Do you happen to know if this level significantly alters depending on the type of pumpkin seeds? Is the type you mentioned what is found in supermarket?
@@littlevoice_11 Supposedly, Styrian type are superior. There was a study done, but ofcourse they happen to sell them too. Can't really go wrong with any bio pumpkin seed type. I'm sure it has some spermidine. I would look for seeds with dark green color.
It is interesting to note that peas and corn, which are high in spermidine, in one study, did not have a correlation with longevity, whereas other plant foods did. " Higher intakes of most subgroups of fruits and vegetables were associated with lower mortality, with the exception of starchy vegetables such as peas and corn." Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality Results From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies of US Men and Women and a Meta-Analysis of 26 Cohort Studies,Circulation. 2021;143:1642-1654
When considering that I track my own individual food intake and compare it against blood biomarkers, I'm not convinced that 1 or 2 foods can significantly impact anything. However, food groupings (i.e. tot al fruit, green leafy veg, total nuts+seeds, etc) may be more important.
Also the people of Southeast asia (philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia etc.) eat a tropical fruit called durian. I have read that durian also has spermidine. If you go to that region you also notice that people age very gracefully. My own mother in law is nearing 100 without any medical or cognitive issues. Hmm... I wonder if it has anything to do with spermidine? as durian is a everyday diet for her.
@@wanderingdoc5075 is part of the polyamine game. In order to get rid of the smell, lemon juice can be used, or vinegar. This protonates the amin residues and rendering it to a non-volatile salt, for whatever cat-ion is available. In whole food usually ammonium groups, calcium or magnesium. a grain of salt may also help. ...my question is just opposite: where to get durian in Europe?
Wheat germ irritates my colon, so I avoid it, but I get considerable amounts of spermidine via mushrooms (~10 mg/d)-there's a table of spermidine content in the video, stay tuned!
A great Spermidine recipe I make regularly: chicken liver, white mushrooms, red onions and hot peppers. Pan fry with some olive oil at medium heat. An amazing version originates from Surinam, with lots of spices. Unfortunately they throw in lots of sugar to balance the hotness.
For the mortality association with spermidine intake, one does not know if this is caused by the spermidine itself or if it might just be a marker compound or metabolite from beneficial microbial flora or a more plant based diet which could also have positive effects on mortality reduction.
Yes, that's possibly true. But also note that of all the metabolites evaluated in that study, spermidine had the lowest p-value for its association with all-cause mortality risk. Is spermidine a marker of an overall healthy lifestyle, or causing improved health? There's no way to know without more studies.
Thanks for doing this video. It’s interesting that blood levels didn’t go up in that one study but it still had a positive effect. I wonder if it was acting through the microbiome? I recently added natto to my diet and it’s not as stinky and terrible as everyone says. It’s actually kind of bland.
Thanks Amy, and I agree. That's definitely possible about microbial consumption, I'll look more into that. I get ~10 mg of spermidine/d just from white button mushrooms, as the texture of natto doesn't look appetizing to me. But if it works for you, that's great!
It's good to add tsuyu (kind of a light soy sauce) and karashi (mustard) to your natto and it gives it a bit of pep. Sometimes the natto comes with mini sachets of it. I actually love it and eat it every day now that I know its benefits!
8:00. Was getting pumped on spermidine, but then read the Kiechl study and saw on page 4 "Characteristics of the study population.." that the higher spermidine groups were more female weighted, higher social status, lower % smoker, lower weight... So did they remove those confounding factors? Also the Schroeder study has a rather extensive conflict of interest section. Holding a related patent as well as ownership in a natural foods company.
The associations for spermidine with all-cause mortality risk were still statistically significant after including those variables (and more), including: "The multivariable models were additionally adjusted for socioeconomic status, physical activity level, alcohol consumption (grams per day), BMI, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and aspirin medication."
When you explained the amine = aminos, I immediate thought of the balance of protein - too high equals cancer and low too means no cell repair. I looked it up and that is what studies seem to say, too - about your polyamines. Tell us where the balance is and what is considered too high.
In terms of too high, that's unknown, as we're in the infancy of human RCTs to test spermidine's impact on health. That said, based on the animal data, deficiency limits lifespan, so for now, getting at least 12 mg/d, which is based on the all-cause mortality data seems to be a good bet.
a polyamine like spermidine is NOT an amino acid. You are mixing chemical categories. Polyamines have a range of very interesting physiological effects (of which autophagy is one of the least interesting), due to the fact that they are involved in the regulation of many processes
Michael, have you evaluated a mechanism of action? I think there was past research which associated spermidine and autophagy but don't know if that was ever validated as causal. Yes, I get mine by diet - also eat a lot of mushrooms.
