Episode 24
Robert Gielow on Longevity Products, Pharmacy Access and Consumer Trust with a focus on the German speaking market
Daphna sat down with Robert Gielow, founder of Mentry Pharma, to discuss what it really takes for foreign supplement and longevity companies to enter the pharmacy markets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He explains why many brands misunderstand the German-speaking market: distribution and pharmacy listings alone do not create demand, pharmacies are not straightforward sales channels, and sceptical consumers require multiple trust-building touchpoints before making a purchase.
The conversation explores the practical realities of regulation, market access and enforcement, the differences between brick-and-mortar and online pharmacies, and why many market entries fail when companies focus on sales projections rather than customer acquisition and long-term retention. Gielow also discusses the challenges of consumer education, the influence of misinformation on social media, and the widening gap between rigorous scientific evidence and the content that attracts the greatest online attention.
Finally, he argues that prevention remains undervalued across healthcare systems and that longevity does not have to depend on expensive interventions. Instead, he makes the case for focusing on the fundamentals: regular movement, good nutrition, quality sleep, strong relationships, and learning to listen to the body’s signals.
https://www.mentry-pharma.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertgielow/
00:00 Welcome and Episode Setup
02:16 Meet Robert and Mentory Pharma
04:18 How Mentory Pharma Started
08:31 Why Distribution Alone Fails
11:04 Pharmacies Aren't Salespeople
13:59 Why Brands Fail in Germany
19:12 Regulation Reality Check
25:39 Influencers vs Real Science
28:17 What Even Is Longevity
28:42 Vitamin D Rules Clash
31:09 Enforcement Reality Check
32:49 Why Prevention Lags
35:39 Pharma Shifts to Prevention
38:07 Markets Ahead of Europe
43:25 Longevity for the Rich
46:08 Back to Simple Habits
50:34 Building Credible Brands
55:26 Rapid Fire Takeaways
57:55 Closing Reflections
Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker A:Welcome to Beyond Longevity, the podcast that explores not just how we age, but how we can build a longer, healthier future for ourselves.
Speaker A:In this episode, we look at the longevity market from a slightly different angle.
Speaker A:Not from a laboratory and not from the clinic, but from the point where health products meet the real world.
Speaker A:Consumers, pharmacies, regulation, trust, and the very difficult question of what people should actually believe.
Speaker A:My guest today is Robert gillo, founder of MentriPharma.
Speaker A:Robert works with health supplements and longevity companies entering the German speaking pharmacy markets, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Speaker A:Before that, he helped build no sun and the Omega 3 category in Germany.
Speaker A:That background makes this a very practical conversation about credibility, because in longevity, it is not enough to have a product, a claim or even a listing in a pharmacy.
Speaker A:People need to understand what they are buying, why it matters, and who they can trust.
Speaker A:Robert explains why international health brands often misunderstand the German market, why distribution alone does not create demand, and why pharmacies.
Speaker B:Are not simply sales channels.
Speaker A:We also talk about the wider problem facing supplements and longevity.
Speaker A:Confusing regulations, influencer driven claims, consumer skepticism, and the gap between serious science and what people actually see online.
Speaker A:What I really enjoyed about this conversation is that Robert keeps bringing the discussion back to education, simplicity and responsibility.
Speaker A:Because whether we call it longevity, prevention, wellness or simply living better for longer, the challenge is the same.
Speaker A:Make incredible health information and practical habits easier for people to access, understand and actually use.
Speaker B:Hi Robert, thank you so much for joining me today on Beyond Longevity.
Speaker B:You work at very interesting points in the health and longevity space between products, consumers, pharmacies, regulation and trust.
Speaker B:You've helped build and scale brands such as Nosson.
Speaker B:And now through MentriPharma, you work with a variety of health companies trying to enter and grow in the German pharmacy market.
Speaker B:So before we get into the bigger picture around supplements and longevity, credibility, trust, all these things, how would you describe your work?
Speaker B:What do you do?
Speaker C:First of all, thanks for the invite.
Speaker C:I really appreciate it.
Speaker C:What is it that I do?
Speaker C:Well, I, in a nutshell, I do help foreign companies enter the German pharmacy markets or the German speaking pharmacy markets.
Speaker C:So it's not limited to Germany only, but also Austria and Switzerland.
Speaker C:And in the past I've done that for pharmaceutical companies, for medical product companies, but also with a strong focus on supplement companies.
Speaker C:And in the past couple of years they just happen to be longevity companies.
Speaker C:Well, it, it is a trend, but also I just simply do like the holistic approach.
Speaker C:I don't know how, how many of the listeners do know that, but I mean, I'VE been a professional athlete for a couple of decades, so supplementation was part of my lifestyle, but also sleep, nutrition in general, mental coaching, whatever is attached to it.
Speaker B:We have a lot of listeners in very different fields.
Speaker B:We have researchers, we have investors, and everything in between people just interested in the field of longevity as such.
Speaker B:So do dive a little bit more into really what exactly it is you do.
Speaker B:Do you find companies that you want to bring to the German market?
Speaker B:Do they find you?
Speaker B:Who are they?
Speaker B:Why do they come to you?
Speaker C:Good question.
Speaker C:It kind of started with what I just said about you personally, about your German attitude.
Speaker C:That's probably something that listeners didn't hear at the beginning.
Speaker C:But the reason why I started maintray Pharma was because when I was with Nordstein, when We built the Omega 3 market in Germany and then expanded into the various foreign markets, I really enjoyed being in touch with different cultures and languages.
Speaker C:So that really makes me happy.
Speaker C:And I do like the mindset that doesn't only have something to do with the punctuality kind of thing.
Speaker C:It's just like the positivity, the energy, it's just a different kind of communication.
Speaker C:Even though it's more than two decades ago, I did study and go to college in the US and to high school and I really did miss that positive vibe.
Speaker C:And that's the reason pharma came into life.
Speaker C:That's the written I wanted to work with U.S. american companies and at the very beginning I did reach out to them only to notice that I do hate cold calling.
Speaker C:It's so not authentic for my personality kind of thing.
Speaker C:For me it was just easier to write about topics and to kind of create a demand and a pull sort of strategy.
Speaker C:And LinkedIn was just like the perfect platform for this.
Speaker C:And obviously there is no American English so to speak for the platform.
Speaker C:So what actually happened is all kinds of companies reached out to me and they wanted to work with me.
Speaker C:From India, from Belgium, from Slovenia, from Denmark, so actually also all over Europe and interestingly from Germany I was like, why in the world would a German company want to work with me?
Speaker C:But the reason is quite simple.
