Heart Disease Is Optional? The Truth About Health, Habits, and Longevity | Ep 261 with Dr. Hosen Kiat

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: Founder's Story by IBH Media
Episode Title: Heart Disease Is Optional? The Truth About Health, Habits, and Longevity
Guest: Dr. Hosen Kiat
Date: September 9, 2025

In this engaging episode of Founder’s Story, Dr. Hosen Kiat—a renowned cardiologist and author—dives deep into the modern misconceptions around aging, heart disease, longevity, and the crucial role of healthy habits. The discussion explores the tension (and synergy) between cutting-edge Western medicine and traditional Eastern wisdom, highlighting actionable strategies for prevention and lifestyle change. Host and guest candidly discuss the challenges posed by social media, stress, and the importance of credible expertise in health decision-making.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The "Lie" About Aging and Health

(Starts at 01:05)

• Aging is modifiable:
  Dr. Kiat challenges the belief that aging inevitably means loss of vitality and health. He shares a personal story about his own mother:

  “Aging is plastic. Biology is absolutely modifiable. My mom, 96 … walks for an hour every day, rain or shine. … She had a hip switch surgery at 93 and is sharper than ever.” (Dr. Kiat, 01:30)

• “Mind Overdrive”:
  He describes his own motivational strategy for maintaining regular exercise and mental sharpness, regardless of age.

2. Building Healthy Habits for Longevity

(03:27–05:13)

• Core pillars:
  • Healthy eating (Mediterranean-style diet)
  • Less fried and heavily processed food
  • Fewer ultra-refined carbohydrates
  • Less meat, more plant-based foods
  • Regular physical activity (“Any movement is better than none”)
  • Quality sleep
  • Stress management
  • Staying socially connected (“Loneliness is as risky as smoking”)
• Prevention over treatment:
  Dr. Kiat emphasizes:

  "Medicine should be more about preventing disease instead of treating disease." (Dr. Kiat, 04:50)

3. The Double-Edged Sword of Social Media & Health Misinformation

(05:13–07:42)

• Social media as both help and hindrance:
  While patient access to medical information has increased, misinformation abounds.
• Anecdote:
  Dr. Kiat recounts a couple seeking a cardiac stent based largely on social media consensus:

  “She said, ‘Everyone knows if you have 70% blockage, you need a stent.’ I said, ‘How so?’ She said, ‘Well, it’s a social norm … every social media will tell you this.’ … I’m sure they were not professors of cardiology.” (Dr. Kiat, 06:05)

4. Where East Meets West: Blending Medical Traditions

(07:42–11:01)

• Western medicine excels in acute cases:
  Dr. Kiat acknowledges Western medicine’s life-saving impact for heart attacks, infections, and emergencies.

• Traditional medicine shines in prevention and harmony:
  He shares a historical account of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam benefiting from the traditional Chinese medicine, pian zai huang, to prevent chronic infections:

  “That’s how East and West meet without boundaries … They would still have antibiotics if they have an acute condition, but would take [pian zai huang] to prevent chronic festering infections.” (Dr. Kiat, 09:10)

• The host shares a personal success story using Chinese medicine after mainstream doctors failed to find an answer.

5. The Toll of Stress and Sleep Deprivation

(11:01–14:35)

• Stress is the “new smoking”: Chronic stress and poor sleep are major, often underestimated, risk factors—especially for entrepreneurs.
• Stress is subjective:
  Dr. Kiat explains how perception greatly influences stress’s effects on health:

  “If you and I … do the same video game and the score is the same… you may feel very stressed … I may be celebrating. … That sort of stress is not quantifiable because it is completely out of your perception.” (Dr. Kiat, 12:12)

• Actionable insight:
  Mindset and reaction to stressors can mitigate biological effects.