Mechanism is a whole 'nother video. I try not to get buried in mechanistic details in these videos, as that will lose the average viewer. It's likely related to autophagy, based on my reading of the literature.
@@conqueragingordietrying123 Sure, but some point out that actually, there is no increase in spermidine in blood and other tissues... so that makes it a bit unusual as to the mechanism...
Concerning wheat germ, while boosting spermidine, what about the negative effects of Amylopectin-A, a carbohydrate unique to wheat that has been shown to spike blood sugar even more than pure table sugar?
Wheat Germ. Someone correct if I'm wrong, but Wheat Germ has the highest content of spermidine vis-a-vis mushrooms peppers and the rest of the veggies and herbs out there. Wheat Germ. Dammit I should listen to the entire vid first before commenting.... for you list it as your #1 at the end of the vid.
To simplify my answer, I have a book (www.amazon.com/dp/B01G48A88A), and the other half involves the biohacking/diet+fitness+blood testing approach that I regularly show on the channel.
@@joachimdrtuerk There are many published reasons why CR works in mice-less oxidative stress and inflammation as 2 examples. I usually try to focus on science stories that are less known.
I applied Fisher-Eigen's theory to our cells in an abstract trait space. It follows that cell differentiation is weaken. Luxury genes are weakened and household genes are strengthened.Cell to cell variation leads to selection. Working hypothesis: Aging is the result of the convergence of our cells to the behavior of a single cell See also Matt Kaeberlein and allometric scalling, Geoffrey West. To stop this selection, Harold Katcher's method is probably the right one.
Recently i got really interested in spermidine, because of its capability to protect proteins (as well as hb) from glycosylation. Yet, mice and rats die mainly from tumors, and second most frequent from renal issues. Instead of reporting ACM, research should control for types of death. Tumors are much less an issue in older people. In high age, we die from exhaustion of the immune system, it seems. so, life extension in rodents are probably not relevant......yet, spermidine has a very complex role in the physiology of animals and even plants, and given that complexity, it is likely that its main route of action is different across the branches in the tree of life... nevertheless I likely will perform an experiment regarding my inexplicable hb1ac levels
Can anyone recommend a good spermidine supplement? I'm wondering about wheat germ oil capsules? Would fermented wheat germ oil also be high in spermidine?
It seems that with a target of 12mg/day that supplements are probably too expensive to consider realistically. I see them currently priced at around $100/month for 1mg per day dosing - which seems crazy.
Mike, what is your take on the ability for spermidine to extend lifespan given that it showed no positive LE results in rats? It sounds like its probably more of a healthspan and cognitive preservation approach, not lifespan.
That's a great question-in these situations, I think it's best to evaluate the totality of the evidence. In that case, more often than not, spermidine extended lifespan in 4 separate experiments-early life in females, late-life in both M&F, and immediately after birth. Then, there is positive data in humans, too. So as you mentioned, at worst, it could be a healthspan and cognition booster without any effects on lifespan (based on the rat study), but at best, all of the above is improved. Plus, that we can get it via diet, and as the lowest risk strategy, it seems wise to include it in the diet.
Thx prof.Lusgarten for this another great video. Could we consider bulgur as the same product as wheat germ and therefore is as high in spermidine as wheat germ?
Thanks Abdelilah. None of the studies that I looked at specifically indicated bulgur as the source of wheat germ, so it's tough to say the what exact spermidine content is in bulgur.
Great information, thanks! I have been avoiding wheat in general due to concerns over lictans / gluten, leaky gut etc. Do you know if wheat germ should also be avoided if I am trying to avoid these issues? The high level of spermidine makes it tempting …
Thanks Tad Marshall. There are other spermidine food sources, it doesn't have to be from wheat germ. I get ~10 mg/d just from white button mushrooms, no wheat germ, which irritates my colon.
Hi Dr., these kind of videos are interesting but personally I would really want to watch more biomarkers videos on things like ALT, hA1c, blood pressure, serum sodium and more. Maybe that's just me.
Unfortunately I haven't come across that data, but cooking doesn't impact the spermidine content of white button mushrooms, which is where I get most of my daily spermidine.
To minimize risk from supplements, I prefer to get as much nutrition from food as possible. So I eat a lot of mushrooms to get spermidine (and ergothioneine).
