Tech millionaire Bryan Johnson walks out of Nikhil Kamath's podcast midway — Here’s what went wrong

Bryan Johnson, the 47-year-old tech millionaire, appeared on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath's podcast in a face mask before he decided to walk out midway. During the podcast, Johnson, who is also an anti-ageing advocate, told Kamath that the air quality in India is so bad that he “can't see you over there”.

However, several questions about why Bryan Johnson walked out of out podcast despite wearing a N95 mask inside a 5-star property popped up on social media. To address the concerns, the tech millionaire shared a lengthy X post explaining his reasons for doing so.

Why did Bryan Johnson leave the podcast with Nikhil Kamath early?

According to Bryan Johnson's X post, he had to leave the podcast with “gracious host” Nikhil Kamath early due to the bad air quality.

Johnson, who was carrying his own air purifier, said the problem was that the room circulated outside air, making the air purifier ineffective.

Bryan Johnson, known for his quest for longevity and reversing biological age using extensive biohacking efforts, said that in just three days in India, his skin broke out in a rash, and his eyes and throat burned due to the air pollution.

“Air pollution has been so normalized in India that no one even notices anymore despite the science of its negative effects being well known,” he said, surprised that people were outside running. “No one wore a mask, which can significantly decrease exposure.”

Johnson said evidence showed that India would improve the health of its population more by cleaning up air quality than by curing all cancers.

“I am unsure why India's leaders do not make air quality a national emergency. I don't know what interests, money and power keep things the way they are, but it's really bad for the entire country,” the X post read.

Air pollution in India

Air pollution concerns have long lingered over Indian states, especially Delhi and Mumbai.

In Mumbai, the AQI has remained firmly in the ‘moderate’ category, and the authorities announced several curbs, including a ban on construction work under the (Graded Response Action Plan) GRAP-IV norms for areas that surpass the Air Quality Index (AQI) of 200.

Recently, the Bombay High Court wondered if there would be a solution to the city's air pollution or if citizens would have to continue seeing haze each year after Diwali.

Meanwhile, Delhi's AQI levels remained in the 'poor' category, with a recorded AQI of 243 on Tuesday. Delhi-NCR continues to switch between different stages of GRAP, especially in winter.

Doctors and hospitals in Delhi-NCR said they are seeing a three-fold jump in patients reporting respiratory ailments triggered by alarming air pollution levels.