Dave Asprey (born October 30,1972) is an American entrepreneur, author and advocate of a pseudoscientific
low-carbohydrate high-fat diet known as the Bulletproof diet.
He founded Bulletproof 360, Inc. in 2013,
and in 2017, founded Bulletproof Nutrition Inc.
[ '']Men's Health
''Men's Health'' (''MH''), published by Hearst, is the world's largest men's magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries. It is also the best-selling men's magazine on U.S. newsstands.
Started as a men's health magazine by Rodale, Inc. ...
'' described Asprey as a "lifestyle guru".[
Asprey is also known for his early adoption of the ]Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
for commerce and selling caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine to ...
-molecule t-shirt
A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...
s via the alt.drugs.caffeine newsgroup
A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinc ...
in 1994 and his promotion of the " biohacker" movement. Previously, Asprey held executive and director positions for technology companies including Trend Micro
is an American-Japanese multinational cyber security software company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and Irving, Texas, United State.Other regional headquarters and R&D centers are located around East Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and ...
, Blue Coat Systems
__FORCETOC__
Blue Coat Systems, Inc., was a company that provided hardware, software, and services designed for cybersecurity and network management. In 2016, it was acquired by and folded into Symantec. In 2019 was, as part of Symantec Enterpris ...
, and Citrix Systems.
Career
Asprey attended UCSB
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
and majored in computer science and later earned his undergraduate degree in computer information systems from California State University, Stanislaus
California State University, Stanislaus (Stanislaus State, Stan State) is a public university in Turlock, Stanislaus County, California. It is part of the California State University system. It was established in 1957 and is also the only cam ...
. He went on to earn an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...
.
After graduation from college, Asprey worked in the IT industry for companies that included Bradshaw and 3Com
3Com Corporation was an American digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney and others. Bill Krause joined as President in 1981. Metcalfe e ...
. He also taught and ran the Internet and web engineering program at University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...
, in which Asprey created one of the first working instances of cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mu ...
. Later, he joined Exodus Communications
Exodus Communications, the world's largest web hosting provider at the time, was a data center provider that provided retail and commercial server colocation and was an Internet service provider to dot-com businesses. Exodus went public in 1998 ...
as director of strategic planning, where he co-founded the company's professional services group.
His first startup was an early-stage e-commerce company founded around 1993, which was featured in ''Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
'' magazine. Eventually, the company delivered products to customers in 10 countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and several parts of Asia, making it one of the first worldwide e-commerce businesses.
Asprey was the director of product management for a Silicon Valley startup called NetScaler which was later acquired by Citrix Systems. After working at Citrix, Asprey served as the vice president of marketing for Zeus Technology
Zeus Technology, Ltd. was a software company founded in 1995 and based in Cambridge, England, known for its web server. In July 2011, Zeus Technology was acquired by Riverbed Technology. In March 2015, Riverbed Technology sold the SteelApp busi ...
and later, vice president of technology and corporate development at Blue Coat Systems
__FORCETOC__
Blue Coat Systems, Inc., was a company that provided hardware, software, and services designed for cybersecurity and network management. In 2016, it was acquired by and folded into Symantec. In 2019 was, as part of Symantec Enterpris ...
. He then became an entrepreneur in residence
An Entrepreneur in residence, or Executive in residence (EIR), is a position most often held by successful entrepreneurs in venture capital firms, private equity firms, startup accelerators, law firms or business schools. The EIR typically lea ...
at Trinity Ventures before co-founding a company called Basis. Asprey was the vice president of cloud security for Trend Micro
is an American-Japanese multinational cyber security software company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and Irving, Texas, United State.Other regional headquarters and R&D centers are located around East Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and ...
before he left to run his own business full-time.
Bulletproof
Asprey founded Bulletproof 360, Inc. in 2013[ and founded Bulletproof Nutrition Inc. in 2014.] He initially started the Bulletproof brand after developing Bulletproof Coffee. He posted the recipe for the beverage and details on the health benefits he experienced on his website while still working for Trend Micro. Asprey also developed "low-mold coffee beans", oils, and supplements and started selling them on his website in 2011. The following year, Asprey was a panelist at the “Hack Your Brain” event at South by Southwest. By 2013, Asprey had left his position at Trend Micro to run the Bulletproof companies.
Asprey also runs a podcast, ''Bulletproof Radio'', which had been downloaded more than 75 million times as of January 2019. The stated goal of Bulletproof Nutrition is to enhance human performance. It supports the Quantified Self
The quantified self refers both to the cultural phenomenon of self-tracking with technology and to a community of users and makers of self-tracking tools who share an interest in "self-knowledge through numbers". Quantified self practices overlap ...
movement as a way to empower individuals to understand and 'hack' their own health.
In 2014, Asprey authored ''The Bulletproof Diet'' published by Rodale Books
The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded int ...
and in 2015 opened a cafe in Santa Monica selling Bulletproof Coffee and high fat foods. In July 2015, Asprey raised $9 million from Trinity Ventures to expand the company. In July 2018, Bulletproof 360, Inc. reported raising more than $40 million in equity and debt financing, led by the food and beverage investment firm CAVU Venture Partners. Other investors in the round were Trinity Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank is an American commercial bank. SVB is on the list of largest banks in the United States, and is the biggest bank in Silicon Valley based on local deposits. It is a subsidiary of SVB Financial Group.
History
Silicon Valley Ba ...
. In Sept, 2019, Bulletproof announced that Asprey had stepped down as CEO but would continue to focus on his role as Executive Chairman. In September 2021, Asprey announced franchising his new venture, Upgrade Labs.
