Video summary
In this discussion on longevity drugs and supplements, Andrew Huberman addresses the current state of research regarding compounds like Rapamycin (Rapay), Metformin, Berberine, NMN, and NR. He notes that while studies in mice show that caloric restriction can extend lifespan, it often comes at a significant cost to quality of life, potentially leading to weakened immunity, physical frailty, plummeting testosterone levels, reduced libido, and fertility issues. Consequently, Huberman does not take Rapamycin due to insufficient human data or an interest in living to 150 rather than 100–110 with vigor. Similarly, he avoids Metformin and Berberine because they cause severe hypoglycemia for him unless paired with high carbohydrate intake; while he admits to using them occasionally during "cheat days" like eating donuts without issue, the resulting headaches make regular use unappealing. Huberman's approach to NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) differs from his stance on other compounds as he takes sublingual NMN specifically for its tangible effects rather than lifespan extension claims. He reports that NMN causes rapid hair and nail growth, provides morning energy, and improves overall vitality, though he acknowledges these are anecdotal observations not meeting randomized control trial standards. While David Sinclair popularized NMN as a precursor to NAD+, proponents of NR (Nicotinamide Riboside) argue it converts more readily into NAD+ within cells and offers anti-inflammatory benefits. Huberman tried NR but found no subjective effect, citing its high cost relative to the perceived lack of benefit for him personally. He also clarifies that while NMN was initially restricted by the FDA as a drug candidate due to Sinclair's clinical trials, supplement manufacturers continue selling it on platforms like Amazon without significant regulatory crackdowns. Beyond pharmaceutical interventions, Huberman emphasizes foundational lifestyle factors such as avoiding head trauma, managing stress appropriately, ensuring adequate sleep, and cultivating joy, which he equates with efficiency and longevity. He highlights the example of his father, a theoretical physicist who held over 70 patents, maintained moderate habits like occasional wine consumption, consistent exercise without overexertion, regular walks in sunlight, and balanced work-life hours to live well into old age. This perspective suggests that an "all drugs bad" mentality is outdated; instead, moderation applies broadly across health choices, including the nuanced view of cannabis which may be beneficial for some but detrimental to others depending on individual physiology and context. The conversation also touches upon the complexities of exercise intensity regarding aging, specifically concerning ultra-endurance athletes who generate high levels of free radicals through extreme stress. Huberman contrasts this with older sprinters and gymnasts like a 98-year-old Chinese man he featured in an episode, demonstrating exceptional grip strength, flexibility, and youthful appearance despite his age. He argues that while sedentary lifestyles are clearly worse for aging than any level of exercise, there is a distinction between moderate activity and the extreme stress placed on ultra-endurance runners who may suffer muscle wasting or cellular damage from excessive free radical production. Huberman concludes by marveling at human resilience through stories like those of Camille Herron running across Africa and Ross Edgley swimming around the UK for 6 months without stopping, noting that such feats are driven more by an external pull toward a greater purpose than mere physical necessity. He suggests that accessing sources of guidance and energy larger than oneself can be transformative, even if one cannot replicate these extreme athletic achievements. Ultimately, his message balances skepticism regarding unproven longevity drugs with optimism for established practices like red light therapy—supported by data from Glenn Jefferies' lab on mitigating age-related vision decline—and the consistent application of basic health principles to achieve a long life filled with vigor and joy.
