Inhuman Experiment

Antioxidants and Intermittent Fasting – Good For Longevity?

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:42:00 +0000

Are blueberry antioxidants beneficial for intermittent fasting? (Photo by Simply Bike) Is it possible to live longer by combining the benefits of intermittent fasting (IF) and plant polyphenols? A new paper claims that taking polyphenol antioxidants during dietary restriction increases the lifespan of mice more than dietary restriction alone. The...

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Guest Post: Natural Alternatives for Arthritis Treatment

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:15:00 +0000

Glucosamine is also found in seashells. (Photo by DavidRPhoto) Guest post by Emily Matthews Glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate have long been used as supplements to ease the pain of arthritis. Both compounds are found naturally in animal cartilage and glucosamine can also be found in seashells. A person who wishes to increase the...

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Topical vs. Oral Antioxidants for Sun Protection – Which Is Better?

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:54:00 +0000

Eating the right foods can protect your skin from the sun. (Photo by Extra Medium) While studies on antioxidants are generally pretty disappointing when it comes to life extension, they do have some use as anti-aging treatments for the skin. While all or most antioxidants appear to protect from the harmful effects of the sun, some antioxidants...

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Kudzu Is an Anti-Androgen and Hair Growth Promoter

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:55:00 +0000

Kudzu will grow over anything in its path. (Photo by jjjj56cp) In traditional Chinese Medicine, kudzu – a quick-growing vine native to China and Japan – is commonly used to treat alcoholism and hangover. This may be due to its potential to increase blood levels of alcohol when taken with an alcoholic beverage. Indeed, at least one study found...

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Green Tea Polyphenol Heals Stomach Ulcers

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Thu, 26 May 2011 08:43:00 +0000

Green tea is a good candidate for treating stomach ulcers. (Photo by toughkidcst) Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are generally used for treating pain and reducing fever. The most common NSAIDs are aspirin and ibuprofen. While effective, these drugs have some pretty nasty side effects. For example, up to one in four regular users...

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Lithium in Drinking Water May Lead to Longer Life

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:16:00 +0000

Water may have an effect on your longevity. (Photo by anthony_goto) Lithium is an essential trace element found mostly in drinking water and vegetables. However, nutritional intake of lithium varies considerably, depending on where you live. In rats, a deficiency of lithium causes health problems such as behavioral abnormalities, but in...

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Drinking Coffee = Higher Adiponectin = Lower Body Fat Percentage?

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Thu, 05 May 2011 12:49:00 +0000

Want to lower your body fat? Coffee might an option. (Photo by annais) Adiponectin is a protein hormone that modulates several metabolic processes related to weight gain. Adiponectin levels are inversely correlated with body fat percentage (link) – for example, diabetics have lower levels of adiponectin than non-diabetics, and losing weight...

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Want to Increase Your HDL Cholesterol by 50%? Sage Tea May Be the Answer

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Common sage tea increases HDL and reduces LDL. (Photo by Kelly Johnson) Salvia officinalis, also known as common sage or garden sage, has been used for hundreds of years both for cooking and healing purposes. It's the variety you can find in most grocery stores – not to be confused with the psychoactive herb Salvia divinorum. While you might...

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High HDL Cholesterol Reduces Risk of Dying in Men

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 11:49:00 +0000

Strawberry margarita – the perfect longevity drink. (Photo by bookgrl) According to conventional wisdom, LDL is the "bad cholesterol" and HDL is the "good cholesterol". While there is plenty of evidence showing this is an oversimplification, it is generally agreed that the higher your HDL is, the better. In fact, I've never seen anyone suggest a...

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Biotin Goes Back on the Menu

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:44:00 +0000

Is there evidence behind biotin and hair growth? (Photo by Martin Neuhof) Long-time readers of the blog may remember that one of the earliest experiments I did was with biotin, also known as vitamin B7. The purpose was to see whether taking a biotin supplement would affect nail and hair strength. I wrote back then that although a lot of people...

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Soy Isoflavones and Chili Pepper for Hair Growth – Experiment Update

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:20:00 +0000

Spicy peppers contain capsaicin, which should promote hair growth. (Photo by Jonathon W) Several readers have been asking for an update on my hair growth experiment with soy isoflavones and capsaicin. I admit it's long overdue, so here goes! First some background on the experiment. Why soy isoflavones? I know there are a lot of people who...

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Vegetable vs. Animal Sources of Vitamin A: Why Eating Carrots Isn't Enough

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:42:00 +0000

Think you're getting enough vitamin A from carrots? Think again. (Photo by Ben Hussman) In the comment section of my previous post on genes, diet and cavities, a couple of readers commented that vitamin A is necessary for proper dental health. I replied that I get plenty of beta-carotene (the vitamin A precursor found in vegetables and fruits)...

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Genes, Diet and Oral Health: Why Do Some People Get Cavities and Others Don't?

