Summary
The Venn-Watson team shares how their work helping Navy dolphins led to the discovery of C15:0 and the creation of Fatty15. The episode covers the origin story, the surprising finding that a saturated fat was the best predictor of dolphin health, and how this discovery may impact human health and longevity on a broader scale.
Key Points
- The dolphin discovery originated from the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program
- C15:0 was a surprising finding because it is a saturated fat, challenging dietary assumptions
- The Venn-Watsons created Fatty15 to bring the discovery to human health
- The discovery suggests some saturated fats may be beneficial, not harmful
- The episode covers the entrepreneurial journey from research to supplement company
Key Moments
Challenging the idea that all saturated fats are harmful
The Venn-Watsons discuss how the C15:0 discovery challenges conventional dietary wisdom that all saturated fats are harmful.
"When I need omega-3s, I think, okay, I need to cook fish for dinner. This is what I need to do. And you found out that wasn't the case. That's correct. Yeah, we absolutely hypothesized, in fact, just assumed that it was going to be the dolphins that got the highest amount of omega-3s and their all-fish diet would predict the healthiest aging dolphins. And in fact, yeah, it wasn't. And so, not only was it surprising that it wasn't omega-3s that predicted the healthiest aging dolphins, it was this little unassuming C15 fatty acid that very few people know about. And then add on top of that, it's a saturated fat. So, here we were looking at dolphins telling us that this trace odd chain saturated fat predicted healthy aging. Which is fascinating. And, you know, we have a lot of younger listeners on this podcast. So, can you take us back to the 1970s when some of them may not have been born yet and help us understand why C15 and fatty acids were removed from our diets originally? Sure. So, yeah, so there I was five years old, right? 1977."