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we've spoken about this before but I
remember when nmn rapy NAD
sublingual mix it in the yoger do all of
this stuff I remember when that was you
know going to make us all live to 150
and what is the state of the world of
longevity drug supplements now what's
happening with that yeah I just did an
episode with petera so here's the deal
as I understand
it Peter is pretty bullish on
rapy um remember that mtor which is
expressed at very high levels in
essentially all cells of the brain and
body during development declines across
the lifespan mtor mamalian Target of
rapamycin that's named after the drug
that targets that receptor
rapamycin targets the uh uh mtor um and
in some sense mimics fast
okay this is broadly speaking keep in
mind that the studies showing extension
of life in different species including
mice um show that being fairly
dramatically sub maintenance caloric
extends lifespan but you're also
potentially um sub happiness when you're
that sub caloric um potentially pretty
weak IM immunologically too potentially
potentially physically weak okay so yes
starving yourself with and reason can
extend your lifespan but you also starve
yourself of joy and vigor right I mean
at some point you are sub caloric enough
that testosterone levels plummet in men
and women libido plummets fertility
plummets in men and women so you know
it's a trade-off um I don't take rap
ayin I don't take Metformin I don't even
take berberine which is poor men's
metformin it um makes me very
hypoglycemic for reasons that make total
sense based on the mechanisms of
metformin and
berberine um I do take sublingual nmn
but this very important but I don't take
it to extend my lifespan I take
sublingual nmn and by the way I have no
affiliation to any supplement company
that sells nmn I take it because it has
for me in my experience again this is
not a randomized control trial this
would not meet Nan criteria Lane Nan
criteria uh it causes my hair to grow
very very fast which is odd but other
people I know who've taken it report the
same effect Nails very thick and gives
me a lot of mning energy yeah me too
yeah so that's the reason I take it um
but I don't expect it to make me live
longer now the history around NN is
worth paying attention to it was David
Sinclair that popularized NN remember
nmn is a precursor to NAD NR is the
precursor to nmn so there's a phosphate
group that gets removed people um that
are not David Sinclair um are fairly
bullish about NR being preferable to n
nmn but the people who are proponents of
NR true niagen Associated folks Etc tend
to focus more on the anti-inflammation
effects of NR and point to the fact that
NR has been shown to convert to NAD in
cells more readily than nmn now all I
know is that when I take sublingual NN
my hair grows faster my my nails grow
thicker and faster two effects that I
wasn't seeking but that I'm okay with um
and I have more morning energy I've also
taken NR and I didn't notice any
tangible effect I don't take it because
it's very expensive relative to NN and
even though I probably could afford it I
didn't subjectively feel much which is
not to say it isn't worthwhile people
might be interested in taking it the nmn
was popularized because David Sinclair
started talking about it on various
podcasts and then he started a company
that is evaluating it as a drug in a
clinical trial therefore the FDA said
the nmn could not be sold as a
supplement that's the way the laws work
but then supplement manufacturers
continued to do so and it does not seem
like the FDA is clamping down on it at
least not hard because you can go on
Amazon or you can go to any one of these
different companies and buy nmn if you
wish so that's the story there in terms
of other things to oh and why don't I
take Rapa m
uh not enough human data and honestly my
goal is to live to be 100 or 110 with
Vigor and I'm not so interested in
living to be 150 at Le uh no not
interested in plummeting my blood sugar
berberine not interested in plummeting
my blood sugar gives me headaches unless
I'm eating a lot of carbohydrates with
it the only time I've taken bourine and
I might take it again is I used to do
cheat days I don't any longer where I
could eat a dozen donuts if I take 500
milligrams of berberine first I feel
fine otherwise I feel like my eyes get
blurry and I want to pass it out that's
kind of fun to do every once in a while
but if I don't eat a lot of
carbohydrates or sugar with berberine
then I get a massive hypoglycemic
headache and I feel like it almost feels
like my head is made of of stone it's
it's very strange feeling I don't like
it um other things for longevity taking
good care don't get hit in the head um
avoid excessive stress you know all the
all the basic kind of like uh things
that we all know so the longevity field
is a peculiar one I mean it could be
that Brian is on to something with the
exosomes and with the again I don't want
to throw out things that I'm not aware
that he's doing I think it's some PRP
exosomes I do red light I think there's
enough data for red light therapy whole
body red light um you know yep naked in
front of the panel 10 minutes five
minutes facing five minutes from behind
or facing away um as it were um for sake
of Eye Health we the data from Glenn
jeffre lab showing that red light
therapy um especially in the early part
of the day May offset some age related
