Long on Meds Blog
Can Common Medications Really Slow Aging?
No medication has been proven to slow aging in humans. But a new approach to aging research raises an intriguing question: do some medications already used to prevent disease also influence biological pathways associated with a slower rate of aging?
Are there markers that could tell us how fast we are aging?
Most biological aging tests try to estimate how much aging has already occurred. Researchers Steven Austad, Matt Kaeberlein, and Richard Miller have proposed a different concept: Aging Rate Indicators, or ARIs, designed to identify biological changes associated with how rapidly an organism is aging.
They compare conventional aging biomarkers to a car's odometer and ARIs to its speedometer. One estimates how far you have traveled; the other asks how fast you are moving now. The proposed ARIs remain experimental and have been developed primarily in mice.
Is there evidence that medications can influence Aging Rate Indicators?
Yes, in animals. Researchers studying interventions that extend mouse lifespan found common changes across several major biological systems involved in aging. These include mTOR, which regulates cell growth and metabolism; inflammatory pathways; energy use in fat and muscle; and factors involved in maintaining brain health.
Several lifespan extending drugs, including rapamycin, acarbose, and the SGLT2 inhibitor canagliflozin, produced favorable changes across multiple proposed Aging Rate Indicators.
Is there evidence that commonly prescribed medications in humans influence these same indicators?
Long on Meds examined the published literature for evidence that commonly prescribed medications affect these proposed ARIs. Several medication categories repeatedly stood out: SGLT2 inhibitors, statins, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), and GLP-1 based medications.
Studies involving individual drugs within these categories report favorable effects on multiple biological pathways that overlap with proposed ARIs. This does not demonstrate that these medications slow human aging. It suggests that established human medications can potentially positively influence some of the same biological signals being investigated in experimental models of slower aging.
Why are these same medication classes already important for disease avoidance?
SGLT2 inhibitors, statins, ARBs, and GLP-1 based medications are not speculative anti-aging drugs. They are established medications used to reduce important risks involving cardiovascular, metabolic, and kidney disease.
Their demonstrated value remains disease avoidance, not rejuvenation. Aging Rate Indicators themselves still require substantial validation, particularly in humans.
But the overlap is tantalizing. Medication classes already associated with preventing diseases that shorten life also appear capable of influencing biological pathways being investigated as indicators of aging rate. That does not prove that these medications slow human aging, but it gives us another reason to study them.