Can Exercise and Anti-Inflammatory Supplements Actually Slow Aging? Researchers Are Testing It

A groundbreaking study is testing whether a combination of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), anti-inflammatory medications, and supplements can help people aged 65 to 80 stay vital longer by reducing harmful inflammation that drives age-related diseases. The small study represents a scientific approach to the booming anti-aging market, where unproven treatments proliferate without evidence.

The research focuses on combating "inflammaging" - chronic inflammation that develops as we get older and contributes to everything from cancer to heart disease to dementia. Unlike the body's helpful short-term inflammatory response to injury or infection, this persistent inflammation becomes problematic as our immune systems change with age.

What Does the Anti-Aging Study Actually Include?

Participants in the Mount Sinai study are trying three specific interventions designed to work together. The exercise component involves about 15 minutes daily of high-intensity interval training mixed with resistance band workouts, including bursts of jumping jacks done as intensely as possible in short intervals.

The supplement and medication protocol includes:

• Spermidine supplements: A compound that stimulates autophagy, the body's cellular cleanup process that removes damaged cells and reduces inflammation
• Lamivudine: An antiviral medication that half the participants take for its anti-inflammatory effects
• Rapamycin: A transplant rejection drug that the other half take at low doses as a powerful anti-inflammatory

"As we get older, the immune system is shifting away from good inflammation," explains Dr. Thomas Marron, who directs early phase clinical trials at The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "It's this sort of bad inflammation that underlies the development of many different diseases."

Why Are Researchers Focusing on Inflammation?

The timing is significant as the number of centenarians in the United States is expected to quadruple to about 420,000 by mid-century. However, living longer doesn't automatically mean living healthier. The research aims to extend "healthspan" - the years people remain vital and disease-free - rather than just lifespan.

Each component of the study has shown individual promise. Regular exercise can reduce the risk of metabolic diseases partly through anti-inflammatory effects, and large observational studies found that women who do strength training cut their risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 30% compared to less active peers. Spermidine supplements have extended lifespan in preliminary animal studies, while both medications have decades of safety data for their approved uses.

Study participant Robert Profusek, a lawyer in his 70s, embodies the research goals. "I've reached the age where I worry about aging well," he says. After months of the high-intensity training, he reports feeling the benefits. "The idea of slowing down aging, extending your runway, that's very attractive."

How Will Researchers Measure Success?

The team will analyze blood samples throughout the year-long study using advanced proteomic analysis that examines 5,300 different proteins - cytokines and chemokines that act like "traffic cops" for immune cells. This comprehensive approach will map inflammatory markers and provide a detailed picture of how the interventions affect the immune response.

The research is part of the XPRIZE Healthspan competition, where teams compete to develop interventions that can restore muscle, cognitive, and immune function by a minimum of 10 years. "It's a moonshot," says researcher Miriam Merad, Director of the Precision Immunology Institute at Mount Sinai, who co-leads the study. "We hope to move the needle" in extending vitality, not just lifespan.

While the combination approach shows promise, researchers emphasize the importance of weighing risks and benefits, particularly with medications like rapamycin that can cause side effects in some patients. The study represents a crucial first step toward building evidence for interventions that could help people age more successfully.