The result of Kevin’s rapamycin test with himself and his dog might read “Dog rejuvenated, Kevin still old” - but thats just a fun oversimplification…
There is lots of joking around here between Tim and Kevin (about barnacles on his left testicle), but generally a very positive review by Kevin on rapamycin - for his knee pain (rapamycin is great for lowering inflammation) and on the rejuvenation of his dog. Kevin needs to take rapamycin for a lot longer than 8 weeks if he wants to see the real benefits of rapamycin.
Key take-home points here:
So I just wanted to see what it would do if I noticed anything different. I had some knee joint pain in my right knee that hadn’t gone away for a few months, that went away.
On Kevin’s Dog:
Tim, there is an absolute difference. Darya and I will tell you that — he’s having some hip issues as he’s getting older, his hips slip out from underneath him from time to time. And it doesn’t help that we have concrete floors and it makes that a little more slippery for him, but he’s jumping up on people now when they come in the house, including us, and just the level of excitement and energy and everything else that’s come out of him. He’s been on it for about two months now. It’s is working.
Here it is in context, from Tim Ferriss’ Latest Podcast with Kevin Rose:
Tim Ferriss: None of this constitutes medical advice, but yes, to hear Peter’s descriptions in greater length, his podcast will not disappoint on the detail side.
Kevin Rose: I’m just a consumer, he has real scientists that he interviews and whatnot. So for me, I’ve been following the news around rapamycin for a while. Right now, the drug is used for immune suppression in transplant patients. So if you get a new organ, a high dose of rapamycin is used to suppress immune system so your body doesn’t the organs, but they’ve shown that in lower doses, in all different types of mice and rats, and now hopefully in dogs here pretty soon, through something called the dogagingproject.org, which I actually helped fund their most recent study out of the University of Washington.
Tim Ferriss: You and me both!
Kevin Rose: I didn’t know you did that as well! That’s awesome. So essentially we’re hoping that this will also translate [to humans]. They’ve already shown improvements in dog cardiovascular health and in aging dogs, and it looks like it’s working in terms of extending life in dogs. And the hope there, and Attia will talk about this on his podcast, he’s been taking it for a couple years now, low dose, the hope there is that it’ll actually extend life in humans as well.
So I decided to try an eight-week cycle of it. I did it. People vary on what they believe is the correct dosage and the correct duration and whether you should cycle it or not. And there’s a bunch of just unknowns right there. So I just wanted to see what it would do if I noticed anything different. I had some knee joint pain in my right knee that hadn’t gone away for a few months, that went away.
…
Kevin Rose: Toaster [his pet dog] is 11 now, and I decided let’s get him on the dose that they’re using in the Dog Aging Project. And I’m not joking, Tim, there is an absolute difference. Darya and I will tell you that — he’s having some hip issues as he’s getting older, his hips slip out from underneath him from time to time. And it doesn’t help that we have concrete floors and it makes that a little more slippery for him, but he’s jumping up on people now when they come in the house, including us, and just the level of excitement and energy and everything else that’s come out of him. He’s been on it for about two months now. It’s is working.
So I have no doubt that those early studies around cardiovascular health and obviously that will extend dog life to a certain extent. So we’ll see what it is, whether it’s five percent or 10 percent or 20 percent or whatever it may be. I think we powered the study now to detect up to 20 percent, is that right? I had to look and see what — because that was the additional funds that we recently put in, or that I recently put in. I don’t know if you were part of the original funding or the add-on.
See the video here - preset to start out where this discussion about rapamycin starts: Tim has talked a lot about rapamycin in his shows. Most recently with Peter Attia here: What is Rapamycin? Dr. Peter Attia Explains
