Why tech moguls believe this cheap Canadian-discovered pill is an anti-aging wonder drug [Rapamycin]

National Post [Canada] ^ | Oct. 7, 2024 | Sharon Kirkey

[canuck_conservative]

Scientists are now testing whether rapamycin can reduce brain changes in older adults with early-stage Alzheimer’s, among the most dreaded diseases of the old.

Rapamycin is a prescription drug approved to treat cancer or prevent people from rejecting transplanted organs. In the U.S., some doctors are prescribing the drug off-label, meaning for unapproved purposes, as an anti-aging treatment ...

Rapamycin has been popular in the longevity sphere for at least a decade, but what’s old is new again, and rapamycin has been the subject of fresh buzz, with feature stories in The New York Times, Discover Magazine and other major news outlets. The compound is also the darling of multi-millionaires chasing perpetual youth, like California entrepreneur, venture capitalist and biohacker Bryan Johnson ...

A pivotal study published in the journal Nature in 2009 found that, when fed late in life, rapamycin increased survival in both male (by nine per cent) and female (14 per cent) mice, the first time a pharmacological agent was shown to extend lifespan in both genders.

Rapamycin is the fruit of a Canadian-led medical expedition to Easter Island in the South Pacific in 1964. The Canadians were curious: Why did the island’s natives have a low incidence of tetanus despite walking around barefoot? Suspecting the soil had antibacterial compounds, samples were collected, shipped back to Canada and handed over to Surendra (Suren) Sehgal, a microbiologist working at Ayerst labs in Montreal who discovered the dirt contained a bacterium that produced a potent anti-fungal compound.

That use was sidelined when it was later found to have immunosuppressive properties...

[canuck_conservative]

"The demonstrated effects in mice, however, have been small. “And mice are very different beasts from people, in terms of metabolism, in terms of everything,” said McGill University experimental biologist Siegfried Hekimi. Mice live in lab cages. They aren’t exposed to the same environments as humans."

and ...

“I’m not saying that it’s not conceivable” that some drug could measurably increase survival, Hekimi said. Some drugs, like blood pressure lowering drugs, already do that. High blood pressure is bad for the brain, bad for the heart and bad for kidneys. “So, it has a multi-organ effect,” Hekimi said. Anti-diabetic drugs also increase survival. So do non-pharmaceutical interventions like exercising, “eating your veggies, losing a bit of weight.”

“But people hang onto this notion, ‘Maybe I can live longer, healthy, with just one miracle drug,’” he said...

[Red Badger]

“Cheap Canadian” is redundant............

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It’s always interesting and astonishing where drugs originate. Imagine observing Easter Island natives and wondering why they have a low incidence of tetanus despite walking around barefoot?

Ivermectin and penicillin come to mind, too.

[nwrep]

Canadians are more gullible and impressionable than Americans. Somewhat more easily seduced by educated professionals in a lab coat. More obeisant to authority.

[nwrep]

Canadians are more gullible and impressionable than Americans. Somewhat more easily seduced by educated professionals in a lab coat. More obeisant to authority.

[Red Badger]

We have lots of Canadians here in the winter, Snowbirds. I was referring primarily to their spending habits.....😁

[nwrep]

But aren’t I right in what I said above?

[Red Badger]

Probably, but I don’t know about their gullibility............

[faucetman]

It didn’t help Biden.

[VideoDoctor]

Sounds like another "Close.. but NO CIGAR!" attempt at Alzheimer's.

BEST medical advice for avoiding most undesirable ill health conditions is DIET ( No Sugar, very few carbs ) and REGULAR EXERCISE... especially as one grows older.