Anti-ageing influencer Bryan Johnson walked out of a podcast with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath citing "poor air quality". Taking to the social media platform X, the millionaire said his skin started to "break out in a rash" and eyes and throat started burning as the air purifier he was carrying turned ineffective due to the severity of the air. 

Advertisment

Johnson, 47, recently visited India to record a podcast with Kamath for his show "WTF" in a five-star hotel, but despite wearing the N95 mask and an air purifier near him, he left the room mid-way. The AQI was 130 at that time. 

Also read: What is this 'anti-ageing' drug Bryan Johnson is warning about?

"When in India, I did end this podcast early due to the bad air quality," Johnson wrote on X on Monday (Feb 3). 

Advertisment

He said Kamath was a "gracious host" and he was having a great time with him. 

"The problem was that the room we were in circulated outside air, which made the air purifier I'd brought with me ineffective," he wrote. 

Advertisment

Johnson said the 130 AQI was "equal to smoking 3.4 cigarettes for 24 hours of exposure." 

Why air pollution isn't a 'national emergency'? 

The anti-ageing influencer claimed that the air pollution in India has been so "normalised" that "no one even notices anymore despite the science of its negative effects being well known". 

He called the situation in India "confusing" as everyone, including children from birth, are exposed to the pollution. Still no one, he claimed, wore a mask which could significantly decrease the exposure to the pollution. 

Also read: Bryan Johnson expresses love for ba***odi and jugaad, netizens react 'give him an Aadhaar card'

"The evidence shows that India would improve the health of its population more by cleaning up air quality than by curing all cancers," Johnson said in his X post. 

He further questioned why the Indian government has not declared air pollution a "national emergency" yet. 

"I don't know what interests, money and power keep things the way they are - but it's really bad for the entire country," he said.

Also read: Age-reversing enterpreneur Bryan Johnson says he 'loved being in India', but is 'shocked by...'

Obesity vs air pollution 

Johnson further went on to compare the United States (US) with India and described that after returning from India, his eyes were "fresh" to see what has been normalised in the US - obesity. 

"I saw obesity everywhere. 42.4% of Americans are obese and because I was around it all the time, I had been mostly oblivious to it," he said. 

Also read: Millionaire Bryan Johnson says ‘longevity pill’ saved dog’s life, ‘human trials next’

He added that he believes obesity is worse than air pollution in the long term. 

"Why wouldn't American leaders declare a national emergency on obesity? What interests, money and power keep things the way they are but are bad for the entire country," he used the same lines for the Trump administration. 

(With inputs from agencies)