7 ms·
A cheap, generic drug became a darling of longevity enthusiasts
- xk_id 3y agoI wouldn't say Rapa is cheap. Even if you can source the cheapest indian brand (which is challenging if you don't know how to navigate that market), it will cost you $10/week. And it's something that you do consistently, over years and decades.
- adamgordonbell 3y agohttps://archive.is/qWfiA https://archive.is/qWfiA
- vichu 3y agoI’m surprised this article wasn’t about Metformin, something gwern has written about[0] and has some popularity in the entire nootropic circle of people that I know. [0] https://gwern.net/longevity#metformin https://gwern.net/longevity#metformin
- riehwvfbk 3y agoMy god, smart people can be dumb sometimes: "probably also offers only a constant reduction in risk without decreasing the acceleration of risk, if for no other reason than hundreds of millions of people have taken metformin over the past century yet no gerontologist has ever noticed a massive overrepresentation of diabetics among centenarians" Ummm, and also WW2 planes that made it back to the base had damage in the least crucial areas.
- unclenoriega 3y agoSometimes being smart means you're better at rationalizing your beliefs.
- cjbgkagh 3y agoThat’s a common refrain, and I guess seeks to explain academic blind spots. But I do wonder if it’s not rather a form of victory disease where some of your intelligence can effectively shield you from the consequences of your stupidity allowing to hold incorrect beliefs far longer. As best I can tell the smartest people hold more true beliefs and have fewer blind spots which has me leaning towards the latter explanation. But as this is purely based on my subjective observations it’s possible that this is merely the result of my own biases.
- unclenoriega 3y agoI wouldn't surprised if that factors in as well.
- slily 3y agoMetformin has been under scrutiny in recent years, several big studies failed to reproduce, and I'm pretty sure the consensus right now is that it's ineffective. NAD precursors are going through the same thing right now as far as I know.
- tootie 3y agoRadiolab did a story on it. It's really bizarre how it was discovered and popularized https://radiolab.org/podcast/dirty-drug-and-ice-cream-tub https://radiolab.org/podcast/dirty-drug-and-ice-cream-tub
- ngvrnd 3y agorapa-nui-cin
- Solvency 3y agoOh god, I've already had to hear Peter Attia talk about this for years and now newsspam sites are catching on? Spoiler: pound it all you want, everyone still dying of chronic illness, diabetes, cancer, heart failure, etc. Eat clean and exercise it's your only chance.
- prepend 3y agoI think Attia’s spiel is that you eat clean, exercise, and take rapamycen. It’s not like those are exclusive options. In his book he also goes into how it would be silly to skip the important pieces like diet and exercise and only get to the med portions.
- adamgordonbell 3y agoIndeed, and in fact he called the risk profile of rapamycin as picking up a dime in front of a tricycle. It's low risk but low reward. He's also said if you can't deadhang for 2 minutes or farmers walk 2x your body weight, no longevity drugs are likely yo make more of a difference then getting stronger.
- slily 3y agoI recall him saying he wouldn't recommend people younger than about 40 take mTOR inhibitors too, worth noting for young longevity enthusiasts. As I understand mTOR activation/inhibition is a tradeoff between promoting and inhibiting "growth" and the latter is counterproductive for young people. IIRC high meat/protein diets also activate mTOR, which might partially explain why primarily plant-based diets are associated with longer lifespans. Fasting also suppresses mTOR, so mTOR inhibitors are sometimes promoted as an easier way to achieve (some of) the same benefits more easily. On the other hand fasting elevates cortisol which inhibits testosterone. I don't know if mTOR inhibitors like rapamycin have the same effect, but it's also a health concern.
- xk_id 3y agoSuppressing testosterone has important benefits for longevity. It reverses the atrophy of the thymus gland, therefore it makes the immune system more effective.
- sedev 3y agoClickbait avoidance: it's rapamycin.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- apwell23 3y agoi thought it was going to be metformin
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- BaculumMeumEst 3y ago"Longevity enthusiasts" sound like people who spend like 1/10 of their time on Earth desperately searching for ways to live several weeks longer.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- renewiltord 3y agoHaha it's true but that's why it's a good thing they exist. They burn all that effort. We reap the rewards.
- rnewme 3y agoEight year Olds posting?
- vjerancrnjak 3y agoFor human males castration results in a very significant increase (10+ years).
- dymk 3y agoIs that caused by testosterone’s direct physiological effect on the body or something like increased risk taking?
- huytersd 3y agoYeah but testosterone makes life worth living.
- vjerancrnjak 3y agoYet castrated men don't commit enough suicide to lower their life expectancy.
- dymk 3y ago14% longer in mice trails is more than a few weeks. Regardless of if it’s “desperate” or not, there’s worse ways to spend your time than searching for a way to live another decade.
- shrubble 3y agoJack LaLanne, exercise guru and healthy-eating aficionado lived to 96. His brother Norman, who did none of the things his brother did to the same level, lived to either 96 or 97.
- AlexErrant 3y agoThis is no different than "my grandmother smoked a pack every day and lived to 130." --- On a related note, I love posting this study https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2707428 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle... Look at Figure 2C in particular. The hazard ratio of smoking is 1.41. The hazard ratio between "Low" (<25th percentile) and "Below Average" (25th-49th percentile) cardiovascular health is 1.95. In other words, it is better to be a smoker than in the lower 25% of non-exercisers. By far. It's not even close.