Jim LaValle was a collegiate bodybuilder and budding pharmacist when he discovered the health-promoting power of dietary supplements. He had just successfully qualified for a major national bodybuilding contest, yet found himself dragging in the aftermath. “I just didn’t feel good,” he recalls.
On the referral of his cousins, he reached out to an integrative-medicine physician who ran some tests and prescribed some nutrients that supported LaValle’s adrenals while improving his gut health. He also offered some advice on larger dietary changes. The effects were profound.
“It just lit a fire in me,” LaValle says. “Like, wow, how come more people don’t know about this?”
For the past 40 years, LaValle, RPh, CCN, has been spreading the word about the importance of metabolic health, first as a pharmacist in Cincinnati, later as a clinical pharmacist, and today as the clinical cochair of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, chair of the International Peptide Society, and chief science officer for Life Time. His work and research have helped elevate longevity treatments, including nutritional approaches, bioidentical hormones, and the use of peptides, into the mainstream.
The results have not been without some controversy, so we asked LaValle to help us separate the hype from the healthful in this fast-evolving science.
Q&A
With Jim LaValle
Experience Life | Let’s talk about the biology of aging — specifically, how we struggle to keep our metabolism in balance as we grow older. At what point do we tend to begin losing that battle?
Jim LaValle | People used to say, “Oh, you’re in your 40s; you’re probably starting to feel poorly,” right? Now it’s more like, “Hey, you’re in your late 20s; you’re probably starting to feel poorly,” right? One of the most significant reasons for this is the metabolic impact of cortisol. People are experiencing more stress at younger ages; when you start to alter your normal cortisol pattern, your body creates more adrenaline, which accelerates aging.
More adrenaline means you become sympathetic-nervous-system dominant — you lose heart-rate variability, so your blood pressure may start to go up. You start to notice cognitive changes.
Managing cortisol is important because it impacts virtually all your other organs and tissues.
But probably the single biggest disturbance that causes accelerated aging is dysregulated glucose and insulin. This can lead to inefficient energy production and an increase in insulin production, which is often a sign of insulin resistance. That combination of factors is a major contributor to metabolic inflammation — or “metaflammation” — which can lead to “inflammaging.”
EL | We often talk about cortisol and sex hormones, as well as thyroid and growth hormones, as distinct, but you have described how they influence one another and the body’s entire “system of systems.” Why can looking at lab values individually be problematic?
JL | Your body works in networks and, honestly, all those networks are working together to keep your health on track as you age. Nothing works in isolation. For instance, if lab work shows your thyroid-hormone levels are out of range, it could be because other hormones, such as cortisol, are off. That’s why looking at a single lab can be deceptive.
Looking at your labs in patterns or systems can help you see where you might be trending toward a condition. So, looking at lab values from the lens of maintaining or improving health versus diagnosing sickness creates a big difference in the way you evaluate someone and what actions they take.
EL | Let’s talk about peptides. What should we understand before we consider using them?
JL | Peptides are chains of amino acids shorter than a protein. Your body makes thousands of these signaling molecules to help regulate how the body functions. Peptides are also found in plants and in food, and many are being researched for how they can support health or improve healing. For instance, BPC-157 is being studied for how it can help with gut health and recovery from injury.
Peptides hold a lot of promise, and they already play an important role in healthcare. Insulin, the first peptide discovered, has saved millions of lives. And today, GLP-1s are playing a role in diabetes management and weight loss, addressing glucose regulation and the problems associated with glucose and insulin signaling.
That being said, if you are interested in using peptides for a medical reason, it’s important to do so only under professional guidance. Today, a lot of people are buying research-use compounds that aren’t made to the standard that would guarantee safety for human use. . . . Buying products online and injecting yourself without guidance and oversight can be dangerous.
As exciting as new peptides are, it has to be excitement with caution: How do I use them? When do I use them? Are there lab values that I need to know before I consider taking them? If you’re going to consider using peptides, it’s critical to work with a professional who’s knowledgeable in them, who can guide you in them, and who can monitor how they affect you in case there are any side effects.
EL | What about mitochondrial peptides and longevity?
JL | All chronic degenerative illnesses have a mitochondrial component, which means there’s evidence of mitochondrial stress and a lack of mitochondrial efficiency. That happens for a lot of reasons. And as soon as your body gets into that chronic metabolic-inflammation signaling, the efficiency of how you make energy is affected, and the mitochondria start to get either damaged or destroyed.
For instance, if you have low thyroid function, you likely have impaired mitochondrial function in your cells. So, the powerhouses of your cells can’t make the energy you need to create all the metabolic signals and communication in your body.
Mitochondrial function is involved in everything from cognition and power capacity of muscle to immune function.
Mitochondrial peptides help restore the integrity of the mitochondria. They improve the density and the number of mitochondria within the cell. That’s going to help you have — for lack of a better term — younger, healthier cells.
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EL | You mentioned GLP-1s for weight management. What’s the biggest risk with them?
JL | A lot of people are using GLP-1s for weight loss, but if they are not following a comprehensive program that includes strength training and eating enough — including getting enough protein — up to 40 percent of weight loss can be in lean mass. Muscle is metabolically active, so if you lose that, you’re losing metabolic efficiency and the capacity for resting-energy expenditure.
Lean mass is the currency of performance health and longevity. You’re going to age better if you keep lean mass, so that’s a big concern.
As with all peptides, it’s important that people not buy GLP-1s online and self-medicate. Before starting a GLP-1, they should first understand their current health status, based on their unique bloodwork, as well as the risks.
EL | How about GLP-1s as a longevity peptide — can you make a case for that?
JL | I think it’s legitimate, and here’s why. Look at dementia, for example, which is also, colloquially, called type 3 diabetes; it’s related to glucose and insulin disturbances. Elevated lipids are related to glucose and insulin dysregulation.
When you start to regulate glucose and insulin, as GLP-1s do, you see an improvement in your lipid profile. You’re not craving foods as much.
GLP-1s seem to help correct one of the critical factors in why your accelerated aging is occurring. As I said earlier, glucose and insulin sit at the center of “inflammaging,” and once people become insulin resistant, it can eventually lead to diabetes. Then they’re at heightened risk for heart disease, kidney disease, dementia, even certain cancers. So it’s not a surprise that you’re seeing some literature now being published suggesting that GLP-1s may help address some conditions — well, of course, because you’re improving glucose and insulin regulation.
EL | What do you know now about aging that you wish you’d understood at 40?
JL | When I was 40, my mindset was, The harder you work, the more you get out of it. But it’s not about how much you do. It’s whether you’re addressing the right issues affecting your health or working on effective prevention and performance-improving strategies.
So, it’s paying attention to What are the symptoms that I’m having? What are my lab values? And then approaching the aging process in a targeted way with specific goals in mind.
How do you exercise differently when you’re 50 versus 60 versus 70? That’s my journey. I’ve been an avid exerciser throughout my life, and I learned the importance of recovery by tracking the data on my wearable devices: What’s my heart-rate variability? Is my recovery good? What’s my resting heart rate? How’s my flexibility? How am I sleeping? Those are all important factors for successful aging.
This article originally appeared as “A Fresh Take” in the September/October 2026 issue of Experience Life.
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