Drug combination including diabetes medication reverses biological aging, finds study

10 Sep 2019 --- It might be possible to reverse the body’s epigenetic clock – the measure of biological age – according to a small clinical study published in Aging Cell. Nine healthy volunteers who took a cocktail of a growth hormone and two diabetes medications for a year shed an average of two and a half years from their biological ages, as well as having a rejuvenated immune system. Although the findings are preliminary, they could pave the way for new aging interventions, as well as showcasing how one form of medication could be used to treat multiple diseases.

“It’s generally hard to find ways to intervene into aging in a meaningful way,” Greg Fahry, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Intervene Immune and leader of the trial, tells NutritionInsight. “We saw an opportunity in that the literature had indicated, back in 1986, that it was possible to regrow the thymus and reverse immune system aging just by supplying growth hormone to old rats. Since immune system aging is a major component of aging in general, following up on this observation looked like a comparatively easy way to make a real impact on aging.”

The nine white male participants, aged 51 to 65 years old, consumed anti-diabetic drugs dehydroepiandrosterone and metformin alongside the growth hormone due to the growth hormone’s pro-diabetic effects. Fahry notes that it is possible that the combination of the three agents had synergistic effects at least partly accounted for the results, or that the age reversal came from the restoration of immune function itself. 

The researchers used four different epigenetic clocks to assess each patient’s biological age, where a significant reversal for each patient was found in all tests. Additionally, the effects persisted in participants who provided a blood sample six months after stopping the trial. 

The participants shed two and a half years from their biological ages. (Source: Aging Cell)“One of the most pressing unsolved political and social problems today is the cost of taking care of an expanding population of older individuals in the face of a shrinking population of younger wage earners. But if those costs could be postponed by even two years by prolonging the health span by that amount of time, the economic savings, not to mention the human benefits achieved, would be immense,” Fahry continues. 

Traditionally, diseases have been dealt with in isolation from each other, but Fahry argues that a new form of medicine that prevents or reverses multiple diseases simultaneously will be the way forward. “Our study provides strong evidence that this vision may be achievable in practice and not just in some future fantasy world. If our results stand up to further scrutiny, we can expect to see an intensification of biogerontological research and, ultimately, insurance carriers covering aging interventions and many more age-related therapeutics receiving approval by the US Food and Drug Administration.”

The older generation is a lucrative market for the nutrition industry as more people become concerned with spending their twilight years in good health – the population of those aged 60 or older is expected to triple to one billion by 2025. Innova Market Insights reported that new launches in the bone and joint sector with a “healthy aging” claim saw a CAGR of 27 percent between 2013 and 2017.

Preventative approaches have led to rife NPD, with products including Valeo’s lactose-free milk protein powder catering to the demands of older generations. Mobility and bone health are also a key area of health for senior consumers, although younger people are now starting to give the sector more attention too. 

The findings of this latest study bolster increasing levels of research seeking to pinpoint ways to improve the aging process. As a result, it is likely that people will soon be living even longer and healthier lives, further bolstering the senior nutrition market.  

By Katherine Durrell