Evidence explorer

Reasonable human evidence that creatine adds a modest amount to resistance-training gains in older adults. No human evidence that it extends lifespan, and claims to that effect are not supported by the trial literature.

Human trials indicate NMN raises blood NAD+ and is generally well tolerated over the periods studied. Evidence that this translates into meaningful health benefits is early and inconsistent, and no human study has examined lifespan.

Human trials support that NR raises NAD+ and is tolerated. Trials in specific conditions have produced mixed results, and no human lifespan evidence exists.

Large randomised trials in generally healthy older adults have found no reduction in overall mortality from routine vitamin D supplementation. Correcting a diagnosed deficiency remains standard medical advice — a different question from taking it for longevity.

No benefit for primary prevention in healthy adults in the largest trial. A high-dose purified EPA preparation reduced cardiovascular events in statin-treated patients with high triglycerides — a specific, prescription-level context often stretched to sell ordinary fish-oil capsules.

The animal case is unusually strong; the human case is unusually early. Small trials of low-dose mTOR inhibition have produced mixed results on immune function, a recent one-year safety trial reported low-dose rapamycin as generally well tolerated, and nothing in humans has measured lifespan.

A proven diabetes medicine; an unproven longevity drug. Randomised evidence for benefits beyond diabetes does not yet exist, and meta-analysis of trials within diabetes found the cardiovascular case weaker than commonly assumed.

Consistent prospective cohort evidence associates frequent sauna use with lower cardiovascular mortality. Association is not causation: sauna use tracks with fitness, wealth and health in ways statistics can only partly untangle. No randomised mortality evidence exists.

Higher dietary spermidine intake is associated with lower mortality in observational data. The main randomised supplementation trial in older adults found no significant effect on memory. Association plus a null trial equals an open question, not a longevity supplement.

Mouse lifespan extension is reported; the human premise is now disputed. A 2025 longitudinal analysis found circulating taurine does not show the consistent age-related decline the supplementation argument assumed. No human trial has tested taurine for ageing outcomes.

In the main randomised human trial, two years of sustained calorie restriction improved cardiometabolic risk factors in healthy non-obese adults. Whether decades of restriction would extend human life is unmeasured — and the regimen's demands and risks make it far from a casual recommendation.

In the TREAT randomised trial, 16:8 time-restricted eating produced no significant weight-loss advantage over three structured meals a day. Fasting regimens can still help some people eat less; the evidence that the timing itself does metabolic magic is weak.

Pooled observational evidence associates regular muscle-strengthening activity with meaningfully lower all-cause mortality. Unlike most interventions on this site, the mechanism runs through a capacity you can measure in yourself.

Replicated randomised trials, summarised by meta-analysis, indicate oral collagen improves instrument-measured skin elasticity and hydration. Narrower single trials suggest benefits for activity-related joint pain and for training-related muscle gains in elderly men. Nothing links collagen to lifespan, and most supporting trials are industry-funded.

A consistent rodent literature suggests accelerated healing of tendon, muscle and gut injuries. A 2025 systematic review of its orthopaedic use found no randomised human trial has ever been published. Every human-effectiveness and human-safety claim made for BPC-157 is currently unsupported.

Laboratory and mechanistic work shows GHK-Cu modulates genes involved in skin repair and remodelling. No randomised human trial supports the regenerative, anti-ageing or systemic claims under which it is sold, and injectable use has no human safety data.

Cell-culture work — including a 2025 study — supports telomere lengthening in vitro. The human lifespan evidence is a small, non-randomised Soviet-era programme run by the peptide's developers, never independently replicated. No regulator anywhere has licensed it.

Randomised trials show substantial weight loss, and the 17,604-person SELECT trial showed fewer cardiovascular events in people with overweight or obesity and existing cardiovascular disease. These are prescription medicines with real side effects, tested in high-risk populations — not longevity drugs, and no trial has examined lifespan as a primary outcome.

Meta-analysis of randomised trials finds no metabolic benefit in people without diabetes, and a prospective cohort found dietary resveratrol unrelated to mortality. The famous mouse lifespan result came from mice on a high-fat diet and did not generalise. What survives is a possible modest effect in type 2 diabetes — a medical question, not a longevity one.

Randomised trials show improved mitochondrial biomarkers, and one trial in older adults reported better muscle endurance on some measures while missing its primary walking endpoint. All key trials are funded by the manufacturer. No health-outcome or lifespan evidence exists.

Very large syntheses of prospective cohorts consistently find a U-shaped association: both habitually short and habitually long sleep predict higher mortality. Whether changing your sleep changes your risk has never been tested against mortality — the association evidence and the intervention evidence are different things.

Large cohorts consistently associate regular aerobic activity and higher cardiorespiratory fitness with substantially lower mortality, with no upper limit of benefit found for fitness. The Generation 100 randomised trial found no significant mortality reduction from five years of prescribed training over general activity advice — active control groups make that a high bar, but it is the honest randomised result.

A small pilot study shows a six-hour NAD+ infusion changes the plasma NAD+ metabolome — pharmacology, not benefit. No controlled trial shows any health outcome from oral or intravenous NAD+, and IV drips are an unregulated wellness service, not a licensed therapy.

In aged mice, fisetin reduced senescence markers and extended late-life health and lifespan. No completed randomised human trial has yet shown any benefit; several — in breast cancer survivors, frail older adults and other groups — are in progress. A rational buyer would wait for them.

In chronic heart failure, the Q-SYMBIO trial found fewer major cardiac events on CoQ10 as adjunct therapy. In elderly Swedes with low selenium status, combined selenium and CoQ10 reduced cardiovascular mortality with effects persisting years later. Both are specific clinical contexts; evidence for healthy adults taking CoQ10 for ageing is absent.

Meta-analysis of randomised trials supports modest improvements in fasting glucose, triglycerides and waist circumference, mainly in people with metabolic dysfunction. The GLP-1 comparison is marketing: berberine has no trial evidence remotely comparable to semaglutide's, for weight or anything else, and no lifespan evidence.

Meta-analyses support reduced knee osteoarthritis pain versus placebo and lower C-reactive protein — both from small, heterogeneous trials using assorted formulations. No evidence connects curcumin to ageing outcomes, and 'inflammation' on a blood test is a marker, not a disease.

Winter swimmers show altered brown-fat activity and enhanced cold-induced thermogenesis; a 2025 systematic review of cold-water immersion found effects on stress and wellbeing that were small, short-lived and based on low-quality trials. No hard health outcome, and no ageing outcome, has been demonstrated.