HN Explorer

Ask HN: Have you taken anti-aging supplements that reduced biological age?

7 points by dustfinger ↗ HN
I am curious to hear from anyone that has tried anti aging supplements and observed a measurable reduction in their biological age as a direct result of the supplements? I am equally interested in hearing from those that tried these, or similar supplements with no measurable reduction in biological age.

For those that observed a measurable reduction in biological age:

    - What were the supplements & dosage?
    - What was the measurable improvement?
Examples of such supplements:

    Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN)
    Resveratrol
    Metformin
    Statin
    Alpha lipoic acid (ALA)
    Coenzyme Q10 (coQ10)
    Spermidine
    Quercetin and fisetin
    TMG (trimethylglycine or betaine)

12 comments

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jyu
Just a small warning. These supplements are less impactful than optimized sleep, exercise, diet, stress related to work or personal. It's difficult to change 1 variable while holding the others stable.

I have also found measuring and interpreting different biomarkers nontrivial.

Watching Michael Lustgarten's efforts is very relevant https://www.youtube.com/@conqueragingordietrying1797

dustfinger
Thank you for introducing me to Michael Lustgarten's videos. I have never seen these before and am looking forward to watching them.

> These supplements are less impactful than optimized sleep, exercise, diet, stress related to work or personal

I suspect that is probably true. At the moment sleep / stress are a bit difficult for me to manage. I am improving the exercise and diet factors though.

graypegg
Good sleep routines, regular exercise, and a balanced diet are so annoyingly effective at making your life better.
[dead] adyashakti
[flagged]
dustfinger
Thank you,

I will read up on that. Do you recommend any particular brand or source?

gfd
For skin, retinoids seem to work well. You can order one called Differin w/o prescription
dustfinger
Thank you, I did not know about retinoids. I have added this to my reading queue. It seems that prolonged usage can have undesirable side effects, but proper dosage is effective in treating a variety of skin conditions. In the case of reducing skin wrinkles, I wonder if that is purely cosmetic, or if it actually makes the skin healthier in some way?
juvvel
You can also apply retinoids topically. What it does is increasing collagen production.
dustfinger
> What it does is increasing collagen production.

That is really interesting. The potential side effects from toxicity listed on wikipedia [1] are ominous. I wish there was consumer technology to effectively monitor ones own blood work.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinoid#Toxicity

croo
If you are looking for a younger look, excercises exists that will stress your facial muscles. With a few months of training you can get a younger look. Of course that won't get you to live longer :)
dustfinger
Thank you! I am mainly interested in longevity, but maintaining both biological youth and a youthful appearance would be ideal.
yamrzou
If you're interested in longevity, I recommend the book “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity” by Peter Attia MD.