Bulletproof diet
The Bulletproof diet developed and marketed by Asprey recommends eating foods high in fat, moderate in protein, and low in carbohydrates with a foundation being the consumption of "Bulletproof Coffee", a coffee made and marketed by Asprey. Asprey developed his Bulletproof Coffee recipe after traveling to Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
and tasting yak-butter tea drinks. He returned to the United States and experimented with buttered drink recipes and published the preparation for his buttered coffee drink on his blog in 2009. The Bulletproof diet promotes the consumption of grass-fed beef and butter and considers soy, wheat, canned vegetables and microwaved foods to be toxic. It also recommends incorporating intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting is any of various meal timing schedules that cycle between voluntary fasting (or reduced calorie intake) and non-fasting over a given period. Methods of intermittent fasting include alternate-day fasting, periodic fasting, a ...
.[
Asprey has claimed that when used in combination with other "health hacks", the coffee helped to boost his ]IQ score
An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term ''Intelligenzqu ...
by more than 20 points. Asprey warns coffee drinkers to avoid mold toxins such as ochratoxin in coffee. Asprey asserts that mycotoxins
A mycotoxin (from the Greek μύκης , "fungus" and τοξίνη , "toxin") is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of kingdom Fungi and is capable of causing disease and death in both humans and other animals. The term 'mycotoxin' ...
are harmful substances produced by coffee-bean-growing molds (among other things) and they are responsible for a wide range of health issues, including inflammation
Inflammation (from la, inflammatio) is part of the complex biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants, and is a protective response involving immune cells, blood vessels, and molec ...
. He promotes his Bulletproof-brand "Upgraded Coffee" alleged to omit mycotoxins. Physician David Bach says that coffee producers are already able to remove mycotoxins from their products and that there is no evidence to support Asprey's claim that mycotoxins make people "sluggish".
Reception
Critics have described the Bulletproof diet as simplistic, invalid and unscientific.["The Bulletproof Diet: simplistic, invalid and unscientific"](_blank)
''The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
''. Retrieved 24 November 2018. Asprey has no medical degree or nutritional training.[ The ]British Dietetic Association
The British Dietetic Association (BDA) is a professional association and trade union for dietitians in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1936 and became a certified union in 1982: it is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and the Scott ...
have listed the Bulletproof diet as an example of a fad diet
A fad diet is a diet that becomes popular for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements. There is no single defi ...
. Stephan Guyenet reviewing the book for ''Red Pen Reviews'' commented that although some of the Bulletproof diet's advice such as eating whole foods and avoiding processed foods is healthful, "much of the dietary advice presented in the book seems either based on a superficial understanding of nutritional science or a complete rejection of it."
Vox contributor Julia Belluz
Julia Belluz is a Canadian journalist who specializes in health and science reporting. She is the senior health correspondent for American news website '' Vox'', as of August 2020. Belluz is known for her reporting on various public health issu ...
criticized the Bulletproof diet referring to it as "like a caricature of a bad fad-diet book". Belluz wrote particularly against claims that changing diet can reduce inflammation and lead to weight loss, saying Asprey ignored contradictory studies about the health benefits of certain foods, and inappropriately extrapolated studies on animals, very small groups of people, and people with specific diseases to the general human population.
Dietitian Lynn Weaver criticized the diet as being hard to follow and supported by only small studies that are "not generally part of the scientific literature used by medical and nutritional professionals". Dietitians also point out there is no scientific basis for claims of an IQ boost, and that any sense of alertness from Bulletproof Coffee is "just a caffeine buzz".
Asprey has been accused of making false health claims about his vitamin products to prevent and treat COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
. An article by ''Science-Based Medicine
''Science-Based Medicine'' is a website and blog with articles covering issues in science and medicine, especially medical scams and practices. Founded in 2008, it is owned and operated by the New England Skeptical Society and run by Steven N ...
'' commented that "Asprey’s output combines cherry-picked science with pseudoscience, wrapped up in a self-experimentation ethos that superficially sounds compelling but falls short in actual evidence". In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission sent Asprey a warning letter telling him any "coronavirus-related prevention claims regarding such products are not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. You must immediately cease making all such claims".
Personal life
Asprey has said that he expects to live to age 180.[ As of 2021, he says he has spent at least $2 million on "hacking his own biology", including having his own stem cells injected into his himself, taking 100 daily supplements, following a strict diet, bathing in infrared light, using a ]hyperbaric oxygen
Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...
chamber, and wearing special lenses when flying or using a computer.["Meet the man who plans to live to 180 (and has spent $2million trying)"](_blank)
''The Teleghraph''. Retrieved 4 December 2022. Asprey has also spoken about how biohacking has positively impacted his sexual health and he kept an ejaculation journal for a year.
Asprey met his wife, Lana Asprey, a physician, at an anti-aging conference. They live in Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...
, Canada. He claimed that following the Bulletproof diet helped his wife with her polycystic ovary syndrome
Polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. The syndrome is named after the characteristic cysts which may form on the ovaries, though it is important to note that this is a sign and no ...
.
Bibliography
* ''The Better Baby Book'' (2013) co-authored with his wife Lana Asprey,
* ''The Bulletproof Diet'' (2014),
* ''Headstrong'' (2017),
* ''Game Changers: What Leaders, Innovators, and Mavericks Do to Win at Life'' (2018),
* ''Super Human: The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever'' (2019),
* ''Fast This Way: Burn Fat, Heal Inflammation, and Eat Like the High-Performing Human You Were Meant to Be'' (2021),
See also
*Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable clai ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asprey, Dave
1973 births
American drink industry businesspeople
American male writers
Brand name diet products
Businesspeople from Albuquerque, New Mexico
California State University, Stanislaus alumni
Fasting advocates
High-fat diet advocates
Life extensionists
Living people
Low-carbohydrate diet advocates
Pseudoscientific diet advocates
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni