Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Glucosamine extends life span in animal study

Glucosamine extends life span in evolutionary distinct species by mimicking a low-carbohydrate diet, according to a study in the April 8 issue of Nature Communications.

The current findings indicate that glucosamine at pharmacologically relevant concentrations is capable of extending life span in C. elegans (worm) and aging mice. This appears to be a result of decreased glycolysis and a compensatory increase of amino-acid turnover.

Unlike  most other life span-extending compounds, extensive published evidence indicates that glucosamine is safe for human use even at high doses, making it readily available for interventions to extend human healthspan particularly because, on an observational and uncontrolled basis, it has been repeatedly suggested that supplementation with glucosamine may decrease overall mortality in humans.

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