Vitality Unleashed: The Functional Medicine Podcast

Is Your Birthday Killing You? Why Men Are Dying 6 Years Too Soon

• Dr. Kumar from LifeWellMD.com • Season 1 • Episode 223

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It’s a silent crisis that no one is talking about: Men are dying significantly younger than women, and the gap is widening.
In this eye-opening episode, we confront the uncomfortable truth behind the "Six-Year Gap"—the statistical reality that men are now dying six years earlier than women.
We dissect a landmark paper from the American Journal of Men’s Health and explore why this isn't just "biological noise," but a systemic failure.
We uncover the alarming "Death of Despair" trends, including:

  • The "Man Van" Solution: How countries like the UK are revolutionizing men's healthcare by meeting them where they are (literally in vans at construction sites), while the US lags behind with zero dedicated federal offices for men's health.
  • The Testosterone Crisis: Why low testosterone is not just about libido—it's a critical biomarker for heart disease, diabetes, and early mortality.
  • The "Fine" Trap: Why the word "fine" is the most dangerous word in men's health, leading to missed diagnoses and preventable deaths.

Stop accepting the statistics. Your biology is not your destiny. If you want to reclaim those lost years and optimize your health for longevity, you need a proactive strategy, not reactive sick care.

Connect with Dr. Ramesh T. Kumar at LifeWell MD Dr. Kumar is a Board Certified Radiation Oncologist and Functional Medicine expert who specializes in advanced diagnostics and hormone optimization to help men thrive, not just survive.

📞 Schedule Your Consultation Today: Call: 561-210-9999

🌐 Visit: LifeWellMD.com

Available for In-Office Consultations (North Palm Beach) and Telemedicine.

Disclaimer:
The information provided in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your supplement regimen or health routine. Individual needs and reactions vary, so it’s important to make informed decisions with the guidance of your physician.

Connect with Us:
If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might benefit. For more insights and updates, visit our website at Lifewellmd.com.

Stay Informed, Stay Healthy:
Remember, informed choices lead to better health. Until next time, be well and take care of yourself.

SPEAKER_02:

I want you to just picture a timeline for a second. It's 1920. A man and a woman are born on the same day, right here in the U.S. Right. They live through everything, you know, the roaring twenties, the Great Depression, the wars. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: All of it. And statistically, when they get to the end of their lives, they die about one year apart.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell One year. It was basically a rounding error back then. You could argue it was just biological noise.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Exactly. Now, let's fast forward to today. We have MRI machines, advanced cancer screenings, you know, everything.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell you'd think that gap would have closed.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Ross Powell You'd think. But it hasn't. It has exploded. If you look at the 2025 data, the average American man is now dying six full years before the average American woman.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Six years.

SPEAKER_02:

He's checking out around 73, 74 years old while she makes it almost to 80.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a huge step backward. And let's be really clear, that six-year gap isn't just about, you know, dying peacefully at 95 instead of 100. We are talking about millions of years of life just lost. Lost in the middle of adulthood. It breaks up families, it wipes out economic value, and it's created this demographic crisis that, frankly, almost nobody's talking about.

SPEAKER_02:

And that is exactly what we are digging into today. We're looking at some, frankly, alarming new research, focusing on a landmark paper from the American Journal of Men's Health.

SPEAKER_01:

The one from Giorgiani and Henry.

SPEAKER_02:

That's the one. They call this a silent crisis. And their main point is, well, that's pretty controversial. They argue the U.S. government is completely asleep at the wheel. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01:

Institutional inertia is the term they use.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Right. It's a heavy accusation. So today, we're going to unpack why men are dying so much faster, why the government has literally zero offices dedicated to this, and how other countries are actually tackling the problem.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Yeah. Countries like the UK are miles ahead of us on this. It's pretty stark when you compare them.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell But we're not just going to leave you with the doom and gloom. We need a counterpoint, right? Yeah. The what can we actually do part. So throughout this deep dive, we're going to filter these huge systemic problems through the clinical lens of Dr. Kumar.

SPEAKER_01:

Trevor Burrus, right. And for context, Dr. Kumar is a board certified MD, founder of LifeWell MD. He's perfect for this because his work is right at that intersection of high-tech Western medicine and this more holistic integrative care.