Speaker C:The German market is just simply not self explanatory and there's no directory that kind of guides you to, you know, what, what do I actually need to do in order to get into a pharmacy, into an online pharmacy?
Speaker C:What regulations do I need to follow, what kind of labels do I need to have, what number of registrations?
Speaker C:So it's a whole lot and I think that that's the the part that I do like the most about my job and why I'm so thankful for the company that I have and the life I can have is being able to talk to all those different kinds of companies.
Speaker C:At the very, very beginning they were longevity companies like Molecular and ABEA for instance from Switzerland, but also like multinationals that had various brands which were market leaders in their own markets and I have never heard of.
Speaker C:And usually that is the biggest challenge.
Speaker C:So whether you're from the uk, from Czech Republic or Poland or even the us you can be a market leader in your home market and you think you've achieved everything so far.
Speaker C:The moment you hit a new market that is not your territory, you're a no 1, you're Mr. Nobody and you start from scratch.
Speaker C:And typically the playbook that has worked for you in the past is not going to work in a new market.
Speaker C:Typically you just take out a blank sheet of paper, you know there's nothing written on there and you just got like hypothesis and kind of work with that trial and error and just ease your way into the market.
Speaker C:Get like real market feedback on how a real consumer responds to the product or the solution that you're offering.
Speaker C:And I think that makes it so exciting because when I sign up with the company, I have no idea where the path is going to lead us.
Speaker C:And fun thing is they've always got expectations and it doesn't matter how transparent I am about those expectations.
Speaker C:The bar is still here and people just want to hear how many millions are we going to make within the first six months?
Speaker C:Come on.
Speaker C:It doesn't work like that.
Speaker C:But the cool part about that is also cultural mindsets and the way history has kind of coined them is so different.
Speaker C:And that's something I need to learn because obviously I know sort of how the German speaking market works, but I don't know how the foreign markets really work, even though I've expanded into them.
Speaker C:So that means, just as a concrete example, I've been working with a Danish company for the past two years.
Speaker C:They strongly believe in distribution only.
Speaker C:So they believe that if the product is available and listed with online pharmacies, with stationary pharmacies, with brick and mortar businesses, than their business is supposed to develop, when as a matter of fact it doesn't.
Speaker C:Because sheer visibility doesn't do anything for you.
Speaker C:You need to create demand.
Speaker C:Like the user doesn't know the brand, doesn't know the the product.
Speaker C:There is no trust and it's one single touch point.
Speaker C:And everyone I kind of knows and the most of us are kind of educating, you know, 6, 7, 8, 9, depending on the country you're living in.
Speaker C:Germans are really skeptical, so you need a little bit more touch points.
Speaker C:So it's a long way and you can talk about that with your customer.
Speaker C:Ever so often you hit month one, they're like, that's not the result we were expecting.
Speaker C:You got to be kidding me.
Speaker C:And then kind of you have to repeat yourself over and over again, kind of like you're singing a song.
Speaker C:So I think over the years I've grown quite interesting, so I can do that quite well these days and just getting better.
Speaker B:You've touched on so many interesting points and I'm going to pick up quite a few of them.
Speaker B:I just want to be clear what you do, mainly correct me if I'm wrong, is you place products in pharmacies mainly.
Speaker B:And I guess the reason you do that and the reason brands want to be distributed by pharmacies is because it gives a health product more credibility, more professional visibility.
Speaker B:And especially in Germany, like you said, trust is very important and I guess the German consumer, or even German speaking consumer, because in Austria it's very similar, in Switzerland it's very similar.
Speaker B:They trust a pharmacist or, or a doctor, what they recommend.
Speaker B:Now in Germany, regulations are very different to other countries.
Speaker B:A doctor cannot straight up recommend or sell a product, pharmacists can and the average German does go into the pharmacy and gets recommendation from the pharmacist or even though the online pharmacy.
Speaker B:So I guess is that the main reason why brands want to be in pharmacies?
Speaker B:Because of the inherent trust that goes with it?
Speaker C:I assume they, they do have two main expectations.
Speaker C:The number one is it's an important channel for a product that's maybe not as self explanatory as you may think.
Speaker C:So the expectation is that the pharmacist is actually going to do the sales job for you.
Speaker C:And number two is because pharmacies are different across Europe, in most countries it's kind of more like a supermarket or a drugstore.
Speaker C:You walk in there, you grab something, you walk out.
Speaker C:I think most pharmacists in Germany would love that to happen to them, but it doesn't work that way.
Speaker C:Usually you just get in there with your prescription in your hand.
Speaker C:If you have to wait too long, then you're checking to the left and to the right, whether out of boredom you're going to grab something.
Speaker C:But it's not like a channel where you go shopping.
Speaker C:It simply is not.
Speaker C:And that's like one of the most misconceptions they have.
Speaker C:And also pharmacists, by their way of study and by the way of most of the people's personality profiles, they are not salespeople.
Speaker C:They're simply are not.
Speaker C:They're, they're trained to explain a prescription to you and they are trained to provide you with an answer if the client, the patient asks for something.
Speaker C:But they're not there to sell the product for you, whether you are a German Doppel Hertz or you are German Norse and doesn't matter.
Speaker C:So that's kind of rule of thumb if that is your expectation.
Speaker C:Maybe there is like 10 or 15% of the pharmacies that are kind of like that way, but it's not the majority.
Speaker C:That means for the majority of the companies, the physical, the brick and mortar pharmacy is the, the wrong sales channel.
Speaker C:Because as a matter of fact, it's not a sales, it's a distribution channel.
Speaker C:If someone gets in there and wants to buy a brand, they will, but otherwise the impact is going to be close to zero.
Speaker C:And that's sort of, not entirely, but somewhat different with online pharmacies because what they are essentially they are in marketplace, they're an E commerce channel.
Speaker C:Just like Amazon is sort of like Google Shopping.
Speaker C:And the way they work the algorithms, they are similar.
Speaker C:So meaning in order to be present, visible in a well selling brand on E pharmacy like Red Care or Doc Morris in Germany or across Europe, first thing you need to get right is keywords.
Speaker C:It's like Google, if you got no keyword and you're not bidding on a keyword with Google you're going to be on page 378.
Speaker C:No one's going to find you and no one's going to care about you.
Speaker C:Same with online pharmacies.
Speaker C:So you need to get that right.
Speaker C:Just like with Amazon, you have to run promotions, you have to pick the right promotion strategy for the right product brand and everything that goes with it.
Speaker B:What do you think are the most common mistakes international companies make who want to enter the German market?
Speaker B:And what do they most often misunderstand and get wrong other than that they want to sell by next week, you know, half a million worth in stock.
Speaker C:I would love that too.
