One drink per week reduces brain size.
Drinking also reduces epigenetic age and improves insulin resistance.
There ARE ways to block the acetyldehyde from forming (look up pills to prevent hangovers).
The best way is to get sparkling non-alcoholic wine.
I probably socially drink non-alcoholic wine several times a month (at maximum) - was previously a total abstainer.
I don’t believe one should judge another for their choices but believe me, not drinking alcohol (like not smoking) has never been a sacrifice. CR would be however… so I don’t do it.
One life, do no harm but otherwise live how you choose…
Right On!! I am with you. Mostly.
Other than an occasional shot of good whiskey (maybe once every couple of months), I don’t drink at all. I tried the “one drink of alcohol before bed will increase deep sleep” but it didn’t hold true for me as evidenced by my Oura Ring. My deep sleep actually suffered and now I usually avoid alcohol entirely except for special circumstances.
I don’t care what other people do, you do you. If I express a bias, it’s to the best of my current knowledge, science driven, not philosophical, cancel or virtue driven. I have many peers who drink, I’ve not once ever signalled on their choice. I didn’t turn my lifestyle upside down for fun. My wife thinks I’m insane…I care not. Everything I do is science driven. Both of my doctors implore me not to drink…I put some scientific/health weight to this information.
This is a longevity forum, and I am here with intense curiosity to learn from others. I hope we can question and debate, respectfully, with science.
Liver and kidney are proxies for diet, lifestyle and Pharma epigenetic interventions.
Doubt we will have have retail mTOR lab tests, tissue specific. So in the interim, what can regular blood marker tests tell us as “cellular” proxies for our Rapamycin dosing?
If someone is consuming alcohol or other lifestyle intervention, and taking Rapamycin, I would be keenly interested if and by how much Rapamycin suppresses/blunts liver enzymes. Is everyone seeing the same liver/kidney markers on Rapamycin?
I do not drink, and if I do it is once in a blue moon.
I don’t drink because
1.There is no other drug which is so damaging to so may different organ systems in the body. Alcohol can harm almost every part of the body through toxicity alone.( Good book on the topic is David Nutt’s Drugs without the hot air or his other book called Drink: the new science of alcohol and your health)
2. the impacts it has on sleep(as a person who studies sleep, this alone makes me stay away from alcohol)
3. Drinking never really does anything for me. It takes a lot of alcohol for me to feel a buzz, I don’t like the taste of most alcohol(especially Beer), and its expensive(LOL)
At the end of the day though I think some drinking is not bad if that helps relieve stress or it forces you to go hang out with some friends as the social impacts are probably beneficial.
Regardless I think moderation is the big key and also making sure you are doing other health/longevity things such as exercise, eating healthy, going to doctor for check ups, etc.
At the end of the day we all have our vices and do something that probably isn’t best for us(drinking, smoking, eating sugar/bad diets, etc). I think living well is not the same as living long and we as individuals must define what living well means to us. To me living well, is making sure I enjoy life(such as spending time with family, friends, good emotional wellbeing, being able to go hiking, etc) and getting the most out of myself (brain/body/health in general). I think a lot of the forum gets really hung up on living for a long time( because its a longevity forum LOL) and doing/taking every little thing to increase those chances but in reality who really cares if you live to be 100+ if you are miserable doing it or spend the last 20 of those years being sick/ not having good health? And most of us on here are taking many supplements/ pharmacological interventions or specific diet/exercise plans that we really may not be to pinpoint what actually helps. Heck, who knows if these supplementations are even beneficial. For example:
" A recent systematic
review and meta-analysis showed that higher dietary intake of fruits and vegetables and/or blood concentrations of exogenous antioxidants, such as vitamin C, carotenoids, and α-tocopherol, is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer, and all-cause mortality [11]. However, such foods contain a wide range of active substances that are not limited to antioxidants. Moreover, beneficial effects are seldom observed in trials of pharmacological antioxidant administration. For example, systemic administration of membrane antioxidants such as vitamin E and selenium does not affect mortality. From a contemporary perspective, antioxidants in vivo should not directly scavenge reactive ox-ygen species (ROS) but instead act as xenobiotics to induce the expression of innate antioxidant enzymes via the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) pathway. In our previous study, the carotenoid fucoxanthin caused a pronounced antioxidant effect in fibroblasts. Transcriptomic data showed increased expression of genes related to the NRF2/antioxidant-responsive element (ARE) pathway [13]. By contrast, excessive exogenous supplementation of direct antioxidants is not beneficial because it can suppress this stress response and act pro-oxidatively at high con-centrations [14,15]. Moreover, it is physically difficult for exogenous antioxidants to scavenge all reactive radicals (e.g., hydroxyl radicals) in vivo, and they are often less efficient than endogenous enzymatic antioxidants". ( this was from targeting aging mechanims: pharmacological perspectives that RapAdmin uploaded to the forum awhile ago)
At the end of the day we all will do aspects of lifestyle differently such as drinking or not, taking certain supplements or not, etc. But we most will end up getting to the same place in different ways.
I really just want to make sure I can still play catch or do activities when I am older as it will make my time left more meaningful. My perspective may change as I am only 24, but I just find the forum to be interesting (in a good way) listening to other’s reasonings and justification’s for doing what they do. It becomes disappointing though when people , such as some on this thread, get really heated about certain topics or dismiss ideas /thoughts/topics just because they aren’t directly related to rapamycin. It would be boring if we all had the same ideas on everything as how would we grow and learn? At the end of the day we are all here to learn and grow together (I hope).
