Dave Asprey

Dave Asprey (born October 30, 1973) is an American entrepreneur and author.[1][2] He founded Bulletproof 360, Inc. in 2013,[3] and in 2017, founded Bulletproof Nutrition Inc.[4] He has written five books. Men's Health described Asprey as a "lifestyle guru."[5]

Dave Asprey
Asprey in December 2018
Born (1973-10-30) October 30, 1973
Albuquerque, New Mexico
NationalityAmerican
EducationUC Santa Barbara (Computer Science B.S.)
California State University (B.S)
Wharton (M.B.A.)
Known forBulletproof Coffee and the Bulletproof diet
Websitewww.bulletproof.com

Asprey is a "biohacker,"[6] creator of 'Bulletproof Coffee' and the 'Bulletproof diet', and author of a book describing the diet.[7]

Asprey is also known for being early to exploit the Internet for commerce and selling caffeine-molecule t-shirts via the alt.drugs.caffeine newsgroup in 1994.[8][9] Previously, Asprey held executive and director positions for technology companies including Trend Micro, Blue Coat Systems, and Citrix Systems.[10]

Career

Asprey attended UCSB and majored in computer science and later earned his undergraduate degree in computer information systems from California State University. He went on to earn an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.[11]

After graduation from college, Asprey worked in the IT industry for companies that included Bradshaw [12] and 3Com.[13] He also ran the Internet and Web Engineering program at University of California, Santa Cruz, in which Asprey created one of the first working instances of cloud computing.[14] Later, he joined Exodus Communications as director of strategic planning,[15] where he co-founded the company's professional services group.[14]

Asprey was the director of product management for a Silicon Valley startup called NetScaler which was later acquired by Citrix Systems.[14] After working at Citrix, Asprey served as the vice president of marketing for Zeus Technology[16] and later, vice president of technology and corporate development at Blue Coat Systems.[17] He then became an entrepreneur in residence at Trinity Ventures before co-founding a company called Basis.[10] Asprey was the vice president of cloud security for Trend Micro[18] before he left to run his own business full-time.[19]

Asprey founded Bulletproof 360, Inc. in 2013 [3] and founded Bulletproof Nutrition Inc. in 2014.[4][20]

Asprey 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.[19] Asprey also developed "low-mold coffee beans", oils, and supplements and started selling them on his website in 2011.[21] 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.[19]

Asprey also runs a podcast, "Bulletproof Radio," which had been downloaded more than 75 million times as of January 2019.[5][21] The stated goal of Bulletproof Nutrition is to enhance human performance. It supports the Quantified Self movement as a way to empower individuals to understand and 'hack' their own health.[22]

In 2014, Asprey authored The Bulletproof Diet published by Rodale Books.[1]

On July 25, 2015, Asprey opened a cafe in Santa Monica selling Bulletproof Coffee and high fat foods.[21][23]

In July 2015, Asprey raised $9 million from Trinity Ventures to expand the company.[24]

In June 2017, Asprey partnered with Ross Franklin, CEO and Founder of Pure Green, to launch Bulletproof Coffee in New York City.[25]

Bulletproof diet

The Bulletproof diet developed and marketed by Asprey recommends eating foods high in fat, moderate in protein, and low in carbohydrates; the foundation is "Bulletproof Coffee", made with grass-fed unsalted butter and either coconut oil or medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) (Asprey sells both mixed MCT and pure caprylic acid MCT oils).[26][27]

Asprey developed his Bulletproof Coffee recipe after traveling to Tibet and tasting yak-butter tea drinks.[28] 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.[29][30] The Bulletproof diet also recommends incorporating intermittent fasting.[26]

Asprey has claimed that when used in combination with other "health hacks", the coffee helped to boost his IQ score by more than 20 points.[29] His company claims that Bulletproof Coffee can aid cognition and trigger weight loss through ketosis.[31]

Asprey warns coffee drinkers to avoid mold toxins such as ochratoxin in coffee,[32] which he claims "steals your mental edge and actually makes you weak." He sells a brand of "upgraded" beans that are advertised as having undergone a secret, proprietary process to reduce mycotoxin levels.[33][23] However, physician David Bach has observed that coffee producers already are good at removing mycotoxins from their product, and that there is no evidence to support Asprey's claim that mycotoxins make people "sluggish".[34]

Reception

Critics have described the Bulletproof diet as unscientific.[35] Asprey has no medical degree or nutritional training.[5]

Vox contributor Julia Belluz 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.[36] 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".[27]

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".[31][37] Some celebrity doctors, such as Dr. Frank Lipman[38] and Dr. Andrew Weil[39] believe that, when combined with a balanced diet, drinking buttered coffee could be healthy and "might give you a bit more energy than your everyday cup."[40][41]

Personal life

Asprey has said that he expects to live to age 180. As of 2019, Asprey said he had spent at least $1 million "hacking his own biology," including having his own stem cells injected into him, taking 100 daily supplements, following a strict diet, bathing in infrared light, using a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, and wearing special lenses when flying or using a computer. Asprey met his wife, Lana Asprey, a physician, at an anti-aging conference. They live in Canada.[5] Asprey has also spoken about how biohacking has positively impacted his sexual health.[42] He also claims to have helped his wife with her infertility. [43]

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) [44]
  • Super Human: The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever (2019)