@@conqueragingordietrying123 Makes sense. I use the organic frozen mushroom mix from whole foods which includes shiitakes. I'm assuming that frozen mushrooms have higher compound levels than fresh where the compound levels tend to drop during transit and storage (like berries & leafy greens) so I try to buy frozen.
Michael - great video, thanks! My understanding is that spermidine is not destroyed by heat (not sure how high the temp has been tested) but do you think that mixing wheat germ powder into my coffee would work ok as a method of increasing my dosing?
Thanks Brian. I looked into whether heat destroys the spermidine in mushrooms (it doesn't), which would suggest that you might be ok with the WG-coffee mix. However, better data would be studies that looked at spermidine content in heated wheat germ, but I haven't come across that yet.
My favorite source are styrian pumpkin seeds. Spermidine 10,4mg/100g. Also high in magnesium and they taste great.
Do you happen to know if this level significantly alters depending on the type of pumpkin seeds? Is the type you mentioned what is found in supermarket?
@@littlevoice_11 Supposedly, Styrian type are superior. There was a study done, but ofcourse they happen to sell them too.
Can't really go wrong with any bio pumpkin seed type. I'm sure it has some spermidine. I would look for seeds with dark green color.
@@eb6552 true but I believe getting it from healthy natural sources in its wholefood form would have additional benefits due to synergistic effects
It is interesting to note that peas and corn, which are high in spermidine, in one study, did not have a correlation with longevity, whereas other plant foods did. " Higher intakes of most subgroups of fruits and vegetables were associated with lower mortality, with the exception of starchy vegetables such as peas and corn." Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality
Results From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies of US Men and Women and a Meta-Analysis of 26 Cohort Studies,Circulation. 2021;143:1642-1654
When considering that I track my own individual food intake and compare it against blood biomarkers, I'm not convinced that 1 or 2 foods can significantly impact anything. However, food groupings (i.e. tot al fruit, green leafy veg, total nuts+seeds, etc) may be more important.
@@conqueragingordietrying123 so it's easier to take webber naturals All Greens Superfood powder? contains over 65 fruit and vegs.
Also the people of Southeast asia (philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia etc.) eat a tropical fruit called durian. I have read that durian also has spermidine. If you go to that region you also notice that people age very gracefully. My own mother in law is nearing 100 without any medical or cognitive issues. Hmm... I wonder if it has anything to do with spermidine? as durian is a everyday diet for her.
How to get past the stink? 🦨
@@wanderingdoc5075 is part of the polyamine game. In order to get rid of the smell, lemon juice can be used, or vinegar. This protonates the amin residues and rendering it to a non-volatile salt, for whatever cat-ion is available. In whole food usually ammonium groups, calcium or magnesium. a grain of salt may also help.
...my question is just opposite: where to get durian in Europe?
I’ve added wheat germ in my diet about 6 months ago to get more spermadine - keen to hear this lecture
Wheat germ irritates my colon, so I avoid it, but I get considerable amounts of spermidine via mushrooms (~10 mg/d)-there's a table of spermidine content in the video, stay tuned!
A great Spermidine recipe I make regularly: chicken liver, white mushrooms, red onions and hot peppers. Pan fry with some olive oil at medium heat. An amazing version originates from Surinam, with lots of spices. Unfortunately they throw in lots of sugar to balance the hotness.
Minute 10:50 has dietary sources list.
Thanks for sharing.
For the mortality association with spermidine intake, one does not know if this is caused by the spermidine itself or if it might just be a marker compound or metabolite from beneficial microbial flora or a more plant based diet which could also have positive effects on mortality reduction.
Yes, that's possibly true. But also note that of all the metabolites evaluated in that study, spermidine had the lowest p-value for its association with all-cause mortality risk. Is spermidine a marker of an overall healthy lifestyle, or causing improved health? There's no way to know without more studies.
Thanks for doing this video. It’s interesting that blood levels didn’t go up in that one study but it still had a positive effect. I wonder if it was acting through the microbiome? I recently added natto to my diet and it’s not as stinky and terrible as everyone says. It’s actually kind of bland.
Thanks Amy, and I agree. That's definitely possible about microbial consumption, I'll look more into that. I get ~10 mg of spermidine/d just from white button mushrooms, as the texture of natto doesn't look appetizing to me. But if it works for you, that's great!
It's good to add tsuyu (kind of a light soy sauce) and karashi (mustard) to your natto and it gives it a bit of pep. Sometimes the natto comes with mini sachets of it. I actually love it and eat it every day now that I know its benefits!
