The Effects of Nutritional Supplements upon the Life Spans of Mice

March 28, 2004

How Much Can Nutritional Supplements Extend the Average and Maximum Survival Curves in Mice?. 
    On October 15, 2002, Dr. Xi Zhao-Wilson and Dr. Stephen Spindler presented the results of a study of the life spans of mice given different nutritional supplements vs. their life spans on normal mouse chow and with caloric restriction (Presentation- Anti-Aging Drug Discovery Development Summit, Oct. 15, 2002, Presented by- Dr. Xi Zhao-Wilson, Dr. Stephen Spindler). The figures below show the results of their experiments.

    It's hard to read the legends that go with these curves but in the left-hand chart, 

• The pink curve seems to be Coenzyme Q-10, alpha-lipoic acid, aminoguanidine(?), and pregnenolone. 

• The green curve is melatonin.

• The aqua curve is aminoguanidine. 

• The red curve is aminoguanidine and alpha-lipoic acid. 

• The blue curve is melatonin and pregnenolone.

• The black curve is the control arm.

    In the right-hand chart, 

• The aqua curve is alpha-lipoic acid.

• The blue curve is co-enzyme Q-10

• The pink curve is alpha-lipoic acid, lycopene, acetyl-l-carnitine, and vitamin E.

• The red curve is co-Q10, alpha-lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, and NADH.

• The black curve is the control arm

• The dark-purple curve represents the caloric-restricted mice. 

    The general conclusion that Dr. Splindler reaches is that supplements only shorten the average life spans of mice. (Can you imagine how this news was rceived by the Life Extension Foundation, which sponsored this study? The LEF derives its revenue primarily from the sale of supplements.) This is particularly true of coenzyme Q-10 (the blue curve in the right-hand chart and one constituent in the pink curve in the left-hand chart). But there are a couple of interesting points to be observed. The control group dies off by 42 months. This is phenomenally long for ordinarry fully-fed mice. In his 2000 book, "Beyond the 120-Year Diet", Dr. Roy Walford's challenge to life extension techniques other than caloric restriction is: "Show me the 45-month-old mice." (Most fully fed mice don't live longer than 38 months.) But in this study, the normally fed mice live a maximum of 42 months, and the supplemented mice live 45 months. In human terms, this would correspond to another 7.5 years of life. Clearly, alpha-lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, and NADH are potent life extenders. Co-enzyme Q-10 has a "dark side". A new synthetic analog is available that supposedly doesn't have this flip side. 
    Of course, these supplements aren't as effective as caloric restriction, but one wonders what the right combination of alpha-lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, melatonin, NADH, and pregnenolene would do. Are there combinations that could push this to 48 months? That would represent another 15 years in human terms!
    Certainly, none of these supplements offer dramatic improvements in life span. Some of the tricks for avoiding cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, etc., may help improve one's ability to dodge the degenerative disease that take many of us away earlier than others.

Effects of Exercise and of the Eradication of the Major Degenerative Diseases Upon the Average Human Life Span
    

    The left-hand chart shows the dramatic effect of exercise upon the average (though not the maximum) life span of mice. Note that these mice live for the more-customary 38 months as opposed to the 42 months shown above. The caloric restricted mice are shown living to about 48 months although they actually have lived to a maximum of 60 months (150 years in human terms). 
    The right-hand chart shows that conquering several major diseases would bring the average age of death for a 50-year-old to about 97, adding 16 years to the average life span. Caloric restristion would bring the average age of death to something like 116, corresponding to the age of 81 today.
    Of course, various self-destructive behaviors enter into today's average life span, such as excess weight, less than optimum eating patterns, failure to control blood sugar and blood pressure, failure to get periodic medical exams, lack of exercise, and a host of other preventable causes of death. These steps could add some additional years to the average life span.