Anti-Aging Self-Experiment with Epitalon (AEDG)
There is a body of evidence, coming primarily from the publications of Vladimir Kh. Khavinson and his group at the Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology (IB&G) in Moscow, indicating that administering short peptides (i.e., short amino acid chains too short to be considered proteins) can have significant anti-aging effects. In particular, they report that administering the tetra-peptide Epitalon (amino acid sequence Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly or AEDG) has the effect of increasing telomere length and suggests some degree of epigenome reset. Epitalon is the synthetic equivalent of the natural polypeptide Epithalamin, which is secreted by the pituitary gland.
Therefore, I have decided to do the following self-experiment: (1) do an EpiAging DNA methylation test (about $152/test) at the start, (2) take a whole bottle of Super-Nutrition's Epitalon (60 x 3 mg sublingual tablets for $149), taking one capsule under the tongue on 15 successive days/month for four months, and (3) then do another EpiAging DNA methylation test, and see if there is any evidence of a younger epigenetic profile.
EpiAging's DNA methylation test has the advantage over some others that it is done with saliva and does not require a blood draw. (I would also, in principle, like to do telomere-length tests before and after taking the Epitalon, but SpectraCell is apparently the only game in town for telomere-length testing, seems to require the involvement of an MD, is expensive at $290/test, and requires a blood draw.)
So far, I have the Epitalon on order, and the EpiAging DNAm test kit just arrived. I’ll report results in a few months when they are available.
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EPITALON TEST UPDATE 1:
My wife and I just completed the first month our 4-month Epitalon self-test. We took sublingual Epitalon from April 1-15, then restarted on May1-2 (yesterday and today). We are both feeling well, but I cannot report any dramatic observed effects.However, there is a big surprise. Today I received the age-estimate results from the DNAm tests done by EpiAging USA from saliva samples that we provided in late March, intended as a benchmark before we started the Epitalon test.
Let me begin by saying that two years ago, when I was 84.5 years old, Johnny Adams arranged for Zymo to measure my DNAm age, which turned out to be 84.8±0.8 years old (in other words, DNAm age = Calendar age, no big surprise). The new result from EpiAging is that my DNAm age (before taking any Epitalon at all) is 63.1 years, as compared to my calendar age of 86.5. My wife's measured DNAm age is 67.2 years, as compared to her calendar age of 81.5. I'm amazed. Here's my graph from EpiAging:
It would appear that we've been doing something right. Both of us take 3 mg/week of Rapamycin on Sundays, as well as daily evening doses of 700 mg of Spermadine, and 400 mg of GLA. I've also been taking 1,000 mg/day of Metformin, plus a lot of other daily items including Pomegranate Extract, Berberine, Apigenin, Vitamin D, Lithium, and cyclodextrin-enhanced Resveratrol, Curcumin, CoC-10, and Melatonin. My wife hates pills and has refused to join me in this pill night-cap ritual. But anyhow, I was not expecting epigenetic reprogramming by 23 years to come from this. If the EpiAging results are to be believed, epigenetic reprogramming seems to be possible by taking some of the above items, without resorting to plasma dilution, Katcher's Elixir, or the Yamanaka Factors. I think I should probably get another Zymo test, to check the EpiAge result.
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JGC: I took an EpiAgeing USA test last fall and my biological age was 58 and I am 80. I question whether or not this saliva test is very precise. I had a number of difficulties in getting the test done and it had to be repeated.
It was substantially lower than the Levine calculation (~ 70 and thanks for posting the method) and lower than the AI 2 and 3.
Like you I take a number of supplements but attributed the result, if it is accurate, to 25 years of fish oil with a daily EPA/DHA intake of 5.5 grams. I have no significant inflammation due to the fish oil which is one of the drivers of epigenetics.
I am trying to decide whether or not to do a blood test from a different firm.