Anti-aging & healthspan
No supplement or drug is proven to extend human lifespan. But a handful of interventions have real, rigorous data behind them, and a much larger group rides on mechanism and mouse studies. We separate the two — starting with the compounds that have actually been tested.
Geroprotectors with trial data
The interventions tested in real trials — human and the gold-standard mouse lifespan program.
Rapamycin for longevity: the PEARL trial and the human evidence
Gold-standard mouse lifespan data, randomized human trials on an immune surrogate, and a one-year PEARL safety read — but no evidence yet that it extends human healthspan.
Metformin for longevity: TAME, MILES, and the healthspan hypothesis
A provocative survival signal, a credible mechanism, surrogate-level human data — but the definitive outcome trial hasn't reported. An honest grade.
The CALERIE trial explained: what a 2-year test of caloric restriction actually showed
The landmark randomized trial of sustained caloric restriction in healthy adults moved aging biology in the right direction — but participants hit only about 12% of a 25% target, and it measured biomarkers, not lifespan.
The NIA Interventions Testing Program: the gold standard for longevity claims
How the ITP tests compounds for lifespan in genetically diverse mice across three blinded labs — what passed (rapamycin, acarbose, canagliflozin), what failed (resveratrol), and why it is the benchmark.
Acarbose and longevity: a carb-blocker with a real mouse-lifespan signal
An approved diabetes drug that repeatably extended lifespan in NIA mice — more in males. A straight read of the mouse data, the human gap, and the side-effect ceiling.
NAD⁺ & mitochondrial support
The NAD⁺-precursor and mitochondrial compounds — where the human data is, and isn't.
NAD+ precursors (NR and NMN): what the human trials actually show
They raise NAD+ and look safe short-term — but human evidence is surrogate-marker level, and no trial shows they extend healthspan.
NMN vs NR: the two leading NAD⁺ precursors, head-to-head
Both reliably raise NAD⁺ markers in humans; neither has proven longevity outcomes. A straight comparison on pathway, absorption, the human trial record, and the FDA wrinkle that decides which you can buy.
Urolithin A (Mitopure): real trials, modest results
A mitophagy-inducing postbiotic with unusually strong RCT evidence for a supplement — that reproducibly improves muscle endurance and biomarkers while repeatedly missing its primary strength endpoints.
MOTS-c: real mitochondrial biology, absent human evidence
A genuine mitochondrial-derived peptide with interesting rodent data on metabolism and exercise — but no human outcome trials. Promising biology, not a proven therapeutic.
SS-31 (elamipretide): an elegant mitochondrial mechanism meets a hard clinical record
A cardiolipin-binding peptide with a beautiful mechanism and a mostly disappointing trial history — including a failed myopathy trial and a narrow, confirmation-pending Barth syndrome approval. A straight read.
CoQ10: strong cardiac evidence, hype everywhere else
The Q-SYMBIO trial cut mortality in heart failure — but statin-muscle data are mixed, migraine support is moderate, and the anti-aging pitch rests on a decline, not an outcome.
Senolytics & cellular aging
Clearing senescent cells and the wider cellular-aging toolkit — mostly preclinical, honestly graded.
Fisetin: a powerful senolytic in mice, unproven in humans
A dietary flavonoid that's the most potent senolytic of its class and extends lifespan in mice — but the human trials that would test the senolytic claim are still ongoing, with no published outcomes.
Spermidine: a great longevity story, still waiting on the trials
A polyamine that induces autophagy, extends lifespan in mice, and tracks with lower mortality in population studies — but the association is observational, and the best human trial found no effect.
FOXO4-DRI: an elegant senolytic peptide with zero human evidence
A rationally designed peptide that frees p53 to kill senescent cells and reversed features of aging in mice — but rests on essentially one landmark study, has no human trials, and is sold gray-market with no safety basis.
Epitalon (epithalon): the honest evidence behind the telomerase and longevity claims
Marketed for telomerase activation and life extension. The supporting science is old, small, and almost entirely from one Russian lab — and largely unreplicated.
Klotho, the longevity protein: strong biology, no supplement you can buy
Klotho suppresses aging in mice, tracks with human longevity and cognition, and boosted cognition in aged monkeys in 2023 — but it's a large protein you can't take orally.
Resveratrol: spectacular in mice, disappointing in humans
The 'red wine longevity molecule' extended lifespan in yeast and mice via SIRT1 — but human trials show only modest benefit in diabetics, nothing in healthy people, and it even blunted exercise gains.
Ergothioneine: the mushroom-derived “longevity vitamin,” assessed
A diet-derived antioxidant with its own transporter and encouraging epidemiology — but no outcome trials. A straight read of what the evidence supports and where it stops.