Ageing

Both descriptive and prescriptive

January 11, 2022 — November 20, 2024

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Figure 1

General theory of ageing and avoiding it. Placeholder.

See also biomarkers.

Lifespan/healthspan/ageing is not my area of research. I’m not qualified to assess in specific detail the outlandish claims made by snake-oil sellers, since I do not know how biology works. That said, I can assess crap statistics and bad reasoning, and I can do that well enough to report that it is sometimes tedious.

There is a danger of pseudoscience and quackery in this area, so beware. The incentives are clearly not great: since cashed-up older persons rarely want to die, selling them on small trials with marginal benefits and low reproducibility is a lucrative enough business to prop up a lot of bad science indefinitely.

1 Life extension

Quantified self/nutrition etc. for lifespan extension. Probably best read in concert with biomarker tracking.

Figure 2

1.1 Sinclair protocol

Berberine, resveratrol, metformin, NAD+ precursors, etc.

See also Does Metformin Work as an Anti-Ageing Drug?

1.2 GlyNAC

This is also on the podcastosphere.

“Supplementing Glycine and N-Acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) in Older Adults Improves Glutathione Deficiency, Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Inflammation, Physical Function, and Aging Hallmarks: A Randomized Clinical Trial” (Kumar et al. 2023)

2 What biomarkers are cheap to track to assess the effectiveness of ageing interventions?

TODO

3 Collagen

Why would collagen supplementation (some sources recommend a protocotil with vitamin c and exercise) help with collagen production? It all gets digested, right? Some small studies suggest eating collagen is nonetheless good for collagen production. Would like a meta-analysis. (Czajka et al. 2018; DePhillipo et al. 2018; Shaw et al. 2017)

4 Alternatives

Death.

5 Incoming

6 References

Attia, and Gifford. 2023. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.
Campbell, Bellman, Stephenson, et al. 2017. Metformin reduces all-cause mortality and diseases of ageing independent of its effect on diabetes control: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” Ageing Research Reviews.
Czajka, Kania, Genovese, et al. 2018. Daily Oral Supplementation with Collagen Peptides Combined with Vitamins and Other Bioactive Compounds Improves Skin Elasticity and Has a Beneficial Effect on Joint and General Wellbeing.” Nutrition Research.
DePhillipo, Aman, Kennedy, et al. 2018. Efficacy of Vitamin C Supplementation on Collagen Synthesis and Oxidative Stress After Musculoskeletal Injuries: A Systematic Review.” Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine.
Kulkarni, Brutsaert, Anghel, et al. 2018. Metformin regulates metabolic and nonmetabolic pathways in skeletal muscle and subcutaneous adipose tissues of older adults.” Aging Cell.
Kulkarni, Gubbi, and Barzilai. 2020. Benefits of Metformin in Attenuating the Hallmarks of Aging.” Cell Metabolism.
Kumar, Liu, Suliburk, et al. 2023. Supplementing Glycine and N-Acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) in Older Adults Improves Glutathione Deficiency, Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Inflammation, Physical Function, and Aging Hallmarks: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” The Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.
Mohammed, Hollenberg, Ding, et al. 2021. A Critical Review of the Evidence That Metformin Is a Putative Anti-Aging Drug That Enhances Healthspan and Extends Lifespan.” Frontiers in Endocrinology.
Shaw, Lee-Barthel, Ross, et al. 2017. Vitamin C–Enriched Gelatin Supplementation Before Intermittent Activity Augments Collagen Synthesis.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Sinclair. 2021. Lifespan: Why We Age — and Why We Don’t Have To.
Younes, Al-Hasan, Eldos, et al. 2017. Assessment of Quality Control Parameters and in Vitro Bioequivalence/Interchangeability of Multisourced Marketed Metformin Hydrochloride Tablets.” Qatar Medical Journal.
Zhu, Yoshida, Tsuboi, et al. 2021. Quality and Authenticity of Metformin Tablets Circulating on Japanese Websites.” Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science.