164. SXSW Panel: How To Actually Take Control Of Your Health In 2026 and Beyond
5/14/202656 min
A lot of us are doing everything we can to stay healthy, taking supplements, wearing trackers, getting our labs done, and still ending up sick. And if you are like most people, you probably thought that was on you, that you were not disciplined enough, not consistent enough, or simply not doing the right things, but that is not the case. The system we have been relying on was never designed to keep us well in the first place, and expecting the Western medical system to manage your long term health is like expecting a fire department to landscape your garden.
We dive deeper into this in the Extend with Steve Martocci, Pranitha Patil, and John Sullivan. We also chat about why 30% of people have dangerously high blood pressure and have no idea, why four out of six top selling creatine products on Amazon contain zero creatine, and why doctors receive zero training on supplements in medical school yet are expected to advise patients on them every single day.
Steve Martocci is the founder of SuppCo, a platform that has catalogued over 300,000 supplement products and built the industry's first independent trust scoring system. Pranitha Patil is the co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Function Health, which offers comprehensive lab testing across hundreds of biomarkers for $365 a year. John Sullivan is a senior leader at Whoop, the performance wearable that introduced medically cleared continuous health monitoring to everyday consumers. If there is any panel qualified to tell you the truth about what it actually takes to stay healthy in 2026, it is this one.
What's Discussed:
- (13:12) The supplement industry's trust problem and why four out of six top selling creatine products on Amazon contain zero creatine.
- (20:17) How to build your own N-of-1 health roadmap using lab work, wearables, and supplements working together.
- (39:58) The single highest leverage investment you can make for your health right now that has nothing to do with money.
- (43:26) Why 30% of people have dangerous blood pressure and have no idea.
- (46:50) The FDA, the supplement industry, and where the line should actually be drawn between regulation and innovation.
- (53:12) Why the Western medical system was never built to keep you healthy and what to do instead.
Listen to this episode of the Extend Podcast and finally understand why the system you have been trusting with your health was never designed to keep you well, and what it actually looks like to take that power back into your own hands.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
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Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah:
Website: drshah.com
Clinic: next-health.com
Instagram: darshanshahmd
Learn more about John Sullivan:
Instagram: @johnjsulli
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnjsulli/
Learn more about Pranitha Patil:
Instagram: @pranitha/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/pranithapatil
Learn more about Steve Martocci:
Instagram: @smart
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stevemartocci
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDarshan Shah· Host0:00
[gentle music] Welcome to Extend with me, Dr. Darshan Shah, a podcast dedicated to cutting-edge science, research, tools, and protocols designed to help you extend your health span. Having become one of the youngest doctors in the country at the age of 21, and trained and board-certified at the Mayo Clinic, I've accumulated three decades of practice as a board-certified surgeon and longevity expert. Over that time, I've discovered that a mere 20% of health knowledge yields 80% of the results when it comes to your health span. We are living in a new era where we are creating a new healthcare system, no longer focused on disease management, but achieving optimal health and vitality. Join me as I interview world-renowned experts, offering you a step-by-step guide to proactively avoid disease and, most importantly, extend your health span. Hello, everyone. Good morning. I'm Dr. Darshan Shah, and I am so excited to be here on this incredible panel of true experts in the field. So before we get started, I want everyone to take a look at their wrist, and then take a look at the wrist or the hand of the person next to them. There's at least a 80% chance that both of you have some sort of wearable on [laughs] right now. And then many of you probably also have your latest blood work on your phone, and so this is our new reality. This was not the reality 10 years ago, that's for sure. I mean, this has all come fast and furious. I, being a doctor, have been in the medical field now for 30 years, and I can tell you, I never thought