A cheap, generic drug became a darling of longevity enthusiasts

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/15/rapamycin-longevity-drug/

by dtawfik1 • 2 years ago

47 65 2 years ago

vichu• 2 years ago

I’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

riehwvfbk8• 2 years ago

My 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.

unclenoriega2• 2 years ago

Sometimes being smart means you're better at rationalizing your beliefs.

slily2• 2 years ago

Metformin 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• 2 years ago

Radiolab 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

ngvrnd• 2 years ago

rapa-nui-cin

Solvency• 2 years ago

Oh 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• 2 years ago

I 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.

adamgordonbell3• 2 years ago

Indeed, 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.

derbOac• 2 years ago

I basically agree with your general sentiment but I think if society is going to really, actually fight mortality, something drastically different has to happen.

I don't think rapamycin is that thing but at some point in the future something — or more likely, some things — outside of healthy living are going to find their way into our medical arsenal.

vonnik• 2 years ago

Yamanaka factor-based genetic and chemical treatments that remind your cells’ age. Already showing results on organs like eyes. They’ll come to the US slower than they come to medical tourism destinations.

FabHK• 2 years ago

I take it that you're not a fan of his book - could you outline why, or whether there are any better ones? Thanks.

riehwvfbk8• 2 years ago

The whole longevity movement is also mostly driven by fear of death. OK, so you take every drug under the sun in the hope of living another day. In order to what? Be a wage slave for longer? Spend more time on Medicare?

unsupp0rted2• 2 years ago

Yeah why don’t we blow up the planet today instead of another day of wage slavery or Medicare?

The idea is to keep living and stay healthier longer, because living is good and the future is bright.

fragmede• 2 years ago

That's a depressing viewpoint, since that's true, even if you don't manage to find the fountain of youth. Life has joy and meaning. If you have a purpose, whatever it is, then every singlenday longer you're alive is another day you get to help people, to educate them, to heal them, to ease their suffering, do good for the world, spend time with friends and family; whatever!

ALittleLight4• 2 years ago

You say that like it's a bad thing. Vast majority of people don't want to die or grow sick and enfeebled with age. It's like observing that the reason people usually don't leap off tall buildings is because they fear falling and death - true, but obvious.

If people prefer being alive and healthy, and they obviously and overwhelmingly do, then we should be looking for solutions. If people want to escape the drudgery of work they are free not to take whatever medications or treatments are discovered - but the tiny minority that prefer death to labor shouldn't restrict the rest of us.

renewiltord3• 2 years ago

Living is nice. I like living. Living longer means I spend more time with my children and more time with my grandchildren. This is nice too.

weregiraffe• 2 years ago

What's this shit-posting driven by, fear of hearing your own thoughts?

matheusmoreira• 2 years ago

In order to what?

Survive until humans start colonizing space.

nradov• 2 years ago

Peter Attia doesn't recommend rapamycin for most patients.

https://peterattiamd.com/davidsabatini-mattkaeberlein/

sedev• 2 years ago

Clickbait avoidance: it's rapamycin.

apwell23• 2 years ago

i thought it was going to be metformin

BaculumMeumEst• 2 years 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.

renewiltord3• 2 years ago

Haha it's true but that's why it's a good thing they exist. They burn all that effort. We reap the rewards.

rnewme• 2 years ago

Eight year Olds posting?

dymk3• 2 years ago

14% 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.

tobr• 2 years ago

14% of a mouse life is several weeks.

vjerancrnjak2• 2 years ago

For human males castration results in a very significant increase (10+ years).

huytersd• 2 years ago

Yeah but testosterone makes life worth living.

dymk3• 2 years ago

Is that caused by testosterone’s direct physiological effect on the body or something like increased risk taking?

jajko• 2 years ago

If they spent that extra time taking more care what and how much they eat and add some exercise, the effects would be much more pronounced (and they would be probably much happier too). But yeah sometimes even very smart folks end up in some analysis paralysis and tunnel vision.

shrubble• 2 years ago

Jack 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• 2 years ago

This 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...

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.

xk_id3• 2 years ago

I 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.

A cheap, generic drug became a darling of longevity enthusiasts

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