Danish podcast host and influencer Emil Thorup says he has dropped most of the supplements and tracking devices that made his longevity routine famous. He made the remarks on DR’s radio program P1 Debat on Tuesday.
Thorup has spent recent years documenting an intensive health regime built around longevity, the pursuit of a longer life. DR reports that he now says he has changed his view of what it takes to live longer and healthier.
According to DR, Thorup said he takes almost no supplements and barely uses gadgets anymore. He said he relies instead on things that already exist, naming the sun, movement and foods without an ingredient list.
Thorup has recently become a father and takes many morning walks with the stroller. He told P1 Debat that he is focused on getting light, and that sunlight may be the most important thing people can do for themselves.
DR describes Thorup as an entrepreneur, influencer, host of the podcast Lang Levetid and author of the 2024 book of the same name. His earlier routine included weighing his food, taking more than 40 different supplements daily and measuring his sleep. He also cut out sugar and carbohydrates, tried fasting regimes and trained for hours.
He said he still takes omega-3 when he does not eat enough fish, describing it as a condensed food. Much of what longevity aims for can be achieved through ordinary habits, he said, such as organic eggs from a biodynamic farm, long walks in the sun and fixed bedtimes instead of nightly sleep measurement.
Criticism from experts and commentators
DR notes that Thorup drew attention over the past year for saying people should drop oatmeal and sunscreen, statements that researchers and experts criticized and distanced themselves from. TV2 reported in August 2025 that experts pushed back against what they called an unnuanced demonization of oatmeal.
Anne Sophia Hermansen, culture commentator at Weekendavisen and host of the P1 program Damerne Først, told P1 Debat that she is pleased Thorup has scaled parts of his routine down. She said she finds the longevity wave self-centered when taken to extremes, and that she would like to see it buried. She added that there has to be some form of balance.
Hermansen said common sense should be the guide, and that she is put off by apps that constantly measure people’s condition, which she believes create stress. Accounts of 45 daily pills, blood value measurements, sleep apps and eight to ten hours of weekly sport give her the impression that the individual’s vitality is being terrorized out of them, she said.
Thorup rejected that description. He said longevity remains his health focus, that he turns 43 in a few weeks, that he has never felt better and that he does not feel he is giving anything up.
DR states that the P1 Debat episode also featured IT director Henrik Mølvig, who lives by longevity principles, parish priest Marie Høgh, and trainer and human biologist Anders Nedergaard.