Speaker C:But if that was, I mean that's probably the answer I give them because the question is like Robert, when you're so good, why don't you have your own brand?
Speaker C:And the answer is it is not that simple.
Speaker C:And actually most people know this kind of number.
Speaker C:If you're a startup and every brand that enters Germany is a startup.
Speaker C:It is new, it is a startup.
Speaker C:You're starting from scratch.
Speaker C:Then the chances is it's 7 or 8 out of 10 companies are going to fail and this is still valid.
Speaker C:Like I can't do miracles.
Speaker C:That's what I'm saying.
Speaker C:You're taking out a blank sheet of paper.
Speaker C:And yes, I can minimize the chances that you're going to fail and I can help you to move.
Speaker C:Like maybe only 5 out of 10 are going to fail.
Speaker C:But if I had that money printing machine, trust me, I would have it in my basement, I would use it myself.
Speaker C:No, I'm just being straight up honest and that's the reality you need to face.
Speaker B:No, no, we're not sugarcoating anything.
Speaker B:I agree with you, but so why do these companies fail?
Speaker B:There has to be like a common denominator that they all get wrong or, you know, most of them get wrong.
Speaker A:What is it?
Speaker C:Also two things.
Speaker C:Number one is it has something to do with the large numbers.
Speaker C:It's a numbers game.
Speaker C:And they believe, well, the German speaking population is 100 million out of 400 in the EU.
Speaker C:So it's the biggest market with the greatest potential.
Speaker C:We just do something and it needs to work.
Speaker C:Well, this is not how it works.
Speaker C:I'm sorry, this is not how it works.
Speaker C:I can tell you that little.
Speaker C:Let's call it an anecdote.
Speaker C:I built Norstan.
Speaker C:We went to so many markets in parallel.
Speaker C:And there's also a German brand, it's called Bears with Benefits.
Speaker C:And I think I actually have to meet with one of the founders there because I'm interested in their journey as well.
Speaker C:But back to Norris.
Speaker C:And when we went to the different markets, we actually saw with our playbook, the playbook we would approach therapists, doctors, health practitioners, nutritionists, and build the demand from scratch.
Speaker C:And also, this is like the small numbers game.
Speaker C:Sales is kind of simple.
Speaker C:It's either a zero or it's a one.
Speaker C:Either you convert a customer or you don't.
Speaker C:There's no in between.
Speaker C:There's no maybe I'm going to buy.
Speaker C:So what you need is every day you want to convert one single person.
Speaker C:For that.
Speaker C:It doesn't matter whether the market has 100 million people or just 1 million, because what matters is that one single person.
Speaker C:So whether we entered Slovenia with 2 million people or Austria with 10 million people, the growth trajectory in every single market after 1, 2, 3 years was the exact same.
Speaker C:And that's nothing you would have guessed because you Always think of the bigger picture and the great vision that you have and you always want to make things bigger and greater, but it's simply not how it works.
Speaker C:The single goal that you have is acquire that one customer and then number two is retention, keeping that customer happy.
Speaker C:It doesn't get simpler than that.
Speaker C:And I think most founders and most, maybe CEOs kind of work like that.
Speaker C:The thing is, and that has something to do with corporate cultures.
Speaker C:They do not pass on that knowledge to every employee in the organization.
Speaker C:And then the sales director, you're maybe talking to the marketing director, the head of business development whatsoever.
Speaker C:They work by a different scheme.
Speaker C:They work by, we try to get into as many markets per year as possible.
Speaker C:They do not focus on that one single client.
Speaker C:They don't.
Speaker C:For them, more is more.
Speaker C:When at the end like focus energy and like entering a niche and putting your energy there has like a bigger return of investment.
Speaker C:They, they don't care.
Speaker C:Because what they do care about is yes, sort, they want to be sort of successful, but they also want to seem busy.
Speaker C:They want to sell business to, towards their superiors.
Speaker C:And they want to show, you know, enter that market and that one and whether this market is going to be successful in five or ten years down the road, they're probably not going to be there anymore.
Speaker C:They don't care.
Speaker C:So the incentives, they're different.
Speaker B:Very much so.
Speaker B:That's often the difference.
Speaker B:I speak to a lot of people that deal with regulations and all that and they say exactly that.
Speaker B:The problem is who do you deal with?
Speaker B:Because politicians are the same.
Speaker B:They're gone in two years, four years, whatever.
Speaker B:They're not bothered about the long term aspect of anything.
Speaker B:And I guess that's different if you're an employee or a company founder.
Speaker B:Obviously most company founders do see the long trajectory.
Speaker B:So that's really interesting that you mentioned that because I think a lot of people don't realize how important the whole process is now, whether you know Germany or not.
Speaker B:I think everybody knows one thing about Germany.
Speaker B:It's very regulated, it's very bureaucratic, it's straightforward, it's sort of linear.
Speaker B:But you do need to tick all the right boxes.
Speaker B:How hard is that to really make foreign companies understand that, that this is not a question of rushing things and you just have to go through the motions.
Speaker B:As a secondary question, do you think because of that German consumer is more skeptical of new products and new sort of ideas or are they more wary or are they trained by the system to be more concerned about structure and credibility and all that when it comes to new products.
Speaker C:Let's start with question number one.
Speaker C:The first one is like, regulation, it's actually not that tough.
Speaker C:It really is not.
Speaker C:But you have to get it done.
Speaker C:And the challenge is no one tells you what you need to get done.
Speaker C:Sometimes you're just surprised when you get a fine, and that tells you you need to pay $25,000 for whatever reason, just because you simply missed filling out a form.
Speaker C:Okay, it does do have something to do with politics.
Speaker C:So whatever you need to get done.
Speaker C:For instance, in order to get into pharmacies, you know, you need to.
Speaker C:If it's a supplement or a cosmetics product, you need to register it with the bbl.
Speaker C:So the federal agency.
Speaker C:The federal agency doesn't check whether your registration is right.
Speaker C:They just want to see that you're registered.
Speaker C:It can be completely wrong.
Speaker C:But you could sell snake oil.
Speaker C:Not lying.
Speaker C:No one is going to contact you and is going to say, you can't sell that because that agency, it's not their job to test anything.
Speaker C:And then the other thing is, like, if you want to sell into the stationary pharmacies and register your products with the pharmacy wholesalers, usually you need to go buy them.
Speaker C:So there's no way around them.
Speaker C:If you want to get into the stationary pharmacies at large scale, quickly, need the farmer code.
Speaker C:Let's call it the PZN number in German.
Speaker C:Super simple.
Speaker C:It takes 24 hours, but it's only in German.
Speaker C:And sometimes, if you're lucky, in English.
