Canagliflozin for Anti-aging (part 2)

No - it prevents the rise / absorption of the glucose in your blood. When I’m on it my blood glucose levels stay under 110 all day typically…

You do pee a lot more than normal.

Ugh, I need this. Fuck indiamart for scamming me, fuck it.

So just to be clear, the way these drugs work is that you still fully absorb the glucose you eat/drink, but then it gets excreted through the kidneys (and out via the urine) before it can be deposited as fat or do too much damage to the blood vessels/tissues/organs. If it prevented sugar absorption from the intestine, it would cause diarrhea like acarbose. The fact that the glucose is excreted through the urine also explains why you have to urinate more often – the glucose binds water and drags out water with it (osmotic diuresis), so these drugs are often called “smart diuretics” because they help eliminate excess water from the body without a dramatic disruption in electrolytes.

As RapAdmin said, if you’re truly on a low carb diet and always stick w/it and if you aren’t insulin resistant (how many overweight/obese people do we know who say they’re doing “low carb?” A lot, in my experience), then an SGLT2 inhibitor may not be doing much unless the health benefits go above and beyond glucose disposal/diuresis, which is possible.

5 Likes

So it’s kind of like acarbose, except acarbose blunts the increase (and doesn’t work for many foods, like a lot of fruit) - in that it can work like an emergency glucose-lowering pill.

Alex - did you see our page on canagliflozin?

I’m mostly keto but take 25mg daily of empagliflozin. There’s evidence it has benefits beyond glucose, including mitochondrial biogenesis.

2 Likes

So, have you ever had an UTI for to empagliflozin? Perhaps it’s not an issue of one’s on keto.

I’ve taken canagliflozin and empagliflozin for most of the past year with no UTI issues. I think it may only be an increased risk for women, not men.

3 Likes

No UTI despite taking it for a year now. About 6 months at 10mg and now 6 months at 25mg.

I drink a lot of water and my only source of sugar is fruit. My last labs I did have borderline glucosuria–which makes sense given that I’m peeing out the sugars that I do take in. But my urine glucose was just a hair over normal. I can imagine if you’re eating lots of carbs, that would be significantly higher, which in turn would increase your risk of UTI.

I also take acarbose any time I eat fruit (though I’m never quite sure how effective it is against fruit–I think it helps vs sucrose but not fructose, and fruits are a combo) as well as mullberry extract.

Despite being “keto plus fruit” I was pushing into prediabetes pretty hard before I started this, and it has dramatically reduced my fasting blood glucose (from around 5.8 to 4.7) and my HBA1C (to a less dramatic extent).

2 Likes

I have been using luteolin (a fructokinase inhibitor) before when I take fructose. You may want to look at this. However I have no idea about the optimal dosage or desired timing before consumption of fruit.

I just do 100-200 mg and hope it provides some benefits.

2 Likes

Rick Johnson and David Perlmutter’s views on Fructose and Uric acid make me wary of fruits. When I consume fruits, it’s usually lower GI (like berries) and also comes with a lot of polyphenols (like berries).

3 Likes

That’s a great suggestion, thank you! I’ve been wondering whether there are any accessible fructokinase inhibitors. Rick Johnson’s episodes on Peter Attia are among my favourites, and I just bought his book.

I’ve been torn on fruit. On the one hand, the evidence against fructose is compelling. On the other, fruit consumption consistently seems to be correlated with longevity.

E.g., In this study, the only statistically significant variables were fruit (+, p=0.001) and processed meat (-, p=.01). Even veggies were p= 0.05/0.06:

" DNA methylation-based biomarkers of aging were slowed down in a two-year diet and physical activity intervention trial: the DAMA study."

https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13439

Any suggested source for the luteolin?

1 Like

Mike Lustgarten has published a lot about Luteolin - I recommend you review it:

5 Likes

I use pipingrock.com just because they ship cheaply to where I live.

Based on the Rick Johnson’s episode, I also try to ensure I’m drinking enough water when I eat fruits or salt. Psyllium husk is not a fructokinase inhibitor but perhaps it reduces the speed of uptake of fructose as well.

2 Likes

Yeah but I thought he said in the interview that fruits also have alot of vitamins and minerals that help protect against fructose issues that would arise in comparison to dried fruits or fruit concentrate juice. In fact he says he doesnt tell people to not eat fruits, he just says not to overdue it

1 Like

Interestingly, back in the day, fructose was considered the “good” sugar as opposed to cane and beet sugars.

"This was promoted by: Adelle Davis (25 February 1904 – 31 May 1974) was an American author and nutritionist, considered “the most famous nutritionist in the early to mid-20th century.”[1]: 150 She was an advocate for improved health through better nutrition. "
Adelle Davis - Wikipedia(25%20February%201904,improved%20health%20through%20better%20nutrition.

She was not promoting sugar as anything but bad, but if you use sugar, use fructose.
The thinking was because it came from “healthy” fruits it must be better.

3 Likes

I believe a lot of one’s microbiome uses fructose as a fuel, so it’s worth having a little bit, just not a lot.

Fantastic new paper on Cana and it’s similar effects to 17AE, Rapa and ACA when it comes to MTOR activities and anti-aging.

2 Likes

Interesting. Perhaps the thinking was insulin. No insulin effect from fructose. In sports performance the idea is fructose and glucose use separate uptake pathways so you can consume more per hour (during exercise) using both.