SPEAKER_02:

He even has training in acupuncture from Harvard Medical School, which is such a unique combination.

SPEAKER_01:

It really is. He's the kind of expert who looks at the root cause, not just the symptom.

SPEAKER_02:

He's the guy you go to when you decide you don't want to be a statistic.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

So as we look at this systemic failure, keep Dr. Kumar's approach in mind as the personal blueprint. So let's start with the crisis itself, that gap, one year to six. Why?

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Ross Powell Well, you'd think with all our technology, you know, the rising tide would lift all boats. Right. But while our tech got better, what researchers call preventable killers have just disproportionately hammered men. The research talks about this phenomenon called deaths of despair.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Ross Powell And the numbers are pretty shocking. We're seeing men die at higher rates in nine out of the ten leading causes of death.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Ross Powell Nine out of ten.

SPEAKER_02:

That's not a statistical blip. That's a clean sweep.

SPEAKER_01:

It is. And it's driven by things that are both behavioral and systemic. I mean, look at suicide. The rate is three to four times higher in men.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Three to four times.

SPEAKER_01:

Men account for about 75% of all suicides in the country right now. It's a staggering disparity that just doesn't get the headlines it should.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell It feels like something we've just accepted as normal. It gets buried in the news cycle.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. And that goes hand in hand with substance abuse. The drug overdose death ratio, it's about 2.4 to 1 men over women. Wow. Then you throw in the workplace. Men make up over 90% of all workplace fatalities. But the biggest piece of that six-year gap, the real monster, it's still cardiovascular disease.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell A classic heart attack.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. But it's hitting men so much earlier. It's taking them out in their 50s and 60s, you know, right in their peak earning years when their families need them most.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell So this isn't just biology. This is a failure to catch these things before they become a catastrophe.

SPEAKER_01:

That's it, exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. So we have men dying from despair, from dangerous jobs, from their hearts giving out way too early. If this were, I don't know, an a new virus hitting 50% of the population this hard.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, there'd be a national task force by tomorrow morning, daily press conferences.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell No question. So why not for this? And that's the core of that Giorgiani and Henry paper. They make an economic argument, basically hoping money will get people to listen. What's the price tag here?

SPEAKER_01:

It's astronomical. The sources say that premature male death costs federal and state governments around$142 billion every year.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Ross Powell$142 billion. And that's what lost tax revenue, drained resources?

SPEAKER_01:

Correct. And that's just the government side. For U.S. employers, it's another$156 billion a year in lost productivity. Jeez. But the researchers, and this is how Dr. Kumar often frames it too, they argue that the dollar amount is actually the least important number.

SPEAKER_02:

Because of the social cost. The family issue.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. When a 50-year-old dad dies, the ripple effect is just devastating. You create widows who suddenly face poverty. You have fatherless children, and we know from the data that they're at a higher risk for all sorts of bad outcomes. It destabilizes the entire community.

SPEAKER_02:

So the moral case is clear, people are dying. The economic case is clear, we're losing billions. Let's get to this institutional inertia. Why is the government ignoring this? The paper points out a really shocking disparity at the Department of Health and Human Services.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, this is the part that usually makes people's jaws drop. Within HHS, there is a very strong, well-funded infrastructure for women's health. There are currently five funded staffed offices specifically for women and girls. You've got the Office on Women's Health, another one at the NIH for research on women's health, and so on.

SPEAKER_02:

Five offices, that's great. I mean, women's health absolutely needs that kind of focus. So what's the parallel for men?

SPEAKER_01:

There isn't one.

SPEAKER_02:

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_01:

Zero.

SPEAKER_02:

Wait, literally none. Not a single office, not even a subcommittee tucked away somewhere.

SPEAKER_01:

Nothing. No dedicated office of men's health. And Giorgiani and Henry are really clear on this point. They are not saying we should take away from the women's offices.

SPEAKER_02:

Of course not.

SPEAKER_01:

They're just arguing for equity. Because without a designated office, you have no project manager for half the population.

SPEAKER_02:

That's a really good way to put it. There's no one in charge.