Speaker C:But there is no other language.
Speaker C:And no one tells you that, you know, if you fill out like a cell and that is wrong, that you already messed up the entire registration.
Speaker C:And it also doesn't tell you what you need to insert and to get it right.
Speaker C:There's no one's going to call you, hey, you did it wrong.
Speaker C:It's just like, oh, sorry, can't sell it.
Speaker C:So there's no feedback loop.
Speaker C:There's no one you can talk to.
Speaker C:And it's just like, you got to be kidding me.
Speaker C:And then you see like, okay, scrolling, scrolling.
Speaker C:How many cells?
Speaker C:Is it a BB ccc?
Speaker C:It's like a hundred.
Speaker C:And you're like, holy cow.
Speaker C:Like, I don't even know.
Speaker C:And then you need to talk to your manufacturers, like, all this stuff, I do need all this kind of information.
Speaker C:And they're like, oh, yeah, good lord, I don't know.
Speaker C:But let me check.
Speaker C:And that actually accumulating all this information that you need takes a whole lot longer than actually just plugging in the numbers and actually then getting it registered.
Speaker C:And then the core thing is, this still doesn't prove anything.
Speaker C:So typically you got a product, you got a label and it's got the farmer code, and you think, well, this product is not.
Speaker C:Now I can sell.
Speaker C:Nope.
Speaker C:Welcome to Germany.
Speaker C:So there's 16 federal states within Germany.
Speaker C:They all have their.
Speaker C:Some sort of proper jurisdiction.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's kind of sort of aligned with the German national jurisdiction, which is also kind of interpretation of the efsa.
Speaker C:So whatever the EU says as some sort of binding regulation, but every state in Europe has, like, their own interpretation of what is allowed and what is not.
Speaker C:And then whether your company is registered in Berlin, in Bavaria, in Hamburg or in Saxony, the federal officer, at the end of the day needs to purchase your product.
Speaker C:And they will do that.
Speaker C:If you're lucky, they're not going to do that within the first three or five years because you're too small, they have never heard of you.
Speaker C:But if you've got a bad day, it can happen like the very next week after you've done everything you think you've done.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Then I'll be like, you know, doesn't look good.
Speaker C:Oh, that's a health claim.
Speaker C:No, we.
Speaker C:We don't have any health claims in Germany.
Speaker C:This is not going to work.
Speaker C:Oh, Tre.
Speaker C:Cancer.
Speaker C:Oh, really bad.
Speaker C:Oh, sorry.
Speaker C:You, You.
Speaker C:Oh, you.
Speaker C:You're already distributed across the entire nation.
Speaker C:Well, you have to call them back.
Speaker C:You have to get rid of all the products.
Speaker C:Sorry.
Speaker C:Going to cost half a million.
Speaker C:Yeah, Your last.
Speaker C:And you can even work with independent, let's call them lawyers.
Speaker C:And they're going to attest you are allowed to sell this product.
Speaker C:The federal officer, they don't care.
Speaker C:They're like, you know, they're independent.
Speaker C:Well, good for them.
Speaker C:But in my state, I am king.
Speaker C:And I'm going to decide.
Speaker C:And you can challenge me, you can even put me to court.
Speaker C:Most of the time you're going to lose also, because that entire process is going to take you years.
Speaker C:The costs are going to be so extreme, it's.
Speaker C:It's simply not fun.
Speaker C:So the only one earning money is going to be the lawyer, but not yourself.
Speaker C:So at the beginning, you should get that right.
Speaker B:So I guess people need you.
Speaker B:That's why you'll be in business for, you know, a long time.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because I've spoken with those officers a lot.
Speaker B:And not only Germany, you must have the patience of.
Speaker B:I don't know what to deal with that.
Speaker B:But tell me, do you think that.
Speaker B:That, though Helps to build trust in this whole, you know, in the whole supplement industry that is not really regulated sort of anywhere else in the world.
Speaker B:And I just want to be very clear.
Speaker B:The work you do is for supplements and all that that do not require a prescription from a doctor.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Those are the ones that are, you know, freely available.
Speaker B:So do you think, apart from sort of being a big pain in the neck, but do you think that gives a little bit of credibility to the market?
Speaker B:Because longevity and supplements in general, I guess their main issue is always the credibility issue and it's getting worse because the market is being flooded with product and we don't know.
Speaker B:And so what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker C:Exactly?
Speaker C:Because you got no entity that actually validates whether your product is better than a competitor's product and no one's checking where the ingredients are coming from.
Speaker C:And I think one of the main challenges that we're seeing is like where does the consumer get the information from?
Speaker C:Where do you spend most of your time?
Speaker C:You don't spend it at the doctor's office.
Speaker C:I hope not.
Speaker C:But you're spending it on your mobile phone and then usually you are on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, any social media.
Speaker C:What you're consuming is the information predominantly from some sort of self proclaimed influencer that knows nothing typically because the only interest they have is in actually selling the product, getting their affiliate code and their commission.
Speaker C:And I think that that's the biggest problem.
Speaker C:And then on the other hand, actually the people from science professors from universities, the researchers, you know, the people, they have done that all their life, they're not influencers.
Speaker C:They don't have the big reach in social media.
Speaker C:Well, they do attend those specific congresses, but the congress they are attended by how much?
Speaker C:Like a thousand people.
Speaker C:And now this does not compare to the millions that are reached by influencers.
Speaker C:So it's kind of unbalanced.
Speaker C:But maybe that's the exciting part too.
Speaker C:It's the game of David versus Goliad.
Speaker C:It is.
Speaker C:So the people that are supporting True Signs and the other ones that just want to earn money, we have to acknowledge that that's the reality we're facing.
Speaker C:And the only thing you can do is to find those scientists and researchers that actually know stuff and help them, I'm not lying, help them to become an influencer, support them if you're really interested in transparent information sharing and educating the consumer.
Speaker C:Because if you don't do that as a brand, no one else is going to.
Speaker C:Also television, they want to have reach.
Speaker C:And if you got A like a dried out scientist with Instagram profile.
Speaker C:Even these days of 100 people, they're not going to listen to you because they also need to play by now dynamic rules of the game and the market has changed.
Speaker C:If you went back like 10 or 15 years ago when social media didn't have the weight it does have today, the rules on the game would be different.
Speaker C:And then the stationary pharmacies, the doctor's practices institutes, whether that's the Charite in Berlin or wherever, the weight would be larger and people would listen more to them.
Speaker C:But these days it's the influencers that influence.
Speaker C:That's why they're called that way for sure.
Speaker B:Do you think that this complicated German system, the fact that it's quite hard to penetrate the markets, do you think that that helps the longevity field gain more credibility or do you not think that that has any impact?
