Equinacea extract extends healthspan and may extend lifespan in mice

#1

Equinacea extract supplementation increases NK killer cells and may reduce cancer incidence in mice, extending their healthspan and possibly lifespan:

IMG_2502

This could be attributed to increases in: IL)1, TNF-alpha, IFN-beta 2.

Right now I am only using it when I am getting sick because every retailer in my country has products with equinacea to fight colds but I would love to know what this community thinks of the pathway.

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#2

Skimming through google scholar, there seems to be hundreds of studies showing enhanced NK activity with higher lifespan, less senescence burden and better cancer surveillance:

https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/advs.202521776?__cf_chl_rt_tk=RK8JajVyig_YvIqIO1sIBpxzQT6aRa4mt.68onbqZP4-1777445265-1.0.1.1-VApYUt05H7UBoY7yVH2gSnCPvc6Zj5zJORDcBbGntOk

https://idp.nature.com/authorize?response_type=cookie&client_id=grover&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41577-026-01291-5

Coming back to Equinacea supplementation, there seems to be a persistent improvement in the NK cells throughout the lifespan of the mice, no problems there if you are a mice. For us that we live so long, are we depleting our capacity in some manner? if we stop the treatment we go back to baseline?

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#3

There are also many examples were high NK cell count is detrimental, mainly if they start attacking the body instead:

So yeah, maybe pulsing this as an senescence/viral clearence is the way to go

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