David Sinclair and Colleagues Summarize 8 Anti-Aging Medicines Applicable to Humans
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The Eight Anti-Aging Medicines:
- Metformin: an anti-diabetes medication.
- NAD+ precursors (e.g. NMN and NR): a class of molecules that increase NAD+ levels and activate pro-longevity enzymes called sirtuins.
- GLP-1 receptor activators (e.g. Ozempic): a class of compounds used as anti-diabetes medications.
- Rapamycin: an immune-modulating medication that inhibits protein synthesis and cell growth.
- Spermidine: a molecule that triggers autophagy — a cellular process that recycles mitochondria and proteins.
- Senolytics: a class of compounds that eliminate senescent cells — cells that accumulate with aging and promote the development of high-mortality chronic diseases.
- Probiotics: various species of bacteria that enhance the growth of beneficial gut bacteria while reducing the growth of toxic bacteria.
- Anti-inflammatories (e.g. aspirin): compounds that reduce body-wide inflammation.
Loads of animal studies have given credence to so-called anti-aging interventions — interventions that slow aging. However, whether such interventions work in humans is another question.
Now, elite researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard Medical School, and the University of Paris Descartes have compiled a list of medicines with anti-aging effects in humans.
As recently published in the high-profile journal Cell Metabolism, the basis for which the anti-aging medicines were chosen are as follows:
- Well represented in completed or ongoing clinical trials — human studies where the intervention is controlled.
- Solid catalog of animal research.
- Sufficient evidence of safety in humans.
- Mitigate hallmarks of aging — biological drivers of aging.
Interventions not included:
- Non-pharmacological interventions like diet and exercise.
- Antioxidants.
- Too far from being tested in humans (e.g. cellular reprogramming).
- Promising but not enough data (e.g. SGLT2 inhibitors).
Controlled Human Trials
As part of their discussion, Guarente, Sinclair, and Kromer review what are called epidemiological studies, where large populations known to have received an intervention are studied and conclusions are made based on associations. However, in line with their own criteria, only clinical trials, which can infer cause and effect relationships will be summarized here.
Read the full article here.