Vision decline this is my colleague
Glenn Jeffrey at University College
London beautiful studies he might be a
fun person for you to talk to um he's
been in the game a long long time um red
light therapy for mitochondrial Health
um you know these sorts of things and
then um you know dosing with stress
appropriately but not overdoing stress
making sure to get enough sleep um
having a joyful life I Love This Joy is
efficiency and Longevity perhaps as well
you know I'm bolstered by observing um
my dad who you know might have a glass
of wine every once in a while but never
drank very much who exercises but never
overdid it who always worked nine to
five and then would put down the pen and
he's a theoretical physicist after all
and would focus on walks and getting
sunlight and thinking he would often
take walks and think about science he
would tell me but didn't overwork
himself but was very very consistent I
think he just filed like like more he's
an excess of 70 patents and he's going
straight you know he was also somebody
that in the moved to the United States
in the era of the 1960s and told stories
about people you know passing joints and
he was like no like I worked my butt off
to get out of a you know a country where
they didn't support science he had this
opportunity from the Navy to come here
and study on scholarship and decided you
know he's sort of like all drugs bad
kind of guy whereas I think nowadays I
and others have a a kind of a more
adapted Nuance view of things like
cannabis probably okay for some probably
good for others and probably terrible
for others so I think that moderation
goes a long way including in exercise I
mean if you look at people who marathon
and
ultra um they don't age as well as in my
opinion as people certainly better than
people that are sedentary but when you
look at for instance um people who are
very heavily muscled they don't age very
well you look at people who do a ton of
ultra endurance they don't age terribly
well you look at some of the older
sprinters out there older gymnasts I'll
pass you a clip of this guy he's 98
years old I sent this to Rick Rubin the
other day and we were just blown away a
guy doing a two two fingers of each hand
doing a pull-up I think the guy's
Chinese and then doing a skin the cat so
rolling his feet in you know shoulder
extension skin the cat then back out and
then a chin up and then walking away
from it now he looks 98 at the level of
his skin sag and his face and his and
his gate but holy moly does he have grip
strength and flexibility and I want to
be that guy at 98 I don't know what he's
doing in the other domains of his life
but I'm pretty sure it's
impressive what is the reason for the
concern on Ultra athletes is that free
radicals I've heard that I don't even
know what they are it's just stress I
mean and I think at some and you know I
went up to the Olympic track and field
trials in Oregon and it was amazing and
I met some of the the best marathoners
in the world and I know cam hannes well
as you do and he you know and cam pushes
himself hard I think that again better
that that than than to be sedentary I
think for cam I can't speak for him but
I don't think he has a choice but to
push himself that way um but and and
he's pretty I don't think he's pushing
he's being pulled he's being pulled yeah
well and he's got it up I don't I think
he's it's all coming through him I know
I I know probably some people are like
oh God here we go again with that whole
thing but there's something about when
you access these sources of of of
guidance and energy that are outside you
that um feel bigger than you and are
bigger than you um if nothing else we we
we can agree on that um cim carries a
fair amount of muscle as well which I
think it's protective against some of
the muscle wasting that occurs when
people are running really far really
long you know over and over and over
it's stress see that guy that ran the
entire length of Africa no but that's
super impressive world's first world
first guy the yeah from the cape Cape
Town you know the absolute bottom to and
it can't be a a straight
line J run for a run for a year this is
some Forest Gump kind of stuff correct
um and Ross Edgley do you remember Ross
he swam around the UK he was the first
man to ever swim around the UK so he's
just completed he would be great I'm
going to try and twiddle the dials on
Rob to see if you guys want to speak
he's just completed the world's longest
single distance non-stop swim how far
300 miles without without touching land
without stopping without sleeping it was
50 over 50 hours eating in the water
pooping in the water the first time he
had to go to fish first time he had to
go to the bathroom he's got like a butt
flap on his thing uh he missed the butt
flap so then just churned his uh poop
for the you know next 50 hours as he did
this swim uh apparently they they cut
him out of it and he was there was like
this sort of gray dust inside of him
which is what if you churn your own
feces for long enough apparently that
happens um but Ross SW who was first man
swim around the UK amazing so he did 6
hours on 6 hours off for 6 months
amazing 6 hours on 6 hours off for 6
months the human you know the the human
spirit is like one of these things that
I just marvel in thank you very much for
tuning in if you enjoyed that clip you
will love the full length episode with
Dr hman right there