The anti-aging supplement rapamycin has been found to slow both muscle and bone aging in the first long-term clinical trial without leading to any serious adverse side effects in older adults. Rapamycin is an FDA-approved drug that has been shown to inhibit mTOR, and it is one of the most potent longevity molecules to date in animal studies.
Assessing The Effects
Now, as part of the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled PEARL Study, the first long-term clinical trial to assess the anti-aging effects of rapamycin on 115 adults between the ages of 50 to 85 years old has offered some promising results.
For the study, participants were divided into three groups for 48 weeks: one group of 40 received 5 mg of rapamycin per week, another group of 36 received 10 mg per week, and the final group of 39 participants received a placebo as the controls.
Anti-Aging Affects
According to the researchers, the treatments did not lead to any severe side effects, and the 10 mg doses were found to help prevent muscle loss in women and bone loss in men, suggesting that rapamycin can slow some aspects of aging.
Mostly Safe
Rapamycin was largely tolerated by the participants, with the most common adverse effects being gastrointestinal issues.
Mouth sores were reported in some of the participants in the higher dose group, however, it was also surprisingly reported in the placebo group.
Some of the participants in the high-dose group reported altered spatial orientation, and some of the participants in the low-dose group reported malaise. However, none of these side effects were considered to be severe.
Those in the treatment groups with managed chronic disease reported more frequent flare-ups, but they also reported reduced chronic issue severity compared to the controls.
“No significant safety-related issues were detected in the blood work results of any participants during periodic check-ins… no significant differences in markers of metabolic health, liver, and kidney function, or moderate to severe adverse events in the rapamycin treatment groups were reported compared to placebo after 48 weeks,” wrote the authors.
Slows Muscle And Bone Aging
Compared to those in the control group, men in the higher-dose rapamycin group showed improved bone mineral content, suggesting that rapamycin may help mitigate bone aging that could potentially lead to osteoporosis.
Additionally, compared to those in the control group, women in the higher-dose group showed improved lean muscle mass, which was estimated to be on average about 0.5 pounds of lean mass per month. These women reported other beneficial improvements in their perception of pain, social functioning, and quality of life.
The results suggest that rapamycin may be more beneficial to women than men. But considering that resistance exercises help to mitigate muscle and bone loss, it might be that those who did not exercise regularly were the ones to benefit most from treatment.
Compounded Rapamycin
It is important to note that compounded rapamycin was used in the PEARL Study, its bioavailability is about 25% that of commercially available formulations. The 3.5 times less bioavailability suggests that those in the 5 mg group received an average equivalent of 1.4 mg, while those in the 10 mg group received an average equivalent of 2.9 mg.
For those wishing to try rapamycin as an anti-aging therapeutic, you are urged to use caution with the dosing if not taking a compounded version and to consult with your primary care provider beforehand.
A Grain Of Salt
Additionally, some experts suggest that there were not enough participants to determine if the beneficial effects were the result of taking rapamycin. Also due to the Participatory Evaluation of Aging with Rapamycin for Longevity (PEARL) Study being funded by AgelessRX which is a company that sells rapamycin, and the affiliation with the University of California, there is a possible conflict of interest among some of the researchers involved in the study.
Perhaps until further research is conducted, it might be best to take the results with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, the results do warrant further research to explore the anti-aging effects of rapamycin in humans.
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References/Sources/Materials provided by:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.08.21.24312372v3.full-text
https://www.goodrx.com/drugs/medication-basics/compound-medications
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10643772
https://agelessrx.com/research/
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04488601
https://worldhealth.net/news/can-exercise-turn-back-clock-aging-muscles/