Speaker C:Probably the counter question would be what is longevity?
Speaker B:You're right.
Speaker B:Good question.
Speaker B:Let's just keep it very broad.
Speaker B:Anything that is not a doctor prescribed medicine, any vitamins, anything that is, you know, in inverted commas, unregulated.
Speaker B:Do you think these stringent German and you know, Austrian or Swiss or controls help to keep that market more honest?
Speaker C:It does the exact opposite.
Speaker C:I mean, there is some sort of enforcement, let's put it differently, there are diverging interests.
Speaker C:There's the interests of the supplement industry, which is a tiny industry, even though it's growing, and there's the interests of the pharmaceutical industry and they're competing, which is why the regulation kind of says, you know, how much vitamin D are you supposed to take?
Speaker C:In Germany, as an example, it's 800 units per day, 800 EU.
Speaker C:Whereas for instance, the EFSA, just as a concrete example, says well up to 4,000 EU almost the daily level is acceptable and doesn't harm.
Speaker C:Now if you want to play by German rules, you would need to sell products that only have 800 EU of vitamin D in there, because if it's more, you might run into trouble.
Speaker C:The problem is the goal of the German agency is not to make you healthy.
Speaker C:It's not their proclaimed goal.
Speaker C:Their goal is to make sure you're not getting sick if you're healthy already.
Speaker C:So that means their recommendation is the minimum daily dosage you need as a healthy person not to get sick.
Speaker C:That's what it is.
Speaker C:The problem is if you take a look at national surveys from the national agencies, like the German robot Koch Institute, they kind of show you that 80 or 90% of the German population is deficient in vitamin D. So they don't live by their own rules.
Speaker C:And that's kind of the challenge.
Speaker C:So, as a matter of fact, coming back to your question, what you would need is you would need different rules, and that's kind of political.
Speaker C:And then you would actually need, if you wanted to change something in the industry, and I think the us, they're a good example under Kennedy, that they're, they are changing the rules of the game.
Speaker C:You would actually meet and enforce in the body.
Speaker C:That kind of checks how this could be done.
Speaker C:I said earlier that my experience doesn't only translate into Germany, but for instance, I've got the concrete example from France because it did give me a good laugh.
Speaker C:France is a big country, 70 million people.
Speaker C:When I registered products there, it took like half a year.
Speaker C:It really took half a year going back and forth with the federal officers.
Speaker C:And I tried calling them and then never picked up the phone until one day she did.
Speaker C:And she's like, I know you have been calling.
Speaker C:I can see your number.
Speaker C:I've seen your dozens of emails.
Speaker C:And I think I must have done a really good job because I think she was primarily pissed and that's the reason why she responded.
Speaker C:She's like, do you know how many people are sitting here on a national level enforcing everything?
Speaker C:I'm like, no, I have no idea.
Speaker C:And she said, three.
Speaker C:I was like, what for?
Speaker C:Everything.
Speaker C:Not even supplements.
Speaker C:So there's thousands, ten thousands of supplement companies.
Speaker C:There's at least ten new supplement companies registering every single week.
Speaker C:And in France, with a population of 17 million people, there's three people.
Speaker C:And trust me, it's not different in Germany.
Speaker C:So even if you change the rules, even if you got an entirely new body that's going to enforce laws, you need personal, and you need personal that's educated, because, let's face it, nutrition and supplementation, vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, whatever you name it.
Speaker C:Secondary plant extracts.
Speaker C:It's so complex, and it's getting even more complex if you join them and if you put them together into one product and the effects it can have amongst each other.
Speaker C:You need a doctoral degree.
Speaker B:Do you think part of the reason why there are only three people in the office dealing with that stuff is because the market in general has not taken the idea of preventative medicine serious enough?
Speaker C:Well, the entire system is not built on prevention, at least not in Germany.
Speaker C:It's built on cure and on pharma.
Speaker B:I speak to a lot of people from literally all over the world, and I can tell you it's exactly, exactly the same all over the world.
Speaker B:Some countries are better.
Speaker B:And you know something, Germany actually, believe it or not, is one of the better countries where the insurance does pay for a lot of whatever you want to call it, preventative tests or medicine.
Speaker B:Other countries, it's really, it's even worse.
Speaker B:So can you imagine?
Speaker C:I know, but I think, where does prevention start?
Speaker C:And I think prevention does start in kindergarten, already in primary school.
Speaker C:I mean, you have to educate a person.
Speaker C:You know, what is the regular food, Maybe you should eat.
Speaker C:How, how should your plate at dinner, at lunch, for breakfast, how should it look like?
Speaker C:And you don't have to know every vitamin or mineral, but you probably should know the few where most of the population is deficient because of the lifestyle you're having, whether you're a vegan or vegetarian.
Speaker C:I mean, as a vegan, you know, you, you do need vitamin B12, you need to supplement it because it's, it's just not existence anywhere else.
Speaker C:If you've got a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle that you do need creatine, because otherwise it's, it's only in animal, in meat and fish.
Speaker C:Obviously if you, if you change your lifestyle, then you're creating gaps that are caused by yourself.
Speaker C:And I think the Scandinavian countries that do a better job at educating the, the population at a much younger level and it could be easy for us as well, but we simply don't do it.
Speaker C:I don't know whether we don't want to or because we don't have the financial incentive to do so.
Speaker C:Unfortunately not in politics.
Speaker C:I can't answer that question.
Speaker B:Yeah, but I don't think you even need to be in politics to realize that.
Speaker B:It comes back to what we said in the beginning.
Speaker B:In the long run, prevention makes a lot of sense.
Speaker B:You know, it saves a lot of money for the insurances, for governments, for everything.
Speaker B:Because you cut out a lot of illnesses that only come about because there was no prevention.
Speaker B:And you know, cancer, for example, that's one of the fields where there are nowadays.
Speaker B:In most countries there is a lot of cancer testing done nationwide, maybe from a certain age on.
Speaker B:But that has saved not only people's lives, but the governments.
Speaker B:The insurance is a lot of money.
Speaker B:So, so prevention does seem to work.
Speaker B:Why do you think maybe not politicians, but the pharma industry hasn't caught onto that?
Speaker B:Because of course they do want to sell medicine.
Speaker B:I get that.
Speaker B:And the sicker you are, the more medicine you need.
Speaker B:But couldn't that be turned into them selling, like you said, vitamin D3 omega, things like that, where they can also make money but help the population.
Speaker B:Does that not look like it's going to happen anytime soon?
Speaker C:Well, there.
Speaker C:There's two things for the prevention part there.
