Peter Diamandis is a medical doctor, founder of the X Prize Foundation, and co-founder of Singularity University. Diamindis is a futurist and he's set on living to see it. That's why he takes 75 pills every single day—"to boost longevity and healthspan." At his blog, Diamandis lists all of them and explains why he thinks they are vital.
"In 2013, in the prestigious journal Cell, scientists identified what they called the "9 Hallmarks of Aging," basically a working hypothesis on the underlying causes of aging (on a molecular and cellular basis)," he writes. "The list has since been expanded to 12 hallmarks."
Those hallmarks are: Genomic Instability, Telomere Attrition, Epigenetic Alterations, Loss of Proteostasis, Deregulated Nutrient-Sensing, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Cellular Senescence, Stem Cell Exhaustion, Altered Intercellular Communication, Disabled Macroautophagy, Chronic Inflammation, and Dysbiosis."
Here's Diamandis's rational for popping Rapamycin, which he calls the "King of Anti-Aging Meds":
Discovered in the soils of Easter Island and originally used as an immunosuppressant, this compound now stars in the lineup of longevity enhancers for its fascinating properties. It works by inhibiting mTOR, a crucial protein that governs cell growth and proliferation. But for those of us chasing the fountain of youth, rapamycin's real appeal might lie in its ability to tweak our cellular cleanup processes and metabolism.
Every Sunday night, my ritual includes a 6-milligram dose of rapamycin, taken weekly for a 3 month stretch, followed by 1 month off. Repeat. The goal? To modulate my immune system in a way that supports my body's age-fighting mechanisms. There are a multitude of longevity related meds/supplements (discussed below). Out of all of them, rapamycin is the one longevity-related intervention in my arsenal that seems to have the most concrete evidence backing its benefits. Here's some of the data.
In 2009, Nature published a groundbreaking study showing rapamycin increased mouse lifespans by 14% for females and 9% for males. Fast forward to 2014, and Science reported that it actually enhanced immune responses in humans, prompting a 20% greater response to flu vaccines. This finding shattered the misconception that rapamycin weakened the immune system.
More recently, a 2023 Geroscience study surveyed 504 adults, revealing that 65.5% of the 333 people taking rapamycin believed in its anti-aging effects. Nearly half reported improved health, with over 35% saying their brain "works better" and 38% feeling younger.
Dr. Matt Kaeberlein, a professor at the University of Washington, has been researching rapamycin for 20 years and found that a three-month course of rapamycin increased remaining life expectancy in middle-aged lab mice by up to 60%. As he puts it:
"I would say that rapamycin is the current best-in-class for a longevity drug that we have."
Previously:
• 111-year-old Briton, the world's oldest man, credits fish and chips for longevity