Vishwa Deep Dixit

At a glance

• Vishwa Deep Dixit is the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Pathology at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Yale Center for Research on Aging.
• His lab studies how the innate immune system drives the low-grade inflammation that rises with age, often called inflammaging. A key focus is the NLRP3 inflammasome, a protein complex in immune cells that switches on inflammation.
• In Nature Medicine (2015) his team showed that beta-hydroxybutyrate, a ketone the body makes during fasting or a ketogenic diet, dampens this inflammasome in the lab.
• In Science (2022) he analysed samples from the CALERIE study. In healthy adults who ate about 14 percent fewer calories for two years, the thymus (the organ where immune cells mature) worked better and activity of the gene PLA2G7, linked to inflammation in mice, went down.
• What the science says: this is solid basic research in top journals, but the mechanisms have mostly been shown in mice and cells. It does not prove that ketone supplements or taurine pills lower inflammation or extend life in people.
• What you can do with it: his work fits what is already known, namely that a healthy weight and not overeating go together with less inflammation. Supplements based on this research are premature.