I’ve never taken Lion’s mane mushroom since it’s psychoactive and no one proved it was safe to me. My intuition that medications are safer than supplements keeps getting stronger ever since I’ve learned how much evidence there is for regarding safety, for approved drugs, including rapamycin. An example of this is to read the EMA assessment report for bempedoic acid, over a hundred pages with different safety studies.
What products (any products at all) do we use that are truly “proven safe”…?
I’m a card-carrying member of the skeptics society: https://www.skeptic.com
I appreciate the skeptical approach, as skepticism is always in order in this field, but “proven safe” is a bit of a red herring. Proving something is safe (i.e. proving there is no harm) is a little like trying to prove there aren’t pink flying elephants in the world. Its really hard to prove a negative.
Proven safe to me. First of all, you should have large clinical trials to pick up side effects, and second different type of animal studies. Then monitoring post-market for events rarer than those in clinical trials. Sample size matters as well, supplement users for specific supplements are probably few.
There is no such proof of safety for many supplements, the level of dirtiness of a drug (meaning they have many effects), raise the bar further to me since it’s hard to understand what it does in the body.
Sure… you’re basically saying that supplements are typically mixtures of drugs that are poorly tested & validated, and very “dirty” (i.e. many compounds, doing many things in the body that we don’t understand). And this is a characterization that I wouldn’t disagree with.
You’re also basically saying you’ll restrict yourself to FDA approved drugs. As a longevity approach, that isn’t a bad approach. If you look at all the compounds analyzed by the NIA ITP the vast majority of the benefits have come from FDA approved drugs… so you aren’t limiting yourself too much, and also are keeping things very simple.
Its little like Nathan David’s approach:
Source: Who in the Health and Longevity Field are Taking Rapamycin (part 2)
Yes, you won’t die or go crazy from taking rapamycin, statins, and maybe acarbose. Experimenting with mushrooms extracts, psychoactive supplements. All are probably a bad idea. The supplements tested in the ITP have a pretty weak effect anyway. My intuition when I mention these three drugs is they are all extremely safe. There are also other FDA approved drugs.
I don’t think I can abandon all supplements as there is no need for me to eat oysters when I can eat an algae oil supplement. Or take a vitamin d supplement instead of having sun exposure which causes skin aging and cancer. Creatine is regarded safe.
Astaxanthin and glycine, who knows however.
I will think about my stack what I will do.
Right now I mostly only take Rosuvastatin 5 mg, lol. I forget to take other ones.
When you think about it, is someone else really going to live longer than Nathaniel who only takes rapamycin? I don’t know his apoB levels, but let’s say they are very low.
I honestly don’t think so.
What is product name for your algae oil supplement?
I’d like to check it out.
Thanks!
It’s Vegetology Opti3 from the UK. It tastes like fish oil.
I’m 63 and have been taking one or more supplements/vitamins for most of my life. It all started before I was even a teen and my father gave them to me.
I must be taking 40+ supplements/vitamins plus olive oil now every day. When I played ice hockey I took certain supplements. When I bicycle raced I took other supplements. When I lifted weights yet again I took different supplements.
I do basic research using Google, have used GPT-4 for research, and I try to stay aware of what may work.
Sure, I care what others think, but there are negative people everywhere and I do what suits me. Hopefully, I live 5+ year longer than I would have. My goal is to live as long and as healthy as I can, and live on my own. 100 is the target!
For one thing, lots of people have had trouble with Rapa. We’re all different, and responsible for our own lives. I don’t like dishonest people either, but they exist so we have to deal with it in some way.
Lion’s Mane is not psychoactive in any way or any person. This is a list of at least 53 studies on Lion’s Mane:
https://mushroomreferences.com/category/lions-mane/
It improves memory in old people. Helps with depression and anxiety. Actually I grew this one for a couple years and it’s the best for eating. My best batch was around 40 lbs wet. I dehydrated and made a powder to put in my smoothies because they don’t keep for more than about a week otherwise. Seriously not a dangerous mushroom.
““The reported health-promoting properties of the mushroom fruit bodies, mycelia, and bioactive pure compounds include antibiotic, anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, antifatigue, antihypertensive, antihyperlipodemic, antisenescence, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, and neuroprotective properties and improvement of anxiety, cognitive function, and depression. The described anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and immunostimulating properties in cells, animals, and humans seem to be responsible for the multiple health-promoting properties.”” That’s from one of the abstracts in the studies above.
If somebody got a bad batch or had a bad day I doubt it’s the fault of the mushroom. These things are widely consumed. Like food is.
That’s what I mean. It affects the brain and nervous system. See the video for information about people that report being harmed from the mushroom.
I don’t think so. A few do, like for everything. But at least you know that. People didn’t for Lion’s mane, and now it is showing up.
People think choline supplements are safe - but many report becoming depressed from it, there is so little evidence. Lots of supplements would probably never be used if we knew for sure.
Everyone reacts differently to different substances. Just think of peanuts, or even for me, statins. What may be great for one person may be poison for another. If you try something and it doesn’t work or is negative for you doesn’t mean it is bad for the whole population and vice versa (although I wouldn’t try anything that’s generally toxic in the hopes it may be beneficial to you!)
You don’t know the base rate many times with supplements though, that’s the problem. That you had side effects after the decision doesn’t matter with regards to the decision as it’s looking in the rear view mirror. You can’t many times make an informed decision with supplements is the problem.
Nothing he says is wrong and I learned a lot about the origins of the supplement industry by watching this video.
What I don’t like is that he over generalizes and ignores the fact there are quality brands and 3rd party tested supplements, as well as supplements that do actually work. It’s true that most supplements suck but there are also a few really good ones.
No, he does mention it in the video.
I’ll take your word for it. I watched it 3-4 days ago so I might not have remembered all the details.
This letter concerns your firm’s distribution of products that violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the “FD&C Act”). The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) purchased on your website, www.amazon.com, products that are labeled as energy enhancing supplements or food, but laboratory analyses confirmed that they contained undeclared and potentially harmful active pharmaceutical ingredients. As discussed further below, your firm is responsible for introducing or delivering for introduction into interstate commerce products that are unapproved new drugs under section 505(a) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 355(a). Furthermore, the products are misbranded drugs under section 502 of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 352. As explained further below, introducing or delivering these products for introduction into interstate commerce is prohibited under sections 301(a), 301(d), and 505(a) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 331(a), 331(d), and 355(a). Your firm is also responsible for introducing or delivering for introduction into interstate commerce a food that is prohibited under section 301(ll) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 331(ll).
Amazon is a peddler of low quality products with fake reviews.
If you were to search for a product called “Mens Maximum Energy Supplement" on Amazon, you’d be bombarded with everything from caffeine pills to amino acid supplements to the latest herb craze. But at some point last year, the FDA had purchased a specific product by that name from Amazon and sent it off to one of its labs to find out if the self-proclaimed “dietary supplement” contained anything that would actually boost energy.
In August, the FDA announced that the supposed supplement was actually a vehicle for a prescription drugthat offered a very specific type of energy boost. It contained sildenafil, a drug much better known by its brand name: Viagra.
This is terrifying. I will never buy a non major brand off of amazon for this reason. I shouldn’t buy anything off Amazon…go directly to the company website.
Is Thorne the most reliable? I’m interviewing Nathan Price (of Thorne) in January
Thorne
Jarrow
NOW
Life Extension
Do Not Age
These are all good brands.
