Eddy Edson
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
In this review https://www.brennerlab.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Brenner22c.pdf leading biochemist and molecular biologist Charles Brenner eviscerates Lifespan, the best-seller by leading fake aging-cure charlatan David Sinclair.
One passage of note:
As the premise of the book is that we don't have to age, it is no surprise that the book includes Sinclair's daily regimen, which includes 1 gram of type 2 diabetes drug metformin in addition to aspirin, resveratrol and three vitamins. While Sinclair tells people these are not recommendations for others, he advertises the page number on social media in response to being asked what to take for longevity. Indeed, there is clear evidence from social media that there are huge numbers of followers that believe that Sinclair is providing them with an inside track to extend healthy aging. The regimen is potentially damaging for individuals without type 2 diabetes as there is strong evidence that metformin use blunts the beneficial effects of physical activity (Konopka et al., 2019). As maintenance of high degrees of physical (Lee and Paffenbarger, 2000) and mental activity (Valenzuela and Sachdev, 2009) are clearly geroprotective and polypharmacy is associated with greater mortality when controlled for comorbidity and age (Chang et al., 2020), the most highly reproduced page from Sinclair's book may be contributing to significant health risks.
Despite the Internet, there is zero credible evidence that Metformin has an anti-aging effect and plenty of evidence that it in some people it can attenuate benefits of exercise (which is the reason why I ditched it, once my BG normalised).
But it's a cult, and some non-diabetic friends of mine have fallen for the quackery and now take Metformin every day. No use trying to argue them out of it ...
One passage of note:
As the premise of the book is that we don't have to age, it is no surprise that the book includes Sinclair's daily regimen, which includes 1 gram of type 2 diabetes drug metformin in addition to aspirin, resveratrol and three vitamins. While Sinclair tells people these are not recommendations for others, he advertises the page number on social media in response to being asked what to take for longevity. Indeed, there is clear evidence from social media that there are huge numbers of followers that believe that Sinclair is providing them with an inside track to extend healthy aging. The regimen is potentially damaging for individuals without type 2 diabetes as there is strong evidence that metformin use blunts the beneficial effects of physical activity (Konopka et al., 2019). As maintenance of high degrees of physical (Lee and Paffenbarger, 2000) and mental activity (Valenzuela and Sachdev, 2009) are clearly geroprotective and polypharmacy is associated with greater mortality when controlled for comorbidity and age (Chang et al., 2020), the most highly reproduced page from Sinclair's book may be contributing to significant health risks.
Despite the Internet, there is zero credible evidence that Metformin has an anti-aging effect and plenty of evidence that it in some people it can attenuate benefits of exercise (which is the reason why I ditched it, once my BG normalised).
But it's a cult, and some non-diabetic friends of mine have fallen for the quackery and now take Metformin every day. No use trying to argue them out of it ...