Speaker C:There's been done a study in Germany and it kind of showed that if you invest €1 in prevention, actually a return of investment is going to be €4.
Speaker C:So actually the financial figures show that it would make sense economically speaking for.
Speaker C:For the country, but then that's the country as a whole and it's not the specific industries and it's not about bashing about the pharma industry because.
Speaker C:But it also has to do with pressure where the kind of society in the world is moving.
Speaker C:Obviously patents run out and the stuff that you're selling it has like a final date on it.
Speaker C:And if you don't come up with new patents, the money printing machine is going to slow down too.
Speaker C:And they're coming up with supplement lines, they're investing into supplement startups, into biotech, they're diversifying their portfolio and they're diversifying into prevention.
Speaker C:But they don't really make it that visible.
Speaker C:I think every pharmaceutical company does it kind of on their own, behind the curtains.
Speaker C:Maybe it's a good thing that the social system in Germany is not doing so fine anymore and financially sticking and you can't finance it infinitely that they see that they don't need to shift because at the end someone needs to pay the bill and we are not able to pay the bill anymore.
Speaker C:I think they have seen that coming for the past couple of years, which is why they do have funds that invest in startups.
Speaker C:It's actually interesting what they're investing in, how they kind of perceive the future.
Speaker C:I'm pretty sure prevention is going to be a large part of it.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's a tricky topic because it's like you said, there's a lot of money in it from every angle you look at it.
Speaker B:There's a lot of investing, investment going on.
Speaker B:But I think the inflection point hasn't been reached.
Speaker B:I think still there's a lot of hype around and that needs to calm down for the things that really work and that are worthwhile to come through.
Speaker B:And I guess that's in any emerging market, the case.
Speaker B:I'm just wondering if you think that there are any countries or markets that are a bit more ahead of the game than others.
Speaker C:A whole lot.
Speaker C:The US is a lot further.
Speaker C:Southeast Asian markets like Singapore or Malaysia are a whole lot faster, but simply because their Political system, their social welfare and health system is different.
Speaker C:In those countries you're responsible yourself and the state doesn't take care of you.
Speaker C:If you've ever lived in those kind of countries and you receive the bull run, I can provide you with a concrete example.
Speaker C:Even though I had health insurance in the US and that's 24 years ago, I actually broke a bone in my back.
Speaker C:The only thing I had to do, aside from physical training, is actually to go see a therapist.
Speaker C:Six times.
Speaker C:That's kind of what the prescription was for those six times 24 years ago.
Speaker C:Six times 30 minutes each, I had to pay, in addition to my normal insurance, a thousand euros.
Speaker C:A thousand.
Speaker C:Not kidding.
Speaker C:A thousand.
Speaker B:That's a great job.
Speaker B:That's more than $300 an hour.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker C:Good for them.
Speaker B:I know what my next profession is going to be.
Speaker B:No, I'm joking, but obviously no, no.
Speaker B:Joke aside, that's ludicrous.
Speaker B:That's crazy.
Speaker C:It is, absolutely.
Speaker C:If you're not insured, and a lot of people aren't insured in those kind of countries, well, what's the alternative for them it's a no brainer to Invest, for instance, €300amonth in supplements, because the alternative is getting some sort of bill if you have to go to the hospital once and pay 20,000 or even more.
Speaker C:So their incentive, even from a financial point of view, is a whole lot greater.
Speaker C:And as long as we're getting everything handed to in Germany, we as a consumer don't need, we don't have the pressure, we don't feel it yet, that we need to educate and inform ourselves because it doesn't hurt us yet, but it's starting to hurt us because the bills, the insurance is increasing.
Speaker C:And aside from the insurance for a lot of things, we're paying extra.
Speaker C:If you go to the dentist and you want something, sorry, your insurance doesn't cover that anymore, you need to pay extra, you need an additional insurance here.
Speaker C:Oh, I know, treatment.
Speaker C:But you still need to pay another €200.
Speaker C:And for a population where 25, 30% of the consumers don't have the €30 at the end of the month anymore, this does put stress onto the system.
Speaker C:And it's those kind of people, unfortunately, that are also not well informed and they simply don't know how to help themselves.
Speaker C:So it's not about what, what can a brand do, it's actually what can the system do, what can the government do to help actually this kind of population?
Speaker C:And unfortunately, I think what we are Seeing that's an economic development is there's rather scenarios where you actually give those kind of people like a guaranteed monthly income and not change the system.
Speaker C:Because actually spending money, we know that in Germany is easier than changing anything from an infrastructure kind of point of view.
Speaker C:And that's actually what's needed.
Speaker C:So maybe the longevity clinics that we're seeing, they're a good entry point for the people that do have the money.
Speaker C:Because you know, usually you got like a trickle down effect obviously.
Speaker C:Who's going to use the clinics at first?
Speaker C:Well, people that have the additional income that can afford it, but have more people use it, the cheaper kind of the system gets and triggers down in society and the more and more people can use it.
Speaker C:And this kind of reduces cost economies of scale, over time the system can change from the inside out.
Speaker C:And that's maybe one of the reasons why I do find the space so interesting.
Speaker C:Because you need to be a visionary, you need to be avant garde in this industry to kind of see a change, anticipate it or help want to build it.
Speaker C:And maybe with an entry farmer, that's one thing we are doing.
Speaker C:But also as an individual that has experienced something firsthand, whether that's like the insurance check that you receive that you need to pay or you've gotten sick and no one could help you, because that's also true.
Speaker C:And you go see a doctor, they're not typically a holistic health coach.
Speaker C:And if you only got five to seven minutes to spend with a patient, how do you want to get to know the patient?
Speaker C:How do you want to know what's missing?
Speaker C:You can only see the outside, you can't see the inside.
Speaker B:You've touched on the fact that there is a great inequality overall in the health system.
Speaker B:And in some countries you can feel that much more than in others.
Speaker B:I think in most EU countries there is a basic healthcare system that looks after you in a way that's probably stops you from actually dying outright.
Speaker B:How much it prevents it, even you getting sick.
Speaker B:That's a different discussion.
Speaker B:But you have other countries where there is literally zero healthcare system to prevent you from dying.
Speaker B:Do you feel that the longevity market as a whole is still being perceived as a market for the rich?
Speaker B:And it's actually quite interesting, sorry to ask you that, especially because with a view to the German market, which is undoubtedly one of the richest markets, one of the most, you know, the healthcare system certainly is one of the best within the world.
Speaker B:How do you see that?
Speaker C:I think that's also the question how you phrase longevity because everyone is using it from the lifestyle brand to actually one doing the real science behind it.
Speaker B:Why don't you tell us what is your interpretation of the word longevity?