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 10:57:00 +0000

Getting rid of candies didn't prevent me from getting caries. (Photo by exper) As you may know, I have something of an ongoing experiment with dental health. This includes reducing cavities, preventing gingivitis and the receding of gums, and also finding safe ways of whitening teeth. In previous updates, the main focus has been on the teeth...

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Green Tea as a Pro-oxidant: Too Much of a Good Thing?

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:13:00 +0000

Is too much green tea harmful for you? (Photo by tornado_twister) I was browsing through the latest studies on green tea and came across a paper saying EGCG, one of the green tea polyphenols, increases protein cross-linking (link). I was intrigued, because this was the first time I'd heard of such an effect. The abstract also mentions that...

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Dark Chocolate Reduces Blood Pressure and Improves Insulin Sensitivity in Just Two Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:48:00 +0000

Not all things that are good for you taste bad. (Photo by CC Chapman) Everyone knows that dark chocolate is healthy, but how many of us really know why exactly it's healthy? It's the same as with red wine: it's common knowledge that it's healthy – it contains those magical polyphenols, after all – but the actual effects are mentioned less...

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Nootropics, Longevity and More: The Year 2010 in Review

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:25:00 +0000

Comments or suggestions for the year 2011? Drop a comment! (Photo by Altus) Happy New Year everyone! I hope your holidays went well and you're ready to make 2011 even better than last year. But before we do that, let's take a look at some of the best bits and pieces from 2010. In January, I finally got a chance to see Aubrey de Grey for the...

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Hibiscus Tea Increases HDL, Lowers LDL and Triglycerides

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:32:00 +0000

Hibiscus tea is often served cold with sugar. (Photo by molossoidea) When it comes to health benefits and drinks, green tea gets most of the publicity. And with good reason – from what we know, it seems to have the widest range of positive effects out of all beverages. But that's not to say that there aren't other less known drinks out...

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World's Oldest Woman and Oldest Man: 1986–2010

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 19:49:00 +0000

I came across this graph while browsing through the latest issue of Rejuvenation Research. The black line shows the age of the oldest living woman; the grey line shows the age of the oldest living man. The data spans from 1986 to 2010. A couple of things pop out from this graph. First, during the last 24 years, the oldest person in the world...

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Jumping Head First into the Fountain of Youth

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:23:00 +0000

Go on, it'll knock 50 years right off your age. (Photo by JB London) I don't know if you noticed, but yesterday a study on telomeres and aging hit the news big time. Various media bought into the hype, claiming that aging had been reversed in mice. Daily Mail, for example, published a story that begins as follows (link): Have they found the...

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Ashwagandha as a Nootropic – Experiment Update

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:36:00 +0000

The search for nootropic herbs continues. (Photo by Jim Brekke) It's time for an update on my self-experiment with Ashwagandha, which began earlier this year in February. The herb in question, also known as Withania somnifera, is one of the many used in Ayurvedic medicine. Since many people use it as a nootropic, being a fan of cognitive boosting...

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The Twinkie Diet: Thoughts on Weight Loss and Cholesterol

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:01:00 +0000

You can lose weight on any diet, but is it healthy? (Photo by OkayCityNate) A few days ago, CNN reported on a nutrition professor who lost 27 pounds in ten weeks eating mostly Twinkies (link). Not only that, but health markers improved too – LDL went down and HDL went up. Some people seem to think the results resolve the old question of...

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Tretinoin Results After a Year – Experiment Update

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 12:32:00 +0000

Retinoids – one of the better ways of looking young. (Photo by eisenbahner) Some of you have been asking for an update on my experiment with retinoids. Now that I've gone through my first tube of tretinoin, it's time to review the results. As I mentioned in my review of the anti-aging benefits of retinoids, I have both tretinoin cream (0.05%)...

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Aubrey de Grey Interview in Wired.com

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:44:00 +0000

Aubrey de Grey's life extension diet emphasizes the importance of beer. One of my favourite people in the world, the British gerontologist Aubrey de Grey, recently did an interview with Wired Science (link). If you've read his interviews before, you pretty much know what to expect, but there were a couple of new things in there that I found...

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Russian Scientist Claims to Have Found Cure for Aging

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:14:00 +0000

Could there really be one pill that keeps you young indefinitely? This news recently hit the media (link), and the headlines so far have been pretty wild. Catchphrases like "forever young" and "secret to eternal life" will surely spark interest even among the non-immortalist crowd, but how much of it is just hype? So what is this news all...

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Refined vs Red Palm Oil and Cholesterol

noreply@blogger.com (JLL) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:26:00 +0000

Palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm olein and palm stearin are all different products of the palm tree. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm. Palm kernel oil, on the other hand, is extracted from the seed of the oil palm. While red palm oil (also known as crude palm oil) is easily distinguishable by its deep orange to...

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