These Common Medications Could EXTEND Your Life

Scientists are constantly trying to find the next drug that would slow down aging and extend lifespan. There are several compounds and supplements that have been identified in the interventions testing program on mice. However, a recent study discovered that certain medications and pharmaceuticals might also reduce the risk of all cause mortality in the general population. I'm going to go through the drugs that were associated with increased mortality as well as decreased mortality risk. The paper was published in 2024 in the journal Aging Sill. They took data from half a million UK individuals and analyzed the effects of 406 commonly prescribed drugs on all cause mortality over a 13.8year median follow-up. What they found was that 92% of the drugs were associated with increased mortality risk, which isn't surprising. That's because pharmaceuticals are usually prescribed for people who have certain medical conditions. So, it's not the drugs that kill them, it's the disease. Here's a list of the top nine drugs that were associated with increased risk of mortality. Opioids like morphine and oramorph were associated with a 450% higher mortality risk. Fuosomide which is a diuretic with a 100% higher risk. Paracetamol which is an antipuretic with 48% higher risk. Tiotropo which is a broncoilator used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma 98% higher risk. Amlipene which is a blood pressure medication with a 50% higher risk. Metaclopram which is used to treat reflux and gastric problems with a 38% increased risk. This is very interesting but we have to remember that it's an observational study. These drugs likely do not increase mortality directly, but they're associated with increased mortality because they're often prescribed in the context of a serious terminal health condition or disease. What about the drugs that were seen to be associated with decreased mortality risk? They found that out of 400 drugs, only 14 of them had mortality benefits. Here are the top nine drugs seen to reduce mortality risk. A tovastatin, which is a statin for heart disease, was associated with a 9% lower risk of mortality. Selenaphil, which is a PD5 inhibitor used to treat erectile dysfunction with a 15% lower risk. Neproxen, which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, with a 10% lower risk. Estraderm, which is an estrogen patch, with a 33% lower risk. Vagifam, which is an estrogen tablet, with a 27% lower risk. Automise, which is an ear spray for ear infections, with a 15% lower risk. Estrial, which is an estrogen cream, with a 26% lower risk. Lime Cyclan, which is an antibiotic used to treat acne, with a 31% lower risk. And estradiol, which is an estrogen pill, with a 25% lower risk. The researchers also looked at the class of drugs and their effects on mortality. The class of drugs that was associated with the greatest reduction in mortality risk 36% reduction was SGLT2 inhibitors which are diabetes drugs. They work by blocking glucose reabsorption by the kidneys resulting in lower blood sugar and diuretic effects. The second class of drugs was estrogens which we saw in the drug specific analysis 24% reduction. The third PDA5 inhibitors like Viagra or Seialis 14% reduction. Statins had a very minor effect on mortality risk, only 3% reduction. Metformin had no effect, which is interesting because SGLT2 inhibitors had a massive effect. And ACE inhibitors, which are blood pressure medications, were associated with an 11% increased risk, probably because high blood pressure is quite lethal. The difference between metformin and SGLT2 inhibitors, is quite interesting. We've seen from previous human observational data that metformin doesn't reduce the risk of mortality in non-diabetics who are generally healthy. But metformin does reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, and mortality in diabetics. There is a difference in metformin and sgt2 inhibitors. Metformin decreases hepatic glucose production and increases insulin sensitivity. SGLT2 inhibitors block glucose reabsorption in the kidneys which results in more excretion of glucose in the urine. When it comes to the cardio and kidney protective effects, then SGLT2 inhibitors haven't been seemed to be more effective than metformin. So, the reason why SGLT2 inhibitors appear to provide a greater reduction in mortality risk than metformin is because SGLT2 inhibitors also have systemic effects on the kidneys and heart, whereas metformin is mostly lowering blood sugar. There's also a big cost difference between metformin that costs only about $20 a month and SGLT2 inhibitors, which cost up to $400 or $500 a month. So there is a massive cost barrier. Next, let's talk about estrogen because estrogen pharmaceuticals were associated with decrease in mortality most commonly. This might be because estrogen levels drop close to zero after menopause. And this rapid decline in estrogen increases the risk of heart disease and frailty in women. Women who go on hormone replacement therapy and start taking estrogen appear to prolong the cardrotective and neuroprotective effects of estrogen. Men obviously aren't going to take estrogen because of the feminizing effects unless they really want to. However, there's an interesting study on mice that show that 17 alpha estradiol, which is a non-feminizing estrogen, extended male lifespan by 19% but not in female mice. So, this non-feminizing estrogen might extend male lifespan but not female lifespan because females already produce their own estrogen. It's too early to say if 17 alpha estradiol is going to extend lifespan in humans, but it's certainly very interesting. We do have clinical trials looking at the effects of hormone replacement therapy in women on the risk of all cause mortality, heart disease mortality, and cancer mortality. A 2017 meta analysis of randomized control trials saw that estrogen therapy had no effect on mortality, cancer, or heart disease mortality when used for a median of 5 to 7 years. However, younger post-menopausal women aged 50 to 59 might see a small reduction in mortality risk. So there's no strong evidence that hormone replacement therapy would increase your risk or decrease your risk of mortality in clinical trials, but based on the observational data from the study we use in this video, it is associated with reduced risk. The third class of drugs that provided significant benefits where erectile dysfunction medications like selenaphil, which is the main ingredient in Viagra. There are previous studies showing that PDE5 inhibitor use like Viagra or Seialis is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, Alzheimer's and all cause mortality among older men. That might be because PDE5 inhibitors have vasoddilating effects which means they lower blood pressure and improve blood flow which reduces the risk of heart disease and Alzheimer's. A 2023 meta analysis of 17 randomized control trials saw that selenaphil treatment improved cardiac function, pulmonary pressure, and exercise capacity in men aged 40 to 60. PD5 inhibitor use did show a trend towards reduced mortality in patients with pulmonary hypertension, but it wasn't statistically significant because of the small sample size. In type 2 diabetics, however, PDA5 inhibitor use is associated with a lower risk of all cause mortality. We definitely need more clinical trials on healthy individuals to see if PDF5 inhibitors have any mortality benefits or heart disease benefits in otherwise healthy people. I would presume that it's not going to work in younger populations. So something like younger than 60 years of age. But if you're older than 60, the natural process of aging has already started to decrease your blood flow and impair endothelial function, which is where these PD5 inhibitors can be quite useful to improve blood flow and lower blood pressure. There are a dozen more common supplements and compounds that have been seen to actually extend lifespan in the interventions testing program which is considered the gold standard for life extension experiments. Things like rapamycin have been seen to extend lifespan in mice in the ITP studies but there's no human data which is why it's not discussed in this video. Check out my video about the ITP test results next to see which supplements and compounds have potential to extend lifespan.