Speaker C:There's a difference between what do I think in my bubble?
Speaker C:And then I do think it is real science and people are trying to do a good job and to actually move something, move the needle, whatever company or laboratory that is.
Speaker C:But telling you from the, let's call it semi outsider, which for instance is my wife, then the perception is what in the world is it that you're doing all day?
Speaker C:Like that is not real life.
Speaker C:You're talking about sleep patterns, doing yoga here, doing breath work there, wearing oxygen masks, going to a sauna.
Speaker C:And the fun part and then somewhat it does get entertaining.
Speaker C:There was a documentary on German television and they showed actually, you know, how does the lifestyle of a person look like if you want to live longevity the way it is suggested by the industry?
Speaker C:And then all of a sudden you get up at 6 in the morning, you jump into an ass cold lake, freezes your butt off, and then with your stiff hands you're trying to work out or chop the cucumbers in your kitchen and prepare everything fresh until you figure out, oh, it's the next training session that you need to get done.
Speaker C:Your entire schedule is filled with protocols that actually put additional stress onto the system that you were trying to save.
Speaker C:So more is not more.
Speaker C:But the people that can follow that obviously are not the people that need to get up at 6 and be at the assembly line until 2 or 4 in the morning that have different shifts and also they cannot afford the ice bath, they cannot afford the sauna.
Speaker C:So for them this is crazy because it's not their reality.
Speaker C:It's like you're living on a completely different planet.
Speaker C:And it's not the language you're speaking, it's just way out of what they perceive as normal.
Speaker C:And I think it's really hard to bridge that.
Speaker C:But then also that's why I said, how do you find longevity for me?
Speaker C:I mean that's why I said at the beginning when we talk, I mean, I've been an athlete for all my life and I didn't eat anything, I had proper nutrition, I had proper sleep, I had my daily rhythm, I had my stupid lame routines that kept me healthy and kept me sane.
Speaker C:Like I didn't have the time to watch television that much or spend time on the cell phone to be preoccupied with whatever social media is trying to sell to you.
Speaker C:The more boundaries you can set for yourself.
Speaker C:The more focus you can actually put on your personal life and your family and keep the energy to yourself.
Speaker C:I think the healthier you're going to be.
Speaker C:It's good that protocols exist.
Speaker C:It's good the industry is moving in all sorts of different directions, but like 90% of the way it's for free and it's really easy.
Speaker C:And then if you want to add supplements, yeah, Maybe it's like 5% of the bill, then do that for whatever you feel like is missing or maybe a doctor has prescribed or a friend of you or whoever.
Speaker C:But all the other things, for me personally, I don't have a wearable that tracks my data.
Speaker C:I don't want to have that data.
Speaker C:I go to a sauna maybe once per quarter just because a friend invites me to and not because I do it for a specific purpose.
Speaker C:Ice baths, I don't do it.
Speaker C:It's just not good for my body.
Speaker C:People, people are different.
Speaker C:And you kind of need to find out whether someone is selling to you.
Speaker C:Like does it fit your individual lifestyle, your body type?
Speaker C:Maybe you should raise the question if you do something, how does it make you feel?
Speaker C:And it's also with the wearable.
Speaker C:Like if the wearable tells you you had an awesome night and you feel like shit.
Speaker C:I mean, often this puts trust in the system because you're like, oh, maybe my feeling is off.
Speaker C:No, your feeling is not off.
Speaker C:Maybe the wearable is just off.
Speaker C:Like don't care about the wearable.
Speaker C:So zooming out, listening to your own body, to your own signals, being in balance with the outside and inside, really basic stuff, like the stuff that you learned as a child and you just unlearned as you went because you kind of adapted to a way in a world that wants to sell things, but going back to the roots, that's actually going to make you happy and it's going to make you healthier.
Speaker C:It's going to make you live a longer and happier life probably.
Speaker C:You did have a lot of people talking about blue zones.
Speaker C:They don't follow any protocols, they don't have the wearables, they just got their normal diet, they move, they exercise, they enjoy life with their friends and family, they work hard, but they also do something meaningful, what they believe in.
Speaker C:Maybe that's something we can start with.
Speaker B:Basically it's a rich man's problem.
Speaker C:That's what you said.
Speaker B:I certainly said that.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, but it is, you know, a lot of these things is like you said, a lot of them are sort of self inflicted.
Speaker B:The fact that people aren't moving anymore, you know, they sit on the sofa, they hop into the car, they take the elevator.
Speaker B:Movement, such a basic thing, it's for free.
Speaker B:Anybody can move.
Speaker B:It's really not rocket science.
Speaker B:It's just very interesting hearing someone like you saying that, because really, your business is getting people to buy into that not trend, but the need to help themselves further by purchasing things.
Speaker B:I think it's a fine line between keeping yourself healthy by whatever means you can.
Speaker B:So if you do not have the money, then go and walk, at least, you know, be around friends, do the social thing.
Speaker B:And if you have a little bit of money, buy some very, very cheap supplements.
Speaker B:And if you have more money, you know, you can do more, do tests, do this, do that.
Speaker B:Is that sort of where you are?
Speaker C:Well, it's two things.
Speaker C:First of all, if you've got a family, not kidding, spend time with your children.
Speaker C:The moment you spend time with your children, you're not on your cell phone, you're not thinking about your job, you're moving because the kids are moving.
Speaker C:You're socializing, you're fostering ties, you're actually teaching them something every single day.
Speaker C:It has an impact.
Speaker C:It's meaningful.
Speaker C:It touches so many areas of your business.
Speaker C:Business as not an economic business, as in matters in your personal life.
Speaker C:And then the other thing is, and I think this is extremely important, I do not work, and I do explicitly say that with every company on a yearly basis.
Speaker C:I work with four or five companies that actually want to change something of the industry and that strongly believe in an educational part.
Speaker C:And this needs to be authentic for myself.
Speaker C:If it is not, I don't take on the project.
Speaker C:And that's quite simple.
Speaker C:So, for instance, the companies I've worked for, they've built categories, usually with one single product.
Speaker C:Just as an example, today I was talking to a company that has one product and it's a whole fiber only.
Speaker C:It's one sku.
Speaker C:The thing is, most people don't know that they need fiber throughout the day.
Speaker C:They don't know that they need 25 to 35 grams.
Speaker C:And that's something simple as protein.
Speaker C:And as long as the population doesn't know, and it doesn't matter about the product itself, but I mean, you can eat your broccoli, you could eat your carrots, wherever you're taking your fiber from.
Speaker C:But companies that I work with, they do educate the consumer that way, and they teach them that it's also natural nutrients and natural products.
Speaker C:Vegetables.