SPEAKER_01:

Think about it. With no office, there's no dedicated funding stream for research. There are no coordinated public health campaigns like check your prostate ads during the Super Bowl. There's no one demanding that data gets broken down by sex to even see these problems in the first place.

SPEAKER_02:

It's like trying to build a skyscraper without an architect.

SPEAKER_01:

You've got all the materials, but no glueprint, so nothing gets built.

SPEAKER_02:

And this lack of leadership means we miss key moments. The paper talks about a window of opportunity that's happening right now, related to that executive order from February 2025.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, the President's Make America Healthy Again Commission or the MAHA Commission.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

The researchers argue this is a make or break moment. If that commission just talks vaguely about wellness, but doesn't explicitly mandate an Office of Men's Health, we're just going to lose another decade to this same inertia.

SPEAKER_02:

It's wild that this even needs to be lobbied for. And what makes it even more frustrating is that other countries are looking at the same data we are, but they're actually doing something.

SPEAKER_01:

That's maybe the most damning part of the whole situation. The US is a complete outlier and it's in action. Look at the UK. November 2025, they launched their men's health strategy for England. It was a huge deal, launched from 10 Downing Street.

SPEAKER_02:

And they didn't just, you know, put up a few posters telling men to eat more vegetables. They changed the entire system. I was reading about the man vans.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a brilliant idea. It's a total pivot on how you deliver care.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Because one of the biggest problems, and Dr. Krumar sees this all the time, is that men just don't go to the doctor. The system is inconvenient and feels sterile. So the UK said, fine, we'll go to them. They rolled out these mobile clinics.

SPEAKER_02:

The man vans.

SPEAKER_01:

They go to construction sites, to rugby clubs, to factories. They meet men where they are.

SPEAKER_02:

So you walk out of work, you step into a van, you get your blood pressure checked, maybe a quick consult, and you're done in 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. It removes all the friction. And they're taking it even further with tech. Starting in 2027, men in the UK can order a PSA test, a prostate cancer blood test, directly to their home.

SPEAKER_02:

So no appointment, no waiting room, no awkward conversation.

SPEAKER_01:

None of it. Break your finger, mail it in, get your results. It completely democratizes that initial screening.

SPEAKER_02:

That sounds like exactly the kind of thing Dr. Kumar talks about, reducing friction to increase action. And then there's Australia. They're tackling the mental health side with something called men's sheds.

SPEAKER_01:

This is one of my favorite initiatives anywhere. Australia's national strategy runs to 2030, and they figured out you can't just treat depression with a prescription, you have to treat the isolation.

SPEAKER_02:

A men's shed. It's literally a shed.

SPEAKER_01:

It's exactly what it sounds like: a community workshop with tools and projects where men can go to build things, fix things, work on an old car together.

SPEAKER_02:

But the building is sort of the excuse, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Precisely. Men often bond shoulder to shoulder while doing a task, not necessarily face to face over coffee. The shed gives them that purpose, that community. It directly fights the loneliness that drives those suicide numbers we mentioned.

SPEAKER_02:

It treats the root cause.

SPEAKER_01:

And Australia is also really good at breaking down their data. They have specific programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men because they know one size doesn't fit all.

SPEAKER_02:

So the UK has the delivery model figured out. Australia has the social and mental health model, and the U.S. has no office.

SPEAKER_01:

And a six-year death gap.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell That's the grim reality on the policy side. But we can't just end there.

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_02:

Because most people listening can't wait for Congress to pass an act or for a man band to show up. We have to take ownership now. And this is where we have to pivot to Dr. Kumar and the clinical reality.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Right. The system might be broken, but the individual doesn't have to be broken with it. The paper itself notes that medicine often treats the male body as the default, but Dr. Kumar's whole philosophy is that default is not the same as optimized.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Let's break that down. When a man walks into LifeWell MD to see Dr. Kumar, it's not the standard physical, is it? What's he looking for that a typical doctor might miss?

