United States: Vigorousphysical activity or healthier meals are well-tested to increase one’s life expectancy; however, in the modern world, people are turning to prescription drugs for a longer and healthier life.
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According to Dr. Andrea Maier, a longevity expert, and internal medicine specialist, one such drug is rapamycin, which is generally prescribed to individuals before an organ transplant “to bring the immune system down,” as CNBC News reported.
Young people recommend rapamycin as an anti-aging drug, and many influencers, such as Dr. Peter Attia, have been using the pill.
As Maier said, “[it] might have potential, beneficial effects for the aging body of humans. However, we don’t have much knowledge yet.”
How did experts reach a conclusion?
The research done on mice in the year 2014 revealed that the drug called rapamycin increased the period of life of the mice by more than 20 percent.
It has also been shown to increase the time of survival of fruit flies and worms, but it first created research interest when it was demonstrated that it increased the yeast life span.
As reported in The New York Times, some of the users of the drug evidently state that they have lost some weight, reduced body pains, and have grown black hair on heads with grey hair.
However, there is little data supporting its efficacy, and furthermore, the general applicability of this treatment regimen is unknown in humans.
According to Maier, “My group is doing trials with rapamycin to see if we can lower the biological age of middle-aged individuals to prevent age-related diseases later in life,” CNBC reported.
Like most drugs, rapamycin is also under consideration in larger, more comprehensive clinical trials, which are testing if this drug can influence the diseases that are related to aging in human beings or one of these diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
“I would be very cautious because it’s a very potent drug. It can [cause] many side effects. It is hugely influencing the immune system,” Maier added.
Situations like this have dangers, such as making you more susceptible to illness. Studies also reveal that rapamycin has brought side effects such as nausea, mouth ulcers, and high cholesterol levels, according to The New York Times.
“We don’t have the drug or the supplement yet [that] everybody should take. Absolutely not,” Maier added.
“I think it’s very unlikely that we will ever have a drug everybody should take,” he continued.