Speaker C:Vegetables where you can find that and I think that's the information that we need so you can make informed decision and kind of have a feeling for what is good and maybe what something I don't need.
Speaker C:I mean, not gonna name the company.
Speaker C:There's a huge company in Germany.
Speaker C:It's the largest one.
Speaker C:They're extremely successful.
Speaker C:They've got a thousand skus.
Speaker C:No one needs that.
Speaker C:Good lord.
Speaker C:You're not deficient in a thousand vitamins and minerals.
Speaker C:You're simply not.
Speaker C:Just measure, then analyze and then take action.
Speaker C:And then, you know, but it's kind of simple.
Speaker C:You just have to get it done, you know, and that's sort of what I'm trying to get out there.
Speaker C:And that's what I'm working on with clients that I work with.
Speaker C:I teach them not to be competitors.
Speaker C:It sounds like that's how they see themselves.
Speaker C:As if someone is taking a share of their pie, but they're building something that's tiny to begin with.
Speaker C:The goal is to actually increase that pie, make the pie, the entire pie, larger.
Speaker C:And even if then there's going to be four or five brands, like the share of the pie for everyone is again, from an economic point of view as well.
Speaker C:It's going to be a whole lot greater.
Speaker C:But at the beginning, most founders don't see that.
Speaker C:And probably that's kind of the sparing that I do with them because sometimes I do work with competing brands and they can actually join forces to have an impact.
Speaker C:And that's something they need to learn.
Speaker B:Gosh, you know, you really.
Speaker B:You've summed it up so beautifully.
Speaker B:And I just really have to reiterate that what you just said, it is so true.
Speaker B:Because the problem is that I think the market first needs to come together and all the quality players need to give credibility to the market.
Speaker B:And the market is huge.
Speaker B:Look at other markets.
Speaker B:How many companies exist within that field.
Speaker B:And I think you're doing a fantastic job with trying to teach these responsible, let's just call them proper supplement longevity companies, whatever, to connect to other companies that are serious within the market.
Speaker B:And that gives the whole market credibility and pushes, like you said, their own sales up.
Speaker B:But it's an educational process and it's amazing you do that.
Speaker B:And I think it's.
Speaker B:That is what is needed in the field.
Speaker C:There should be more people like us.
Speaker C:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:I'm not doing much for that field, but.
Speaker C:Well, you're having the platform, so that's what I'm saying.
Speaker C:Like I'm thankful to be here.
Speaker C:So it does spread the Word.
Speaker B:But you're right, that is the idea of this podcast.
Speaker B:It is to give a voice to credible people within the industry.
Speaker B:And it doesn't matter if it's, you know, investors or researchers or people like you who bring companies to market, but the market really needs to become serious, lose the hype it has, and just become credible.
Speaker B:So you're right.
Speaker B:That's what we're here for, you and me.
Speaker B:So that's great.
Speaker C:Step by step.
Speaker B:Step by step.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:But you need to take these steps to bring credibility to an important field is really what it is at the end of the day.
Speaker B:And whether you call it longevity or wellness or living healthier for longer, that's sort of just a word.
Speaker B:But you know, it's the idea of living better in whatever shape or form that may be.
Speaker B:At the end of the podcast, I always ask everybody five rapid fire questions.
Speaker B:What's the single best piece of advice you would give your younger self?
Speaker C:Do it.
Speaker C:Like Nike said, just do it.
Speaker B:Name one habit everyone should adopt for a longer, healthier life.
Speaker C:Move.
Speaker C:Just really, whether it's 7,000 steps per day or just going on a 30 minute stroll, just move your body.
Speaker B:If you weren't in the field of longevity, longevity science, what career would you have chosen?
Speaker C:If my body would allow me to.
Speaker C:If the situation had been different in Germany a couple of years back, I probably still would be maybe a professional athlete.
Speaker C:I would still love that.
Speaker C:Just my body hates me for that.
Speaker B:And by all accounts, from what I've heard from professional people, you'll probably live longer by not being a professional athlete.
Speaker C:That's probably true.
Speaker C:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:What microdose habit, sort of five minute routine or small daily action yields outside longevity benefits?
Speaker C:As a matter of fact, I do have a, almost every single morning a LinkedIn routine.
Speaker C:But before I start, I, I put in music from tbed, so and it has like a specific frequency and it really earth me puts me down to earth and it's so chill that I can really land on myself.
Speaker C:Even though you, you might think you should land on yourself when you get up, but it, it's not the case.
Speaker C:So it kind of puts me in a good mood.
Speaker C:The right frequency.
Speaker A:Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker B:What's the craziest longevity myth you've encountered?
Speaker B:And is there any truth to it,.
Speaker C:Like method or what's the real question?
Speaker A:Myth.
Speaker C:Oh, gosh.
Speaker C:I got it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Thanks for the translation.
Speaker B:Yeah, I actually don't even know if that's the correct German word.
Speaker B:Sometimes I sort of think it's a German word.
Speaker C:Yeah, I have to think myself sometimes.
Speaker C:My German Zoc too.
Speaker C:I really don't know.
Speaker C:Probably it has something to do with that you need to follow so many protocols when the key is simplicity.
Speaker C:Because as a matter of fact, like whatever you do, it only makes sense if you can do it in the long run.
Speaker C:And usually it's the simplest things in life, like a stroll, like playing with your kids, that you stick with the longest.
Speaker B:Sounds good to me.
Speaker B:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:I really enjoyed this conversation with Frank Robert because it looked at longevity from a very practical angle.
Speaker A:Not only what products exist, but what happens when those products have to enter the real world pharmacies, regulation, consumer skepticism, and the much harder task of earning trust.
Speaker A:What stood out to me is that credibility in this field does not happen automatically.
Speaker A:It is not enough to have a product, a claim a or even a pharmacy listing.
Speaker A:People need to understand what they are buying, why it matters, and who they can trust.
Speaker A:Robert also made a strong point that serious players in health and longevity should not only think of each other as competitors.
Speaker A:If the field is still trying to become more credible, the bigger task is to build the category properly, educate the public, and separate responsible companies from the noise.
Speaker A:And perhaps the most important reminder was the simplest one.
Speaker A:Longevity does not have to start with expensive protocols, clinics, tests or wearables.
Speaker A:For most people, the foundations are still movement, family, food, sleep, routine and learning to listen to the body.
Speaker A:Again.
Speaker A:Whether we call it longevity, prevention, wellness, or simply living better for longer, the challenge remains the making credible health information and practical habits easier for people to access, understand and actually use.
Speaker A:If you enjoyed this episode of Beyond Longevity, please rate, review and subscribe.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker C:SA.
