Researchers have found that administering a natural compound called rapamycin resulted in a significant lifespan extension in mice.
…Even administered late in life, rapamycin delayed the deaths of the longest-lived male mice by 101 days and by 151 days in the longest-lived females — the equivalent of about 13 years on average in humans — compared with mice with no treatment. In terms of life expectancy when treatment began (or average remaining lifespan when the mice were 600 days old), that translates to an increase of 38% in female mice and 28% in males.
Rapamycin was first discovered in the soil of Easter Island. It’s currently given to organ transplant recipients and patients who get stents and there are ongoing studies to test its potential impact on cancer. Researchers say that the drug appears to have a similar effect to restricting calories which has also repeatedly been shown to increase lifespan.
It’s still very unclear what impact a rapamycin-like drug would have on humans. Either way, these would have to be the luckiest lab mice in history. Even the effects-of-THC group is jealous.