I am not a fan of a lifestyle that includes counting every calorie, not eating any sugar, no alcohol, etc. I am more of a fan of “Don’t worry, be happy”
From the movie Auntie Mame:
Auntie Mame; “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!”
Greek poet Hesiod (c. 700 bc), ‘observe due measure; moderation is best in all things’
Oscar Wilde: “Everything in moderation, including moderation.
As my grandmother always used to say, “a little of what you fancy does you good”,
Emphasis on the “little”.
On a Sunday I have no restrictions (and a small glass of wine at lunchtime), and I’m very happy with that.
Totally agree with the sentiments of Guywholikessleep.
I tend to avoid alcohol. But I’m curious if there might be any positive effects due to really low levels (e.g. drinks with 0.5% alcohol, etc.). Benefits due to hormesis perhaps?
i have about 4 drinks a week. but only because my gf makes me. have even oooone drink after 3pm and you’ve just cost yourself some deep sleep. and usually all of it. that’s what my Oura ring tells me at least. If it were up to me, I’d only drink at parties. (approx monthly with a good buzz - like 4 drinks) But I def would not stop drinking. It’s fun. You gotta have SOME fun in life. And alcohol is one of the ways. Coffee ain’t good for me either but I’ll be stickin with 2 cups a day regardless of longevity.
100% agree with having “some fun” in life, heck I strive for way more than some!
But do I need to have alcohol in my glass to have this fun?
This “social construct” has been glorified by the liquor industry, mainstream social media, peer pressure, historical norms. My liver is not “amused”.
When I host, I prepare mixed drinks for guests, fill my glass with club soda…the social dynamics are completely unperturbed. I partake in the spirit, but without the spirits.
Some rather funny information… turns out rapamycin probably makes you want to drink less alcohol…
This research also touches upon the issue of rapamycin crossing the blood brain barrier.
The team showed that using both the drugs [rapamycin and another drug] —one of which is already in clinical oncology trials— effectively made it possible block the AUD target mTORC1 specifically in the brain, and not in the periphery. When tested in mice, treatment with both drugs attenuated alcohol seeking and drinking.
In previous work, Ron showed that consuming alcohol activates the enzyme in the brain. “Studies in rodents suggest that mTORC1 plays a crucial role in mechanisms underlying phenotypes such as heavy alcohol intake, habit, and relapse. Thus, mTORC1 inhibitors, which are used in the clinic, are promising therapeutic agents to treat AUD,” the investigators commented.
Ron has also shown that blocking the activity of mTORC1 with the FDA-approved compound rapamycin—which is used to treat some types of cancer and suppress immune response in transplant patients—can halt cravings in a mouse model of alcohol use disorder.
“It’s really quite striking,” she said, adding that a whole body of study points to the possibility of mTORC1 being a kind of supermolecule that is activated by all misused drugs. “If that’s true,” Ron said, “It suggests that this approach can be applied to other drugs of abuse as well, essentially solving the problem of addiction.”
Full Paper:
Rapamycin has done nothing to reduce my alcohol use (though it probably would be good if it did.)
New research:
In the pre-heart failure group, compared with no alcohol use, moderate or high intake was associated with a 4.5-fold increased risk of worsening heart health. The relationship was also observed when moderate and high levels were analysed separately. In the at-risk group, there was no association between moderate or high alcohol use with progression to pre-heart failure or to symptomatic heart failure. No protective associations were found for low alcohol intake.
Dr. Wong said: "Our study suggests that drinking more than 70 g (about 2.5 oz) of alcohol per week is associated with worsening pre-heart failure or progression to symptomatic heart failure in Europeans. We did not observe any benefits of low alcohol usage. Our results indicate that countries should advocate lower limits of safe alcohol intake in pre-heart failure patients.
A very recent meta-analysis shows 3.5 cups of coffee per day to be the optimum for reducing all-cause mortality. Google it!
Similarly, there are comprehensive meta-analyses showing all-cause mortality reduction for modest alcohol consumption.
No, watch the video at the top of the thread. When you apply Mendelian randomisation alcohol is detrimental at all doses.
Re: Caffeine
Individuals who are homozygous for the CYP1A21A are “rapid” caffeine metabolizers, whereas carriers of the variant CYP1A21F are “slow” metabolizers. I suspect if you’re in the latter category 3.5 cups of coffee would be detrimental due to its negative impact on sleep.
That is ONE study. Many studies contradict this. Which is why meta-analyses become critical. Peter Attia’s ‘Studying Studies’ is a great resource ( Studying Studies: Part I - relative risk vs. absolute risk - Peter Attia (peterattiamd.com)
Did you actually watch the video? He references three massive independent studies?
I think you may be suffering from a case of cognitive dissonance…
I am an absolute believer in “absolute risk”. Relative risk promotes the ever-increasing length of our supplement stacks. i.e. Such and such a supplement reduces the risk of, you name it, by 50% and we hurry to Amazon to order the supplement.
As per coffee. I doubt anyone loves coffee more than I do. It has had little or no effect on my sleep. I can drink two cups of coffee and take a nap.