The founder of David’s Protein, which makes the popular high-protein nutritional bar, announced on Monday’s X that longevity guru Dr. Peter Attia has “stepped down from his position as David’s Chief Scientific Officer.”
The announcement came after Attia’s name appeared in more than 1,700 documents, including email communications, released Friday as part of a large file dump related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the New York Times. Attia was a member of the food startup’s management team and an early investor.
For those unfamiliar, Attia is a Canadian-American physician who has become one of the most prominent voices on longevity and preventive health. He is best known for his best-selling book, Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, and for his seven-year-old podcast exploring optimization strategies. He was also hired as a CBS contributor just last month.
Three-year-old New York-based David Protein raised $75 million in a Series A funding round led by Greenoaks and with participation from Valor Equity Partners last May. The company has achieved significant growth since launching its main product, protein bars, in September 2024. The company says the protein bar contains 28 grams of protein, zero carbohydrates and 150 calories.
In a lengthy post about X, Mr. Attia called the crude nature of some of his emails with Mr. Epstein “embarrassing,” but said he was not involved in any criminal activity and had never visited Mr. Epstein’s island or been on Mr. Epstein’s plane. Attia also detailed how she met Epstein and why she continued to be associated with him even after Epstein was convicted in 2008.
The influence seems to extend beyond David Protein. Biograph, the healthcare testing and longevity startup Attia co-founded with entrepreneur John Herring, also appears to be distancing itself from doctors. The company declined to comment on Attia’s continued participation in the startup, or about pages on its website that previously mentioned him but now omit his name or return a “file not found” error.
Biograph was born out of stealth a year ago with backing from investors including Vy Capital, Human Capital, Alpha Wave, and WndrCo, as well as angel investors including Balaji Srinivasan, TechCrunch previously reported. Like a growing number of concierge medical services companies, Biograph offers premium preventive health services to subscribers who pay between $7,500 and $15,000 annually. Attia was previously named as a co-founder in the company’s press releases and site.
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