Supplements I'd Give to My Grandparents for Longevity

Making your parents and grandparents eat clean and hit the gym can be difficult and in most cases it's not going to happen. That's why the least you can do for your grandparents is to give them a few supplements. The supplements I think most grandparents and parents should take include creatine, multivitamin, omega-3s, torine, glycine, and NAC and asexanthin. In this video, I'm going to break down the six evidence-based supplements that can improve the length and the quality of life of older people, plus two bonus ones in the end that most people miss. Number one, torine. With age, you see more people getting problems with their blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and inflammation. All of which torine can help with. A 2024 meta analysis of 24 randomized control trials saw that torine at a dose of 0.5 to six grams a day improved blood pressure, fasting glucose, and triglycerides. All were seen to show a dose dependent effect with higher doses providing greater reduction. Another 2024 meta analysis of 25 clinical trials saw that torine at a dose of 1 to six grams a day reduced total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides while not having an effect on HDL cholesterol. Another 2022 meta analysis of clinical trials saw that torine at a dose of 1 to three grams a day reduced markers of inflammation like CRP and MDA. These include dozens of clinical trials which increases the certainty that torine does have an effect on improving markers of metabolic health and cardiovascular disease. However, torine also improves exercise performance such as time to exhaustion, endurance, V2 max, and strength at a dose of 1 to six grams a day. So, older people can definitely benefit from torine supplementation because their metabolism and physical function declines with age. The optimal dose is 3 to six grams a day. The next supplement is creatine because this too has been seen to support muscle mass, muscle strength, power, and bone density when combined with resistance training in older people in dozens of clinical trials. However, creatine has benefits even if you don't lift weights, especially for the brain. In 2003, people were given five grams of creatine per day for 6 weeks. After the protocol, their working memory and intelligence using certain tests increased. This was confirmed by another 2007 clinical trial on elderly people who saw that five grams of creatine four times a day for 2 weeks improved memory recall. A 2022 meta analysis of eight randomized control trials found that creatine supplementation improved memory in healthy individuals. They saw greater effects in older adults 66 to 76 years of age with an average dose of 2.2 to 20 grams a day. So, it looks like creatine can improve memory and cognition. Creatine is currently investigated as a possible therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Just recently, a pilot study came out and found that creatine at a dose of 20 grams a day was safe in people with Alzheimer's and they saw elevations in brain creatine which correlated with better reading and crystallized cognition. Another 2010 clinical trial observed that patients getting creatine saw a reduction in the rate of brain deterioration. So creatine, especially at larger doses of at least 100 milligrams per kilogram per day, is one of the best supplements for healthy brain aging. Next, we have a multivitamin. Now, generally, I'm not a fan of multivitamins and multi-mineral supplements because most of them are just randomly formulated. But I do have to admit that there is evidence from random control trials that supplementing with multivitamins in elderly people improves memory and cognition. There's actually several of these randomized control trials. The reason for that might be that elderly people tend to not eat that many calories or they miss certain key nutrients from their diet. These underlying nutrient deficiencies are what cause cognitive decline in elderly years. And taking a multivitamin can counteract that to a certain extent. So I don't see a reason why you wouldn't want to give a multivitamin to grandparents. Another important nutrient for the brain are omega-3s, EPA, and DHA. Supplementing omega-3s is important for reducing the risk of heart disease and neurodeeneration, which all people tend to die the most. Two 2021 meta analysis of randomized control trials found that supplementation of EBA and DHA at a dose of 0.4 to 6 grams a day was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease events in a dose dependent manner. Meaning the higher doses yielded greater results. People with higher omega-3 fat levels have a lower risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's. A 2024 meta analysis of four randomized control trials on Parkinson's disease patients saw that supplementing 720 to 4,140 milligs of omega-3s with vitamin E for 3 months improved Parkinson symptoms, alleviated depressive symptoms, reduced inflammation, increased antioxidant status, and improved insulin sensitivity. Because heart disease and Alzheimer's are the leading causes of death among elderly people, omega-3 should be part of everyone's routine. The dose 0.4 four to six grams of EPA and DHA combined. Next, we have glyc. With age, you see an increase in inflammation, which is called inflammaging. One way to counteract that is to increase glutathione production with glycine and NAC. There are several clinical trials on elderly people that have shown how glycine and NAC supplementation improves functional outcomes related to aging such as grip strength, walking speed, inflammation, body composition, and other hallmarks of aging. It's quite remarkable because you see improvements in virtually all aspects of health. Physical fitness, body composition, cognition, blood pressure, and inflammation. Very few supplements have shown to do that. The optimal dose is at least 3 to 5 g of glycine and NC each. The next one is aanthin, which is also a very powerful antioxidant. This 2022 meta analysis of randomized control trials found that axanthin supplementation was able to significantly reduce markers of inflammation such as IL6 and melonahhide. Another 2020 meta analysis of randomiz control trials found that asexanthin supplementation lower CRP and increased HDL cholesterol if taken at a dose of over 12 milligrams a day for over 12 weeks. There are also clinical trials showing that asexanthin has benefits on photoaged skin and skin wrinkles. A 2021 systematic review and meta analysis of randomiz control trials found that oral asexanthin supplementation 2 to 12 milligrams a day for 4 to 16 weeks improved skin moisturization and elasticity. So because older people have more wrinkles and their skin is more vulnerable to UV damage, aexanthin, in my opinion is one of the supplements worthwhile taking because of its anti-inflammatory effects. The optimal dose 6 to 12 milligs a day. Speaking of skin aging, I'll introduce the first bonus supplement, which is collagen. Taking collagen supplements has been seen to improve skin hydration, reduce wrinkles, and reverse signs of skin aging in many clinical trials, including a 2023 meta analysis of 26 clinical trials. Skin wrinkles are something a lot of people don't care about, but collagen definitely works for skin anti-aging and it also has benefits on the joints. The optimal dose 10 to 15 grams a day. The second bonus supplement is melatonin. That's because melatonin levels decline quite significantly with age, which reduces the sleep duration and sleep quality old people get. That's not a good thing. You need as much sleep when you're old as you do when you're young. Old people just sleep less because of melatonin deficiency. There is strong evidence from clinical trials that melatonin supplementation before bed helps with falling asleep faster and getting more total sleep. A 2024 meta analysis of 26 random control trials found that melatonin decreases sleep onset latency and increases total sleep duration up to a dose of 4 milligs a day 3 hours before bed. Melatonin is also a powerful antioxidant that regulates antioxidant defense and can lower inflammation. So you actually need more melatonin the older you get. A 2020 systematic review and meta analysis of 12 random control trials found that melatonin could significantly increase total antioxidant capacity glutathione and superoxide disysmotase while decreasing markers of oxidative stress like lipid peroxidation. There are also clinical trials showing that melatonin reduces inflammatory biomarkers such as CRP IL16 and TNF. For sleep, the optimal dose might be only 0.3 to 3 milligs a day, but for the anti-inflammatory effects, you need 10 milligs a day. All right, let's wrap it up. Supplements most grandparents and parents would benefit from torine 3 to six grams a day. Creatine 100 milligrams per kilogram per day, which is 4 to 5 milligs per pound per day. Multivitamin, omega-3s, 0.4 to 6 g a day. GLAC 3 to 5 g a day. Aanthin 6 to 12 milligs a day. Collagen 10 to 15 g a day. And melatonin 0.3 to 10 milligs a day. These are one of the most evidence-based supplements out there, but there are at least seven more that have been shown to have benefits in humans.