Bryan Johnson
Credit: Insta/bryanjohnson_
Entrepreneur Bryan Johnson is known for research on anti-ageing, advocating for age reversal, and care and treatments for the same. Recently, Johnson was in India and was invited for a podcast show with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath.
He grabbed the headlines for ending the podcast early and leaving "due to bad air quality".
Taking to his X account, he justified the reason for early departure.
"When in India, I did end this podcast early due to the bad air quality. @nikhilkamathcio was a gracious host and we were having a great time. The problem was that the room we were in circulated outside air which made the air purifier I'd brought with me ineffective," Johnson wrote.
He explained that the AQI inside the room was "130 and PM2.5 was 75 µg/m³, which is equal to smoking 3.4 cigarettes for 24 hours of exposure."
On the third day of being in India, Johnson expressed how the air pollution made his skin break out in rash, and his eyes and throat to burn.
"Air pollution has been so normalized in India that no one even notices anymore despite the science of its negative effects being well known. People would be outside running. Babies and small children exposed from birth. No one wore a mask which can significantly decrease exposure. It was so confusing. The evidence shows that India would improve the health of its population more by cleaning up air quality than by curing all cancers." he further added.
Johnson also questioned the leaders of India for "not making air quality a national emergency".
"I don't know what interests, money and power keep things the way they are but it's really bad for the entire country," he wrote.
He further mentioned the problem that he thinks the US should focus on and solve.
"When I returned to the US, my eyes were fresh to see what is normalized to me. I saw obesity everywhere. 42.4 per cent of American are obese and because I was around it all the time, I had been mostly oblivious to it," he wrote.
He added that obesity is worse than air pollution in the long term, and questioned American leaders on why wouldn't they "declare national emergency on obesity".
The post since shared has garnered over 1 million views and flurry of comments.
"Bro, just chill out. Stop measuring the air quality everywhere you go and start enjoying the place," a user commented.
"With what you have stated "Inside, the AQI was 130 and PM2.5 was 75 µg/m³, which is equal to smoking 3.4 cigarettes for 24 hours of exposure" every Indian would have died by the age of 30 itself. Don' over exaggerate!" commented another.
A third user commented on Johnson's comparison of air quality and obesity and wrote, "It is easier to address obesity than air pollution, imo. One is within our control, while the other is out of our hands. We can choose to eat healthy food, exercise, and get better sleep, but we can’t directly improve air quality."
"This is funny and sad at the same time," wrote a fourth.