Ed Jones, a professional member of the American Botanical Council, set up health company Nutrition World way back in 1979 and has dedicated his life to the healthy foods industry.
And in an interview on the American podcast circuit, the health guru brutally explained that you may be experiencing an early grave if you cannot perform what he labels a simple task.
Involving your hands, he says it is essential to a long and happy life on this planet we call Earth.
He made the revelation sitting down for the Nutrition World Podcast, which he hosts with his daughter and business partner, Cady Kuhlman.
Jones explained the task and how he learned it from Dr Peter Attia; a leading expert in ‘biohacking’ and extending lives in a healthy and natural way. In 2024, Dr Attia was named in the Time 2024 list of the world’s most influential people in health.
Dr Attia has worked with the likes of Chris Hemsworth for Disney+ documentary series Limitless, investigating how humans can do all they can to extend their lives and not die through lifestyle changes.
The trick for Dr Attia and Jones is something called the ‘grip test’ which Jones says ‘doctors will never ask you about’.
What is the ‘grip test’?
Something you can do at home, it is all about your ability to hold heavy objects.
“If you can’t hold a dumbbell that’s three quarters of your weight for one minute, you will die earlier than you would if you were stronger,” he said on the podcast.
“That beats cholesterol, it beats every blood test.
“How many health professionals have asked you that? None, none.”
He was asked to explain exactly how this works, which is where it gets interesting. Jones explained it is a ‘marker for how everything else in your body will weaken’.
“Your heart, every system of your body,” he added.
“If you can do this with the right weights, everything else is stronger. The stronger and resilient body ages slower and has less disease.”
Could you do the test? (Getty Stock Image)
He’s not making it up the link between strength and life, either.
Research from the Scientific Reports journal published in November 2024 examined the link between people dying and a loss of grip strength.
“Participants with low grip strength showed increased risk of mortality regardless of which indicator was used,” the paper found.
“This study suggests the simplest measure of absolute grip strength was the optimal index for predicting all-cause mortality.”
It adds that ‘low grip strength represents a decline in muscle function, and increases the risk of frailty, disease, and death’.
Time to get those dumbbells dusted off.
