Anti-aging influencer Bryan Johnson walks out of Nikhil Kamath’s podcast over India’s “bad air quality”
Instagram: bryanjohnson_Anti-aging advocate Bryan Johnson says India’s “bad air quality” caused him to walk out of Nikhil Kamath’s podcast mid-episode.
Bryan Johnson’s quest to find an algorithm for his own health led him to begin a strict daily regimen, which includes taking over 80 pills a day to defy the effects of aging.
The anti-aging influencer discovered his ‘Project Blueprint’ in 2021, which included one of his first attempts at reducing the process of aging. In doing so, he underwent six 1-liter plasma transfusions, with one donor being his teenage son.
At 47 years old, Johnson’s ‘Don’t Die: The Man That Wants To Live Forever’ documentary was just released on Netflix in January 2025. The story intimately details the influencer’s controversial health practices, including genetic enhancements and extensive therapies for his hearing and other parts of his body.
Determined to live forever, Johnson told NPR that he does everything in his power to “minimize environmental toxins.”
During a trip to India in February, the influencer’s attempt to be free of negative toxins resulted in him walking out on Nikhil Kamath’s ‘WTF is’ podcast mid-episode.
Though Johnson wore an N95 mask and had an air purifier installed in the room where the podcast was being filmed, he said the air quality was too “bad” to continue if he didn’t want to age backward.
Bryan Johnson says he broke out in a rash during trip to India
The influencer detailed his reasoning in a lengthy tweet, claiming that 24 hours of breathing the air in India was equal to smoking roughly 3 cigarettes, which is highly against his protocol.
“When in India, I did end this podcast early due to the bad air quality. [Nikhil Kamath] was a gracious host and we were having a great time,” Johnson said. “The problem was that the room we were in circulated outside air, which made the air purifier I’d brought with me ineffective.
“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… This was my third day in India, and the air pollution had made my skin break out in rash and my eyes and throat burn.”
According to The Air Quality Life Index, an initiative launched by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, India’s air pollution is so poor that breathing it in can reduce one’s life expectancy by years.
In knowing this about India’s polluted air, some netizens backed Johnson for leaving Kamath’s podcast, impressed by the influencer’s apparent knowledge of the country’s air quality index.
Though his practices have seen slight criticism, Johnson revealed in his documentary that his anti-aging routine has been successful. He said that for every 12 months, he only ages eight months, making his unique process seemingly worth it.