6. What Tests Should You Get After 40?

(14:35–16:04)

• Baseline cardiac assessment:
  • Family history and genetic risk factors
  • Blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, inflammation markers
  • Screening for chronic infections (e.g., gum disease, sinusitis)
• Anecdotes underscore the point:
  • Dr. Kiat references a friend who died at 40, likely from undiagnosed, untreated cardiovascular risks.
  • The host’s story about his mother—a lifetime of healthy habits, but genetic risk still required vigilance.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On aging and health:

  “My mom’s memory is as sharp as when she was 40.”
  —Dr. Kiat (02:55)

• On the power of habits:

  “Healthy habits will keep you hopefully living longer, but more importantly, living healthier.”
  —Dr. Kiat (04:15)

• On social comparison and online health advice:

  “Who are these people who say this [on social media]? What are their credentials?”
  —Dr. Kiat (06:23)

• On combining East and West:

  “When it comes to prevention, a lot we have to respect traditional medicine which has stood the test of time.”
  —Dr. Kiat (08:00)

• On stress perception:

  “Your stress level that you perceive as stress is different from mine. … [That] is not quantifiable because it is completely out of your perception.”
  —Dr. Kiat (12:50)

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Recommended Resources

• Dr. Kiat’s Book:
  Wisdom from Two Worlds
• Connect with Dr. Kiat:
  • Website: www.drk-iat.com
  • YouTube: Dr. Kiat’s channel

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Useful Timestamps

• 01:05 – Debunking aging myths
• 03:27 – Building healthy habits
• 05:13 – Social media & health misinformation
• 07:42 – Blending Western and Eastern medicine
• 11:01 – The real impact of stress
• 14:35 – Cardiac assessments after 40
• 16:04 – Personal stories of prevention and risk

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Overall Tone: Warm, candid, insightful, grounded in real expertise and accessible advice.
This episode offers not just information, but practical steps and a mindset shift for those seeking lasting health, clarity on misinformation, and a balanced view of medical traditions.

Transcript

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[Interviewer]

So Dr. Kiat, this topic is really near and dear to me because I've had a lot of personal experiences with people in my family who have had issues, passed away, things like that. Plus, it's as I'm now in my 40s, it's really something that I'm thinking about, but I'm very curious. Ron, what would you say is one lie that the medical system tells us about aging and health?

[Dr. Kiat]

Yeah, I'm not sure whether it's a lie, but it is such an easy misconception for people to swallow is that their doctors often tell them, well, Jeff, you're getting old. You should expect your memory, your vitality, your strength to decline. And people often just swallow this. But in fact, in fact, aging is plastic. Biology is absolutely modifiable. My mom, 96, she's living in LA. She walks for an hour, 96 for an hour every day, rain or shine. Not that it rains a lot in la, but she would walk. Doesn't matter what the weather is, whether how hot it is, she would walk. And this is despite the fact that at the age of 93 she had a hip switch surgery. And that is something. Today, for example, I had two zoom meetings in the morning and this is one of the three interviews that I'll be doing. And this morning the last thing in my mind was going to the gym. So I had this life strategy called Mind Overdrive and I've talked about that in my book Wisdom from Two Worlds. This mind overdrive made me go. So yeah, I didn't do my 95 kilo bench press, but I did enough volume to, you know, to keep my muscles warm. But these are the sort of things that we can do at any age if we have towards healthy habits. These are healthy habits. Once we're into that habit, in fact, we can live a lot longer with vitality, with strength. And hopefully our memory continues to be as sharp as ever. And my mom's memory is as sharp as when she was 40.

[Interviewer]

Wow. I only dream of being in my 90s and still have the sharpness of how I am in my 40s. I'm a little bit nervous because I don't have as many healthy habits as I need to. So can you walk me through what are some of the healthy habits that you do?

[Dr. Kiat]

Then you know what healthy habits are? Obviously healthy eating, Mediterranean food, less fatty foods, less fried foods, more raw and lightly cooked meals, instead of heavily sort of fried, deep fried stuff. So these are all the healthy habits. Less refined or ultra refined carbohydrates, less meat, stick to more plant based foods. And then of course, regular physical activities, what we call movement. Any movement is better than none. Sleeping well, stress strategies, everyone has stress, but you know, we just somehow has to manage that stress. So all these things, staying connected, for example, loneliness, as is as risky as smoking, for example. So staying connected, being in an environment that you're not socially isolated is a very important thing to do. So these are what we call healthy living and healthy habits. And these two words, healthy habits, will keep you hopefully living longer, but more importantly living healthier. So as we discussed, yeah, as we discussed earlier, medicine should be more about preventing disease instead of treating disease.

