Spermidine for Longevity: The Natural Compound That Could Extend Your Healthspan

What Is Spermidine?

Spermidine is a naturally occurring polyamine compound found throughout the body and in various foods., like wheat germ, soybeans, nuts, and is even produced by your gut bacteria. This fascinating molecule was first isolated from semen, hence its name, but actually plays crucial roles in cellular longevity processes. Spermidine levels naturally decline with age, which may be problematic because it also has important health promoting properties:

• Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory functions
• Enhanced protein homeostasis and improved mitochondrial metabolic functions
• Autophagy induction
• Apoptosis, transcription, and DNA stability

What Does Spermidine Help With?

Spermidine's longevity benefits appear related to its ability to induce autophagy, your body's cellular cleanup process. In fact, spermidine is called a "caloric restriction mimetic.” Here's what the science reveals:

• Longevity and Lifespan Extension: animal studies show spermidine extends lifespan and humans who consume more spermidine appear roughly 5.7 years younger. This is also observed in blood tests looking at correlation of aging red blood cells and spermidine concentration.
• Cardiovascular Health: humans who consume the most spermidine appear to have lower cardiovascular causes of death. This matches animal studies, possibly by blood vessel flexibility and better blood pressure control.
• Cognitive Function and Brain Health: older adults both with dementia and at risk for dementia have shown improved memory with spermidine supplementation, but not all studies have shown similar results. This may be due to insufficient dosing. This neuroprotective effect may be from regulating synaptic connectivity or through brain autophagy to help clear protein aggregates associated with Alzheimer's disease.
  
  • Spermidine appears important enough that the brain attempts to compensate for low spermidine concentrations in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's.
• Metabolic Health: spermidine concentrations are non-linearly related to insulin sensitivity.
• Hair health: spermidine supplementation keeps hair in the anagen phase longer (the active growth phase of hair).

Who Might Benefit From Spermidine?

Based on current research, several groups may particularly benefit from spermidine supplementation:

• Wellness enthusiasts (from whole food sources)
• Individuals with cognitive concerns based on family history, clinical symptoms, or genetics
• People with cardiovascular risk factors (from whole food sources
• Those with hair loss or greying hair

Is Spermidine Safe?

The safety profile of spermidine appears excellent based on current research, even at doses as high as 40mg/day. We do not yet know the ideal dose of spermidine supplementation. There are, however, concerns for cancer in patients with high intakes of polyamines. This data around cancer remains controversial.

Should I Take Spermidine? The Bottom Line

Spermidine has a growing number of studies supporting its safety and benefits in cognitive health, cardiovascular health, and hair quality. While we still need more human studies to confirm these observations, spermidine may play a role in your wellness stack. Speak with a doctor at Clarus Health today to learn more about spermidines role in precision medicine for health and longevity.