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Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

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171–180 of 228 posts

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#171

I'm 35, have been taking 6mg of rapamycin per week for about a year. It's hard to assign the effects directly to it since I've been taking other supplements and also fixing up my diet + exercise. That being said, I am quite sure that it has reduced general aches and pains, reduced visceral fat and I now have less gray hair compared to when I started. It did slightly increase my glucose and lipids, but still within sa…

I now have less gray hair compared to when I started. I've never taken rapamycin nor even heard of it before today. I have less gray hair than I had twenty years ago. My understanding is that gray hair suggests a B vitamin deficiency, especially PABA, and a need for adrenal support.

I have less gray hair today than 5 years ago - I think that’s pretty easy for aging men to achieve. ;)

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#172
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I now have less gray hair compared to when I started. I've never taken rapamycin nor even heard of it before today. I have less gray hair than I had twenty years ago. My understanding is that gray hair suggests a B vitamin deficiency, especially PABA, and a need for adrenal support.

I have less gray hair today than 5 years ago - I think that’s pretty easy for aging men to achieve. ;)

I'm a woman and not going bald if that's the joke you are making.

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#173
post #74

FYI one study shows that rapamycin increases amyloid-beta protein plaques in the brains of mice. https://neurosciencenews.com/rapamycin-amyloid-beta-20770/

All of the original data around amloyd-beta protein data was faked. A lot of it was even just outright photoshopped. https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/faked-beta-amyloid...

Amyloid beta may not cause alzheimer's disease, but you still don't want amyloid beta plaques in your brain. They may not themselves be causing damage but they are almost definitely a sign of damage to the brain, so anything that appears to increase them should be handled with extreme caution.

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#174
post #57

I have been taking rapamycin for many years now. It's obviously not ready for anywhere near the general public and is never something I'd suggest to someone at this point, but my own results have been wonderful and my blood panels and energy levels are great. If I had to guess, when properly used, this would probably add a full 5-10 years onto the lifespan of a lot of people. When combined with many other promising t…

How do you get it?

most people either find a rare doctor that will prescribe it to you or purchase it without a subscription online

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#175
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes me scared about this is that it's immunosuppressive. The immune system is a very important part of the human body, and I worry that taking it could have terrible health impact after years of acting on your body lines of defense. What can you tell me about it?

If you think about it, there are specific parts of our immune systems that are likely entirely maladaptive given modern civilization, where people are ~never exposed to parasites, animal venoms, etc. We can turn those parts off, while leaving everything else on, and be better for it (no allergies, psoriatic arthritis, MS, Chron’s, etc.; and so none of the accelerated cellular senescence those conditions provoke in af…

Exposure is uncommon, not basically never.

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#176

This isn't new. David Sinclair wrote about rapamycin in Lifespan[1][2] (I keep linking this book on HN a lot; no relation) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifespan_(book) [2] https://lifespanbook.com/

Anything David Sinclair has endorsed should be considered with at least double the normal skeptical scrutiny.

Lol, why do say that? I had the same impression of him.

It appears that people fall for his niceness is my theory about him. And no doubt he is a nice guy. It's just that his explanations lacked the rigor I generally look for.

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#177

The bigger story with rapamycin is that the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays an absolutely crucial role in major diseases of modern civilization. One of the ways to inhibit mTOR for free is to simply stop consuming nutrients for extended periods of time.

Ages ago, I had a colleague who was deeply into hacking of his mTOR pathway. Among other things, this included a permanent calorie deficit and removal of all protein from his diet. I don't know if he's still alive. Maybe it was working a bit too well, I recall he looked like an extremely tall 13 year old with anorexia.

You can't synthesize some of the amino acids. I wouldn't think such a diet is survivable.

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#178

The bigger story with rapamycin is that the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays an absolutely crucial role in major diseases of modern civilization. One of the ways to inhibit mTOR for free is to simply stop consuming nutrients for extended periods of time.

> One of the ways to inhibit mTOR for free to simply stop consuming nutrients for extended periods of time. What is an extended period of time in this context? I happen to consume all my meals within seven hours every day and only drink water in between. Would that help? (Not doing this for health reasons, it is just a habit.)

Not an expert by any means, but based on some sparse reading I'd guess it's in the "few days" range, not a few hours.

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#179
post #18

How does one find a doctor willing to prescribe these kinds of drugs for anti aging?

You can order these drugs in bulk from chemical vendors for research purposes (i.e. non-human use). Chemscene, to name just one, sells Rapamacyn at 1440 USD for 5g. EDIT: I clearly don't recommend you buying this and taking it by the way. You're never quite sure about the purity nor about how to dose this effectively as a layperson without access to a lab. It's also possibly completely illegal, depending on your loca…

Yeah. By the time you're looking at stuff in the milligram range it becomes quite problematic to ensure consistent doses. I would be confident that I could get an *average* of 1mg/day but I would not be confident I could ensure every day was in .9mg to 1.1mg.

Re: Rapamycin, drug used in cancer therapy, emerges as powerful anti-aging remedy

#180
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... to simply stop consuming nutrients for extended periods of time That is not simple for most people.

True but after I went very low-carb, I found fasting to be much easier when it had always been very hard for me previously. I know it's more complicated than "carbs cause hunger pangs ~8 hrs later" but my N=1 experience sure feels that way.

No, there definitely seems to be a "there" there. I went zero carb for 6 months and I was able to continually fast for 24-44 hours at a time, always with zero hunger pangs after the initial "break-in" period, which seems to be about 2-3 weeks. Sadly I don't think the zero carb life is "doable" for me personally, because giving up pasta and pizza is a huge ask. Honestly I would rather die 10 years earlier than live a life with no pizza or carbonara.
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