[Interviewer]

I like that mindset. I like that mindset about prevention rather than treating because I feel like once you get to the treating phase, it's pretty miserable because you're already suffering from something. I have this feeling that social media could potentially be an extra cause of isolation. It makes a lot less people. It makes a lot of people less social. But then I also see a slight danger. And there's a lot of health advice that I've seen given that are not from people that have any expertise. How do people in the medical profession look at that?

[Dr. Kiat]

Yeah, I guess social media can be a plus or minus. And more and more we are challenged. Our patients come to us with knowledge, so called knowledge information from social media. I have a brilliant influencer. She and her husband came to see me. Her husband has about 70% narrowing in one of the blood vessels of his heart. She just blatantly said to me, he needs a stent I said, why? Because everyone knows. She said, everyone knows if you have 70% blockage, you need a stent. I said, how so? She said, well, it's a social norm. You know, every social media will tell you this. So, so every, everything, you know, everything that she looked at, she said would tell her that. But you see, when you ask, who are these people who say this? What are their credentials? Of course she couldn't tell me. And I'm sure that I said to her, I'm sure they were not professor of cardiology who said this. So that's a classic example. And of course he didn't have a stabilization.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, there's like this thing going around about not using sunscreen and that sunscreen causes can't. This is really wild stuff. So I had to get a dermatologist and say, like, okay, what do you think? Because for me, I go to people that have real world expertise because anyone can go on social media and say something like you said, but I thank you for that. That example, how do you see this old world meets new world, this, this healing around cutting edge science meets ancient wisdom. Because I am very interested to learn more about this.

[Dr. Kiat]

I'm western trained, so I practice Western medicine. But more and more I can see that while western medicine is very, very good in acute heart attacks, we really save lives there because we can put the stent in, we can do acute bypass surgery and save the patients, people with severe infection, we can treat them, people who basically collapse, we can give them resuscitation and intubation and so on. So yes, Western medicine is very good in more acute medicine. But when it comes to prevention, a lot we have to respect the traditional medicine which has stood the test of time, that they work in creating living in harmony in your body with nature. So in my book Wisdom from Two Worlds, I mentioned an example, and this is a widely known knowledge that you can Google in fact as well. So during the Vietnam War, American soldiers in Vietnam were in fact suffering from a lot of tropical infections. And of course they've got the best antibiotics, but you couldn't really pump antibiotics all the time. And so guess what? They in fact got from mainland China stockpiled of this traditional Chinese medicine called pian zai huang in Chinese, which is in fact a concoction of several things, natto ginseng and deep musk and ox bile, etc. Which has been around since the Ming dynasty and has been used as an antibiotic, antiseptic for thousands of years. But they're slow, they cannot treat Acute septicemia. But they're very good when people are in a place that they just keep getting recurrent infections. And that's how east and west meet without boundaries. Basically they would still have the antibiotics if they have an acute septicemic condition, but they would be taking this Biancai Huang all the time to prevent the chronic festering infections.

[Interviewer]

Wow. You know, I had an issue before with me and I went to so many doctors they couldn't figure it out. And I looked at, I. I don't know why. I just was reading about Chinese medicine and the wild thing is the Chinese medicine told me to look at was the actual.

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[Interviewer]

And that blew me away. That's why I was very interested to learn more because basically, you know, five doctors couldn't tell me what it was. Chinese medicine told me what it was and I was able to resolve it. Um, so I'm really interested about, about that and thank you for, thank you for sharing and I, I love, I love the book that you have. Um, I wanted to go back to stress. I feel like, you know, the last few years during COVID just in general, if you're an entrepreneur and business owner, that there's always a tremendous amount of stress. And many times you're not sleeping, you're doing probably the two, you know, terrible things for you. And I think, I think I've read it. You know, stress is the new smoking and, and how, like. So how much do you think this actually can take away from us if we're A, not sleeping and B, we're overstressed.

