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The Science of Super Athletes

CU School of Medicine researcher Iñigo San Millán trains super athletes, including the two-time Tour de France winner, with the goal of learning more about cancer, diabetes and other diseases

minute read

What you need to know:

In this episode, we learn how Iñigo San Millán, PhD, uses his work with the world’s fittest athletes to understand how metabolism affects cancer, diabetes and other diseases. Exercise, he says, is the most potent medicine on earth, one that holds secrets that are dramatically shaping how we look at physical and mental health. We evolved to move. Maybe we were born to run.

How much sugar fuels a Tour de France winner? What’s the relationship between exercise and cancer?  Why is exercise the most potent medicine on earth? 

Iñigo San Millán, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and University of Colorado Colorado Springs. He’s also coached Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar to two consecutive Tour de France victories. San Millán has drawn on his own experience in sports – as a semi-professional cyclist and training with the Real Madrid soccer club – to provide the most precise, science-based training for athletes at the top of their game. His work helped him better understand the intersection of disease and exercise and the role metabolism plays in our overall health.

In this episode, San Millán talks about the connection between Type II Diabetes and Alzheimer’s and the role of lactic acid in cancer development. He describes the best exercise to maintain metabolic consistency. We evolved to move. Maybe we were born to run.

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Iñigo San Millán, PhD