my readers. Not one that strictly follows all the health recommendations but one that ages successfully without undue self-flagellation.
I invite readers to visit the “About Us” page on my adiphea website (adiphea is the acronym for alliance for disease prevention and healthy aging).
Don’t look at my pictures so much, just at those of my wife. She really is that sort of role model at age 68.
Thank you for introducing yourself so eloquently, Dr Kraushaar.
Thank you for reading this interview script. I hope you explore the profile of Dr. Lutz Kraushaar and enjoy his stories as much as I do. You may contact Dr Kraushaar on ILLUMINATION’s Slack workspace for collaboration.
I also introduced several other influential writers. Here are some recent samples that you may start exploring.
Yogesh Haribhau Kulkarni (PhD)
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