See also

References
  1. Torabi, Farnoosh (January 23, 2015). "I Made $6 Million at Age 26—and Lost It by 28". TIME: Money. TIME Magazine. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  2. "...Albuquerque, I grew up there..." Transcript – Geoffrey Miller: Sex, Power, and Domination – #138
  3. "Bulletproof 360, Inc.: Private Company Information -". Bloomberg. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  4. "Bulletproof Nutrition, Inc. registration". businessfilings.sos.ca.gov. California Secretary of State. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  5. Monroe, Rachel (January 23, 2019). "The Bulletproof Coffee Founder Has Spent $1 Million in His Quest to Live to 180". Men's Health. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  6. "'Biohackers' mining their own bodies' data". SF Gate. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  7. "Best Sellers – Food and Fitness". New York Times. 11 January 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  8. Tim Nemec (1994-03-30). "FAQ: Vendor List – Version 1.05 – Coffee, Coffee Appliances, Related Accouterments".
  9. Stuart Wilson (1995). "Internet or Not?". Dave Asprey of the West American T-Shirt Company tried marketing his T-Shirts on UseNet, another internet function. The problem he avoided that he could have come across is that UseNet has a serious anti-commercial bias. He states, 'A newsgroup called "Alt.drugs. caffeine" had a serious base of coffee drinkers, so I created a shirt for them. I posted a message on that newsgroup that an unofficial "Alt.drugs" caffeine shirt was available. I got lots of orders. Enough that I made more from UseNet posts in 2 months than I had made locally in 6.'
  10. Carney, Michael (February 14, 2014). "Bulletproof yourself: How Dave Asprey is teaching Valley insiders to hack their biology". PandoDaily. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  11. "Dave Asprey Bio". Personal website. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  12. Taylor, Dave (October 13, 1997). "Inside the Firewall: Intranets add fuel to the never-ending platform battle". InfoWorld. Vol. 19 no. 41.
  13. Shachtman, Noah (September 28, 1998). "Next-Level Web -- Businesses Are Raising The Skills Levels Of Their Web-Site Staffs". InformationWeek. CMP Media LLC.
  14. Levinson, Meridith (October 14, 2011). "Stress Management: Better Living Through Technology". CIO. CXO Media Inc. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  15. Barthhold, Jim (August 13, 2001). "Exodus hangs onto customers - for now Most are sticking with Web host despite analysts' warnings". Telephony. 241 (7): 32. ISSN 0040-2656.
  16. Broadhead, Steve (February 2008). "Optimising small business networks". ComputerWeekly.
  17. "Blue Coat Integrates Sophos True File Type Detection To Fight Malware". FirstPost. February 12, 2009. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  18. Lawler, Ryan (March 22, 2012). "What big data really needs is security". Gigaom. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  19. "Could buttered coffee make you smarter?". Crain's Wealth. Bloomberg News. April 22, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  20. "Bulletproof Nutrition Securities Registration". www.sec.gov. SEC Edgar. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  21. Megroz, Gordy (April 21, 2015). "Buttered Coffee Could Make You Invincible. And This Man Very Rich". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  22. Xerox Contributor (7 October 2013). "XeroxVoice: Biohack Guru Stresses Big Data and Biofeedback for Wellness". Forbes.
  23. Ogilvie, Jessica P. (27 July 2015). "David Asprey Wants You to Drink Coffee With Butter. Some Dismiss His Science (VIDEO)". L.A. Weekly.
  24. https://techcrunch.com/2015/07/23/trinity-bulletproof/
  25. Laurence, Emily (April 19, 2017). "BULLETPROOF IS IN MAJOR EXPANSION MODE—HERE'S EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW". Well + Good.
  26. Toby Amidor (February 15, 2015). "Diet 101: The Bulletproof Diet". Food Network.
  27. Megan Ogilvie (January 28, 2015). "Butter and coffee for breakfast touted as the latest weight-loss trick". The Star.
  28. Rubin, Courtney. "The Cult of the Bulletproof Coffee Diet". NYT. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  29. "Bulletproof Coffee, the New Power Drink of Silicon Valley". Fast Company.
  30. Jill Kransy (January 29, 2015). "Turning the 'Bulletproof' Coffee Craze Into a Big Brand". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  31. "How 'Superfoods' Like Bulletproof Coffee Get Popular". Healthline.
  32. Asprey, Dave (14 March 2014). "The Science Behind Just One Mold Toxin in your Coffee". Bulletproof Blog. Bulletproof 360. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  33. Megroz, Gordy (21 April 2015). "Make You Invincible. And This Man Very Rich". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  34. Khan, Amir (24 December 2014). "The Bulletproof Diet Is Anything But". US News. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  35. "The Bulletproof Diet: simplistic, invalid and unscientific". The Telegraph. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  36. Julia Belluz (2014-12-19). "The Bulletproof Diet is everything wrong with eating in America". Retrieved 2015-02-10.
  37. Khan, Amir (December 24, 2014). "The Bulletproof Diet Is Anything But". US News & World Report.
  38. Courtney Rubin (December 12, 2014). "The Cult of the Bulletproof Coffee". The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  39. Alana Kakoyiannis (October 18, 2014). "The One Thing You Can Add To Coffee For Even More Energy In The Morning". Business Insider. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  40. Adam Hadhazy (January 28, 2015). "Should You be Drinking Bulletproof Coffee?". Men's Journal. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  41. Andrew Weil (April 4, 2013). "Q and A Library: Should I Drink Bulletproof Coffee?". Weil Lifestyle. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  42. "GQ: Can You Biohack Your Way to Better Sex?". Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  43. https://www.good.is/food/bulletproof-diet-biohack
  44. Dave Asprey (4 December 2018). Game Changers: What Leaders, Innovators, and Mavericks Do to Win at Life. ISBN 978-0062652447.
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