[Dr. Kiat]

Yeah. So modifiable risk factors of health basically are broadly categorized into physical and non physical and stress obviously in the non physical risk factors. The problem with stress. In fact, we were just discussing this earlier today. Stress can be objectively quantified. But a lot of people when they talk about stress is the other part of stress, which is the thing that is out of their mindset which cannot be quantified. So I was just explaining, if you and I, then we go and do the same video game and the score is exactly the same after 30 seconds, you may Feel very stressed of the outcome because you didn't score 100%. I may have been celebrating because of the outcome because I thought, wow, you know, I did pretty well and my stress level and your stress level at that time would be different. You would feel a bit more anxious because you didn't get it. Well, I felt okay. But the quantifiable stress with you and I, the CPU was the same. Dealing with this stress for 30 seconds and getting say, the same outcome. But your stress level that you perceive as stress is different from mine. So that sort of stress is not quantifiable because it is completely out of your perception. So if someone cut in front of you when you're driving, you may feel very stressed and angry. The same thing that happened to me or the same thing that happened to you for another day because you're in a good mood, it didn't stress you at all.

[Interviewer]

I like that I need to adjust reactions, right? If stress, I don't have to stress if I don't want to stress based on the reactions that I can have, which could potentially maybe give me a longer life, that I'm healthier. So thank you for that. I'm going to start. I need to focus on that. I need to do more meditation and yoga because sometimes I find myself stressing and it could be because I'm not sleeping. I have a question about a test. So when you, when you look at maybe or you think about people over the age of 30, 40, is there a specific test that you think that they should go to their doctor and get today?

[Dr. Kiat]

Sure. For heart test, certainly at the age of 40, most people should have a baseline cardiac assessment and that always will start with doctor checking what your risk factors are from genetics, from family history, from your blood pressure, your baseline blood sugar, your baseline cholesterol, your baseline inflammation markers, whether you have got signs of chronic infection like chronic gingivitis, chronic sinusitis, all this chronic inflammation will drive risk factors of heart disease. So these are all interview and physical examination and basic pathology studies. Now based on that, then your doctor may go further with more specific tests. That's for the cardiac side. For example, like hearing our leads.

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[Dr. Kiat]

Excludes Massachusetts friend who died at age of 40. I'm almost certain he felt. Well, he never had any, never went to a doctor, probably for anything. And so his cholesterol could have been sky high, but no one knew.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, ten years ago, my mom was on a hike. She was in her mid-60s at that time. Very healthy. My whole life she always ate very healthy, mostly vegetables, fish. While she was on this hike, she hiked like 10 miles every day. She, she had a heart attack while she was hiking and she, and then when they. I think it was, I don't know, that percentage of blockage was very high. And she was shocked and I was shocked because she never had any issues. Super healthy, always did the right things. But you know, genetically, you know, she couldn't escape. But the good thing was she was healthy after. And obviously the heart attack was very mild. So, you know, potentially I'm sure it could have been a lot worse. So I'm very passionate about this too. If, if people want to get in touch with you, they want to read the book. How can they do so?

[Dr. Kiat]

Definitely. Www drk.com d a d r k I a dash t dot com and you can also follow me on YouTube.

[Interviewer]

Well, Dr. Kiat, I really appreciate your time. I was talking earlier when we jumped on about, you know, how, how many things you have behind you really shows a lot about your credibility and your expertise. And I'm glad there's people like you who are, are being more vocal because a lot of us are getting our information from social media from people that have no real world expertise, which we talked about. So I think it's very important what you're doing and I hope that, you know, a millions of people can read and can learn and maybe this will help them with their prevention. But thank you so much for joining.

[Dr. Kiat]

Us on Finders Understand and that's why I did go on the social media now, because I feel that it's about time that I help this credibility in the standard of the social media.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, the world needs you. The world needs you. But thank you so much for all that you do.

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