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Well, the standard physical is designed to catch a disease after it's already there. It's sick care. Dr. Kumar practices functional medicine, which is actual health care. He's looking for the smoke before there's a fire. And for men, that almost always starts with a deep dive into hormones, especially testosterone.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Now most people hear testosterone and they immediately think, you know, bodybuilder is libido. But Dr. Kumar makes the case that it's a vital metabolic hormone.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell That's a crucial distinction. Low testosterone isn't just about feeling tired or losing your sex drive. It's clinically linked to a higher risk of heart disease, insulin resistance, which of course leads to diabetes, and even depression.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell So if your testosterone is low, your body just can't manage itself properly.

SPEAKER_01:

It can't. It loses the ability to regulate blood sugar, to maintain muscle. So treating it isn't vanity, it's about longevity.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell And Dr. Kumar specializes in TRT and bioidentical hormone replacement, BHRT.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, but not to turn you into a superhero. It's to restore your body's chemistry to an optimal level so your heart and your brain can actually function correctly. He's in the Androgen Society, so he's using the absolute latest science on this.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell And what about the heart? Since that's a number one killer, I go to my doctor, I get one cholesterol number, they say it's fine, and that's it.

SPEAKER_01:

Fine is such a dangerous word in medicine.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

A standard cholesterol test can miss so much. Dr. Tumar looks at advanced lipid panels. He wants to know your particle sizes, your inflammatory markers like HSCRP, your insulin sensitivity. He wants to know if your arteries are getting inflamed years before a plaque could ever rupture.

SPEAKER_02:

So he's looking under the hood while the car is still running smoothly.

SPEAKER_01:

And he doesn't just look, he intervenes. He combines that data with regenerative therapies. The goal is to maintain your function as you age, not just manage your decline. But, and this is so important, he also integrates holistic care. Remember, the Harvard Acupuncture training.

SPEAKER_02:

I keep coming back to that. It's such a fascinating credential for an MD.

SPEAKER_01:

Because it acknowledges that stress is a biological poison. You can fix a man's testosterone, you can fix his cholesterol. But if his cortisol is sky high from chronic stress, he's still headed for a crash. So he uses these integrative techniques to calm that fight or flight nervous system that so many men live in 2047.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a whole toolkit. Sometimes you need a prescription, sometimes you need acupuncture, sometimes you need a complete lifestyle change.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell That's the core of his practice at Life Well MD. He's filling the void that the government has left wide open. He's basically saying the state may not care if you die at 73, but we can build a plan to get you to 85 or 90.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell So let's wrap this up. We have this clear split.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

On one side, you've got a massive systemic failure symbolized by that empty office at the HHS.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And on the other, you have blueprint for personal action, championed by experts like Dr. Kumar.

SPEAKER_01:

I think there are two really clear calls to action that come out of this. First, on the policy level, you have to make some noise. Support things like the Dads Matter Act. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02:

Pressure that MAHA commission.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. Demand that the U.S. finally catches up to the UK and Australia.

SPEAKER_02:

And on the personal level.

SPEAKER_01:

On the personal level, you have to stop thinking of your health as a breakfix problem. You can't be passive. If you're a man listening or if you love a man who's listening, you have to go seek out that optimization. Don't settle for average blood work. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02:

Because the average man is dying six years too soon.

SPEAKER_01:

That's it. You have to find a functional medicine expert. Look up Dr. Kumar at Life Well MD. You know, he does telemedicine and in-person care. Get the advanced panels done.

SPEAKER_02:

He's the one who can bridge that gap between these terrifying national statistics and a personal plan for survival.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, I keep coming back to that number.$142 billion a year in costs to the government. We know fixing this saves money. We know it keeps families together. We know it prevents tragedy. So why do we as a society still seem to treat men's health as optional?

SPEAKER_01:

That is the big lingering question, isn't it? Culturally, we've sort of accepted this idea of the disposable male, the idea that men are just supposed to work hard, wear out, and die quietly.

SPEAKER_02:

But the science says it doesn't have to be that way.

SPEAKER_01:

Not at all. It's time to stop treating men's health as a side issue. It's a national imperative. And until the government wakes up to that fact, it has to be a personal imperative for every single one of us.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we've covered a ton of ground today, from the halls of HHS to the man vans in London and into Dr. Kumar's clinic. It's a heavy topic, for sure, but hopefully you have a better toolkit now. Thanks for diving deep with us.

SPEAKER_01:

Take care of yourselves out there.