Longevity Global

Introducing the new Longevity Global Community Platform! You can search for jobs, hires, investors, clients, and collaborators in the longevity space using the search function. You can view other member's bios and request warm intros. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/g-4RCtcf Become a member here: https://lnkd.in/gZxJYpd3 Basic membership is free.

Do you want to know how old your brain is biologically? You can find out by playing NeuroGames for free for the next two weeks. They will go behind a paywall on Feb 15th. Play at https://lnkd.in/gSF8_M56. Brain aging is about 40% lifestyle. NeuroAge Therapeutics gives clients personalized lifestyle recommendations based on biomarkers, genetics, game performance, and brain MRI to optimize their brain health.

Lifestyle intervention improves cognition in older adults in a new study "Randomization of this internet-delivered lifestyle intervention tailored to individual dementia risk factors resulted in significantly better cognition in older adults over 3 years. This intervention is scalable with the potential for population-level rollout that may delay cognitive decline in the general community."

Our Longevity Global Longevity + AgeTech panel event is sold out! We will try to find larger venues for future events (suggestions are welcome!). I'm so happy to see the strong signal we're getting that Boston craves more longevity events, and it will energize us to create bigger, and more frequent events in the future. I'm sorry to everyone who didn't get a ticket, I hope we can avoid cutting people off in our future events.

Are GLP-1RAs the first longevity drugs? Scientists and clinicians in the longevity field have been waiting for the first “longevity drug” to become available. They have differing definitions of what a longevity drug actually is. For me, it means a drug that prevents or treats multiple age-related diseases and extends both healthspan and lifespan. Some people in the field would add that a longevity drug must extend lifespan and healthspan in people without any diseases. ~95% of people in the US over the age of 65 have at least one chronic age-related condition and ~80% have two or more. So while I wouldn’t say that aging is a disease, I would say that it’s very unlikely that you will be able to grow old without having any diseases... With some caveats and still open questions, GLP-1 therapeutics (Ozempic and Wegovy), do seem to be meeting my definition of a longevity drug. A paper that came out in Nature Medicine last week illustrates the broad protective effects of GLP-1s against age-related diseases... GLP-1RAs are associated with decreased prevalence of multiple age-related diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s in people with diabetes compared to people with diabetes treated with other medications. This tells us that they are likely not working solely through weight loss or reduction of diabetes but also through other beneficial mechanisms. Stabilizing blood glucose also likely is beneficial in people without pre-diabetes/diabetes. Adding to the evidence, GLP-1 has a mechanism that works through known longevity pathways and protects pancreatic cells, heart cells, and neurons from death. It also can remove amyloid and increase health of neurons in mice. I am convinced that almost anyone who has an age-related condition, plus those who are just a little high in fasting glucose or have cardiovascular risk factors can benefit from GLP-1RAs. I am particularly convinced for those who are diagnosed with or at high risk for neurodegenerative disorders. People who have arthritis may want to proceed with caution or titrate their dose carefully as GLP-1RAs are associated with increased risk in a recent study. Some people may not be able to tolerate the gastro-intestinal side effects of GLP-1RAs or only be able to tolerate them at a low dose. Read More: https://lnkd.in/gD8udCPu

I personally had a conference cancelled last week because of Trump's comms freeze. It was pretty weird to have a meeting of scientists and entrepreneurs who are working on a grant for ARPA-H no longer be able to meet and talk to each other one day before we were supposed to get on a plane. These meetings help us build better therapeutics and diagnostics for people with age-related diseases. I can't imagine what the point of this freeze would be.

Being on the "How does one live forever" panel at the Stanford University School of Medicine Applied Longevity Translational Symposium was so much fun! Big thanks Artem A. Trotsyuk for moderating, R42 Group and Ronjon Nag for the invite. My two cents- if we want to get past the 122 year old human lifespan record, we need better therapies for the brain given that dementia jumps to the 3rd leading cause of death when you hit 80 yrs. old.

COVID infection is detrimental to brain aging and cognition. If you haven't been vaccinated or infected in the last 9 months, I recommend getting a booster. Your body's antibodies protect you from infection for only 6 months- 1 year and then they wane. Lifestyle improvements can help reverse the effects of long COVID.

"The research found that GLP-1RAs significantly reduced the risk of 42 health conditions. Notably, patients who used these medications were 12% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, aligning with emerging evidence that GLP-1RAs may have neuroprotective properties These drugs have also shown potential benefits for cardiovascular health, reducing major adverse cardiovascular events, and they may slow the progression of other neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease... A surprising finding was the increased likelihood of arthritis, with an 11% higher risk observed among users of GLP-1RAs " Read the science: https://lnkd.in/gUvHf74P

Georgio's Greek Stew Get your veg on with this delicious Greek version of ratatouille One of the diets with the most evidence for enhancing brain health is the Mediterranean diet. On the Mediterranean diet from the National Institute on Aging Research Highlights: “The MIND and Mediterranean diets — both of which are rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, olive oil, beans, and fish — are associated with fewer signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of older adults. Green leafy vegetables in particular were associated with less Alzheimer’s brain pathology. This NIA-funded study, published in Neurology, suggests these diets may help protect the brain from damage caused by Alzheimer’s. Primarily plant-based, the MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) and Mediterranean diets are rich in nutrients important for brain health.” My Greek former roommate, Georgios, introduced me to this most delicious way to consume vegetables mediterranean style with his Tourlou recipe, a vegetable stew similar to the french ratatouille but containing potatoes and served with feta cheese. Get the recipe: https://lnkd.in/gJgFexiZ