Trigger Autophagy Without Fasting with Dr. Elizabeth Yurth

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The other big thing that happens when you age is just tissue loss or sarcopenia. And we see older people, they just have less muscle mass and it's okay, you don't have the muscle mass of a bodybuilding 25 year old, but you see a linear decline in spermidine levels and a linear decline in muscle as you age. What does it do for maintaining muscle mass?

We're kind of back in the same place. So for bone and muscle, one of the big things is increasing stem cell production. So, so increases stem cell production in the muscle also for bone, which is why it's so helpful for osteoporosis. So those are both loss of stem cells in the muscle. Loss of stem cells and bone is one of the things that is now causing that demise as we age. And so that's probably its big effect is on stem cell production. But again, if I'm going to increase improvement in mitochondria, again, muscles, lots of mitochondria, muscle cells, right. Improving the volume of mitochondria is going to make the muscles more functional. So it will both increase muscle stem cells so I can build muscle more easily. But number two, increase the function of that muscle so I have better muscle contraction. Muscles, your aging currency, you need muscle to survive. I mean, I do a lot of weightlifting and I'm really adamant to my patients that you can't just be doing cardio. We have all these people who are just doing cardio, cardio, cardio, that you've got to be lifting weights, you've got to be going strong. This is going to allow you now because if I don't have good stem cell production anymore, I'm 70 years old and really taking care of myself and now I'm telling this 70 year old to go lift weights, they're going to have a really hard time. So if I can increase stem cell first by using spermidine for a good 12 week course, again, maybe a little bit higher level in that elderly patient, it's going to encourage them to be able to go lift a little bit more, go do a little bit more. And as they're continuing to use it, they, those muscles are going to be functioning better as well. So they'll be able to run faster, lift harder, not get so sore afterwards. So I think that there's a huge benefit there. I've been using it along with interestingly oxytocin for muscle building. Right. So you've got some nice shoulders.

I was thinking that you're, I Mean, I can see that you're doing something right.

Yeah.

So oxytocin nasal or how are you getting oxytocin?

You can do nasal spray or subcutaneous injections of it. So we'll do that with a lot of our. Our clients or bodybuilder people because it's a huge anabolic agent and we forget about oxytocin as an anabolic agent. So you can use spermidine and oxytocin and get really nice. So you basically use the spermidine on a regular basis, usually a hard course of it, and then on a regular basis. And then you use oxytocin, like right after the workouts to get muscle pump, and you'll see really good muscle production.

I talked to a bodybuilder once who swore by. This is gonna sound funny, like nipple stimulation after a workout to raise oxytocin levels. Have you heard of this before?

It's the same way, right? Yeah. And it's doing the same thing. So it probably can get more oxytocin by actually taking oxytocin. But it's the same principle. Just like that's why bodybuilders who work out together seem to get better results than working out independently. It's that socialization that increases oxytocin as well. And now what? We're all sitting in our houses by ourselves, not seeing people, not socializing, not touching each other. So our oxytocin levels are probably really low. So I think those oxytocin, along with the spermidine, is a really nice combination for people who want to get more muscle, and especially to get older people started, or even young people who have gotten really sarcopenic from being sick or just being unhealthy. It's a really nice thing to get them a little boost.

Wow, this is really cool. I had never even thought of oxytocin with it. And I guess it means I'm gonna have to play with my nipples. I can do it. Or you could just hug someone. And since I am in a relationship, you could just cuddle on the couch and get the same effect. So that's more likely what I'm gonna do. But what about when people shouldn't take it? Are there downsides to it?

I guess the big question there is cancer, and we just don't know yet. It appears to have a very cancer protective effect.

It should. Given what it does, it should.

Right. And there is a recent study in colorectal cancer that showed it to be very beneficial in helping those markers to Reduce. But if you think about now, if I'm stimulating oxidative phosphorylation, if I'm getting more ATP, cancer cells love energy. Am I stimulating some fast growing cancer cells? I think the same question comes around with igf, the growth hormone secretags. It depends on what school you're in. I guess the legal answer to that question is probably if you have active cancer, don't use it. But there's probably going to be further evidence coming out to say maybe some cancers it's good for, maybe some cancers it's not good for. And I think we've been in the same question with the igf, the growth hormones, the cretigox, things like that is are they good, are they bad? It probably is going to depend a lot on what's going on inside the cell.

That's a really nuanced and awesome answer and thank you for that. Anything that increases growth can increase cancer. And this is one of those things where you have to increase your mitochondrial function, which is anti cancer and you have to increase autophagy, which is anti cancer cancer. Anytime you do something to increase the young stuff that you're doing. But it sounds like given all of the effects on mitochondria that spermidine is helping mitochondria. So my rough biohacker assessment, not being a cancer doctor or any kind of doctor would be it's probably okay. But like you said, we don't have studies on it yet other than one where it says it might be good for one kind of cancer.

Right. And I think it's going to be. Here's what I think you're going to have to go back to is, you know, it's why antioxidants are not necessarily good in cancer. Right. You want some oxidative stress. So I actually think Ceremony is going to come out to be very homeostatic. It's going to actually get things back to the way they're supposed to. It's why I'm not a big fan of pounding antioxidants all the time. I think that that is probably a bad thing. And you know, and I think because this is so homeostatic it probably is going to prove to be beneficial to. But right now the kind of rule of thumb is we don't know.