8:00. Was getting pumped on spermidine, but then read the Kiechl study and saw on page 4 "Characteristics of the study population.." that the higher spermidine groups were more female weighted, higher social status, lower % smoker, lower weight... So did they remove those confounding factors? Also the Schroeder study has a rather extensive conflict of interest section. Holding a related patent as well as ownership in a natural foods company.
The associations for spermidine with all-cause mortality risk were still statistically significant after including those variables (and more), including:
"The multivariable models were additionally
adjusted for socioeconomic status, physical activity level, alcohol consumption (grams per day), BMI, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and aspirin medication."
@@conqueragingordietrying123 Merry Christmas Michael. Enjoy those NYC slices 🍕.
When you explained the amine = aminos, I immediate thought of the balance of protein - too high equals cancer and low too means no cell repair. I looked it up and that is what studies seem to say, too - about your polyamines. Tell us where the balance is and what is considered too high.
In terms of too high, that's unknown, as we're in the infancy of human RCTs to test spermidine's impact on health. That said, based on the animal data, deficiency limits lifespan, so for now, getting at least 12 mg/d, which is based on the all-cause mortality data seems to be a good bet.
a polyamine like spermidine is NOT an amino acid. You are mixing chemical categories. Polyamines have a range of very interesting physiological effects (of which autophagy is one of the least interesting), due to the fact that they are involved in the regulation of many processes
Has anyone seen information on spermidine levels in wheat germ oil - as opposed to wheat germ?
For softgels/capsules, 0.36mg spermidine per (2 capsule) serving according to one of suppliers on Amazon.
content should be high as well as it is fat soluble
Michael, have you evaluated a mechanism of action? I think there was past research which associated spermidine and autophagy but don't know if that was ever validated as causal. Yes, I get mine by diet - also eat a lot of mushrooms.
Mechanism is a whole 'nother video. I try not to get buried in mechanistic details in these videos, as that will lose the average viewer. It's likely related to autophagy, based on my reading of the literature.
@@conqueragingordietrying123 Sure, but some point out that actually, there is no increase in spermidine in blood and other tissues... so that makes it a bit unusual as to the mechanism...
@@everystepoftheway1217 As shown in the video, spermidine levels were increased on the high-polyamine diet (see 3:36).
Concerning wheat germ, while boosting spermidine, what about the negative effects of Amylopectin-A, a carbohydrate unique to wheat that has been shown to spike blood sugar even more than pure table sugar?
Then skip the wheat ger- I get ~10 m/d from white button mushrooms. If that doesn't work either, there are other food sources.
@@conqueragingordietrying123 Thanks! I love what you do!
@@LPD15ponce Thanks LPD15ponce!
That's really odd how Rats didn't get a life extension, unfortunately just goes to show the limitation of mice studies.
Wheat Germ. Someone correct if I'm wrong, but Wheat Germ has the highest content of spermidine vis-a-vis mushrooms peppers and the rest of the veggies and herbs out there. Wheat Germ. Dammit I should listen to the entire vid first before commenting.... for you list it as your #1 at the end of the vid.
You've made so many videos by now, what's your model about the aging process?
To simplify my answer, I have a book (www.amazon.com/dp/B01G48A88A), and the other half involves the biohacking/diet+fitness+blood testing approach that I regularly show on the channel.
Okay, but can that also explain why CR works in mice?
@@joachimdrtuerk There are many published reasons why CR works in mice-less oxidative stress and inflammation as 2 examples. I usually try to focus on science stories that are less known.
I applied Fisher-Eigen's theory to our cells in an abstract trait space. It follows that cell differentiation is weaken.
Luxury genes are weakened and household genes are strengthened.Cell to cell variation leads to selection.
Working hypothesis: Aging is the result of the convergence of our cells to the behavior of a single cell
See also Matt Kaeberlein and allometric scalling, Geoffrey West.
To stop this selection, Harold Katcher's method is probably the right one.
Recently i got really interested in spermidine, because of its capability to protect proteins (as well as hb) from glycosylation. Yet, mice and rats die mainly from tumors, and second most frequent from renal issues. Instead of reporting ACM, research should control for types of death. Tumors are much less an issue in older people. In high age, we die from exhaustion of the immune system, it seems. so, life extension in rodents are probably not relevant......yet, spermidine has a very complex role in the physiology of animals and even plants, and given that complexity, it is likely that its main route of action is different across the branches in the tree of life... nevertheless I likely will perform an experiment regarding my inexplicable hb1ac levels
Can anyone recommend a good spermidine supplement? I'm wondering about wheat germ oil capsules? Would fermented wheat germ oil also be high in spermidine?
