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The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
190. Is Spermidine The Solution To Slow Down Cellular Aging?
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This nutrient might be the key to living longer without taking expensive supplements every single day. The closest thing we have to a real life anti aging pill. Today, we're unpacking one of the most fascinating and underappreciated compounds in nutrition, Spermidine. People who ate more of this nutrient dramatically had lower death rates from all causes. We'll explore the shocking research, the foods that contain it, and how you can use this knowledge to potentially add years to your life. Even though spermidine is naturally found in food or both, eating less of it, and our bodies are also making less of it, most people aren't getting nearly enough of it, leaving us deficient in this crucial nutrient right when we need it the most. So the exciting thing about spermidine is that ultimate human. This nutrient may be the most embarrassing name in science, but it might be the key to living longer without taking expensive supplements every single day. Despite its awkward name, researchers discovered that people who eat more of it dramatically outlive everyone else. I'm Gary Breca and you're listening to the ultimate Human podcast where we dig into the real science of human performance, longevity and disease prevention. Today, we're unpacking one of the most fascinating and underappreciated compounds in nutrition, Spermidine. Another longevity claim sounds too good to be true, but this one is backed by decades long research. There's a 20 year study that followed almost 900 people, and what they discovered will blow your mind. People who ate more of this nutrient dramatically had lower death rates from all causes. Today, we're diving deep into spermidine, the nutrient that could be the closest thing we have to a real life anti aging pill. We'll explore the shocking research, the foods that contain it, and how you can use this knowledge to potentially add years to your life. Stick around because by the end of this video, you'll know exactly what foods to eat to slow down aging. Let me take you through the study. In the 1990s, a team in Europe wanted to find out why people living in Italy had such long lifespans. And they thought it could be something in their diet. To test this, they followed 829 people for 20 long years, tracking everything they ate and how long they lived. Meaning this wasn't just some quick study done in a lab with mice. This was tracking real lifespan in real people. At the end of 20 years, the research looked at the data they collected and saw the nutrient most closely related to the lower death rates was something called spermidine. And it was more than just slightly related. People who ate ample amounts of spermidine had nearly 40% reduction in mortality. But to check this, the scientists didn't look at one group of people alone. They tested their findings on another group of 1770 people in a completely different study group called the Safire cohort. The results, Even after accounting for income, education, overall health, and other dietary factors, spermidine still showed this incredible life protecting effect. Now, you might be wondering, what exactly is spermidine? Don't let the name throw you off. It has nothing to do with sperm. Spermidine is a polyamine, which means it's a kind of molecule found in every single one of your cells. And it's responsible for interacting with your DNA to help maintain its stability. As we age, our spermidine levels naturally drop, compromising the stability of our genetic material. And that might be one of the reasons why we age in the first place. The cellular waste and junk starts to pile up, and that's when we start seeing the signs of aging. Wrinkles, memory problems, heart issues. I mean, you name it. Increasing the amount of available spermidine as you age helps prevent this. Beyond stabilizing and protecting your DNA, spermidine also activates something called the tor pathway. When this pathway is working properly, your cells know when to grow, when to repair themselves, and when to clean up. And all of that translates into faster healing and slower aging. When this pathway is working properly, your cells know when to grow, when to repair themselves, and when to clean up. And all of that translates into faster healing and slower aging. Here's where we run into a problem. Even though spermidine is naturally found in food, most people aren't getting nearly enough of it. The modern American diet in particular, is pretty low in spermidine rich foods. We eat a lot of ultra processed foods, refined grains, and miss out on the foods that actually contain meaningful amounts of spermidine. Plus, as we age, our gut microbiome, which can actually produce some spermidine for us, starts to decline. It's a double punch. We're both eating less of it. And our bodies are also making less of it, Leaving us deficient in this crucial nutrient right when we need it the most. Most people have never even heard of spermidine, let alone know which foods contain it. And even if they did know, they might not realize how much they need to eat in order to get the benefits shown in those studies. The good news is that it's hiding in foods you probably already know about. And some of them might be unexpected. Mushrooms are an excellent source, especially shiitake. Mushrooms. Whole grains like germ, rice bran and oats contain decent amounts too. Just remember to stay away from grains that are overly processed and contain folic acid. Soybeans and green vegetables like broccoli and green beans also have spermidine. The key is maintaining variety and focusing on whole, unprocessed foods. And since your gut bacteria actually produce spermidine, feeding your gut microbiome with probiotics and prebiotic foods may help boost your natural spermidine production. One of the best ways to do this is increasing your intake of fermented foods, especially kimchi and sauerkraut. Now, you're probably wondering, how much spermidine do you need to get these longevity benefits? The people in the Bruinink study who lived the longest were getting about 80 to 123 micromoles per day from their food. That translates to roughly 12 to 18 milligrams per day. To put that in perspective, you'd need to eat about a cup of cooked mushrooms or about 2 tablespoons of wheat germ in order to get into that range. It's definitely doable with the right foods, but it does require some intentional eating. The great news is that spermidine is highly bioavailable, meaning your body absorbs up to 80% of what you eat. When you eat spermidine, it doesn't pass right through you. So the exciting thing about spermidine is that it represents a new way of thinking about aging. Instead of trying to treat disease after they develop, we're looking at ways to prevent the aging process itself with nutrition. Scientists call spermidine a caloric restriction mimetic because it gives you many of the benefits of eating less without actually having to restrict your calories. And let's be honest, most people are not going to stick to a severe caloric restriction diet for their entire lives. But adding spermidine rich foods to your diet, that's something people can do. Right now, researchers are working on more human clinical trials to nail down the optimal doses and confirm all these benefits we've seen in observational studies. There are also companies working on spermidine supplements, though the jury's kind of still out on whether pills are as effective as getting it from food. Here's what we know for sure. Spermidine is one of the most promising anti aging nutrients we've discovered. The human studies show real benefits. The biological mechanisms check out, and it's found in foods that are generally healthy anyway. Is it a magic bullet that will make you live forever? Of course not. But it might just be one of the most practical and evidence based things you can do to improve your chances of living a longer, healthier life. The beauty of spermidine is that it's not asking you to do anything crazy. You don't need to fast for days. You don't need to take expensive supplements or follow some complicated protocol. These aren't obscure superfoods that cost a fortune. They're traditional foods that humans have been eating for centuries. Maybe our ancestors knew something we're rediscovering. If you're someone who loves learning about the science behind health and you want access to deeper dives like this, but live then I want to personally invite you to join my VIP community. Every single month I go live with our VIPs for an exclusive Q and A where you can ask me anything. No gatekeepers, no fluff, just real answers backed by real data. And the Best part? Our VIPs get to submit multiple topics for podcast shorts like the one you just heard. If you want to be a part of that group, get exclusive content, join the monthly calls and help shape what we cover on this show. Click the link in the Show Notes below and join us. It's the best way to go from listener to insider. We're not waiting for the next wonder drug or some miracle breakthrough. We're looking at what's already in nature, what your body already recognizes, and giving you the tools to take back control of your health. So here's my challenge for you. Try adding one spermidine rich food to your diet this week. Maybe it's adding mushrooms to your pasta or trying some wheat germ in your smoothie. These are small changes, but they might add up to big benefits over time. You don't need a degree in molecular biology to apply this knowledge. You just need the desire to show up for your body every single day. And that's just science.