It seems that with a target of 12mg/day that supplements are probably too expensive to consider realistically. I see them currently priced at around $100/month for 1mg per day dosing - which seems crazy.
Mike, what is your take on the ability for spermidine to extend lifespan given that it showed no positive LE results in rats? It sounds like its probably more of a healthspan and cognitive preservation approach, not lifespan.
That's a great question-in these situations, I think it's best to evaluate the totality of the evidence. In that case, more often than not, spermidine extended lifespan in 4 separate experiments-early life in females, late-life in both M&F, and immediately after birth. Then, there is positive data in humans, too. So as you mentioned, at worst, it could be a healthspan and cognition booster without any effects on lifespan (based on the rat study), but at best, all of the above is improved. Plus, that we can get it via diet, and as the lowest risk strategy, it seems wise to include it in the diet.
Thx prof.Lusgarten for this another great video.
Could we consider bulgur as the same product as wheat germ and therefore is as high in spermidine as wheat germ?
Thanks Abdelilah. None of the studies that I looked at specifically indicated bulgur as the source of wheat germ, so it's tough to say the what exact spermidine content is in bulgur.
Have you tried fermenting wheat germ to reduce carbs and boost spermidine? brewer yeast or yogurt culture?
Great information, thanks!
I have been avoiding wheat in general due to concerns over lictans / gluten, leaky gut etc. Do you know if wheat germ should also be avoided if I am trying to avoid these issues? The high level of spermidine makes it tempting …
Thanks Tad Marshall. There are other spermidine food sources, it doesn't have to be from wheat germ. I get ~10 mg/d just from white button mushrooms, no wheat germ, which irritates my colon.
Hi Dr., these kind of videos are interesting but personally I would really want to watch more biomarkers videos on things like ALT, hA1c, blood pressure, serum sodium and more. Maybe that's just me.
My next video will be on the optimal calorie intake for me, based on blood biomarker data, with lots of blood test analysis!
How much soybean oil? More or less concentrated? Read a mouse study that keto diet from soyoil increased plasma spermidine and putrescine
No oil, only whole foods
Does anybody know how much spermidine there is in dried parsley? I only found the numbers for fresch parsley.
The links for spermidine content in foods are in the video's description, I'd check those papers.
I've found cheap TOASTED wheat germ. Does the roasting process preserve spermidine ?
Unfortunately I haven't come across that data, but cooking doesn't impact the spermidine content of white button mushrooms, which is where I get most of my daily spermidine.
So ejaculating can impact Health and Longevity negatively?
clown. it does, for men>60, but not for that reason you are forwarding....
What about he spermadine trihydrochloride? Safe or toxic?
To minimize risk from supplements, I prefer to get as much nutrition from food as possible. So I eat a lot of mushrooms to get spermidine (and ergothioneine).
@@conqueragingordietrying123 I agree, and do the same, but was curious about this compound.
Do you know if the drying of mushrooms destroys the spermidine?
I haven't seen any studies on drying, but cooking doesn't destroy the spermidine in white button mushrooms:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33233206/
I try to eat 50g of shiitake mushrooms every day as a whole food based way to boost my spermedine intake.
Have you considered doing something similar?
I do-I mentioned towards the end of the video that I get ~10 mg of spermidine/d just from white button mushrooms.
@@conqueragingordietrying123 Makes sense. I use the organic frozen mushroom mix from whole foods which includes shiitakes. I'm assuming that frozen mushrooms have higher compound levels than fresh where the compound levels tend to drop during transit and storage (like berries & leafy greens) so I try to buy frozen.
Not too much.
Michael - great video, thanks! My understanding is that spermidine is not destroyed by heat (not sure how high the temp has been tested) but do you think that mixing wheat germ powder into my coffee would work ok as a method of increasing my dosing?
Thanks Brian. I looked into whether heat destroys the spermidine in mushrooms (it doesn't), which would suggest that you might be ok with the WG-coffee mix. However, better data would be studies that looked at spermidine content in heated wheat germ, but I haven't come across that yet.
Is it a good idea to eat semen?
Is that a odd joke?
@@littlevoice_11 Semen contains spermidine, hence the name. But probably not very much.
no. You can develop a food allergy LOOOL