So many things happen as we age that we can see—the hair greys or falls out, the skin wrinkles, and the mind slows. But, many things happen inside that we can’t see: for example, the risk of disease increases—the average fifty year old has a higher risk of heart disease than the average five year old. Sadly, there’s no quick fix for the effects of aging. But, there is a way to help the body combat time for the things we can see and the things we can’t (yes, really).
Spermidine
Spermidine is a potent polyamine. It is naturally produced by the body, but natural levels decrease as we age. Ingestion of spermidine contained in food or supplements can restore your levels to those of earlier days and is well-tolerated and processed by the body.
The known health benefits of spermidine are many including increasing lifespan and, on a
beauty note, prevent the greying of hair. See more benefits below:
Results you can see:
- Reduced hair loss
- Increased hair growth and fullness (including eyelashes)
- Reduced grey hair
- Strengthened nails
- Rejuvenated skin
What will happen (but you won’t see):
- Increased autophagy
- Reduced telomere loss
- Reduced cellular stress
- Reduced age-related memory impairment
- More balanced hormones
*Central to its effectiveness is the induction of autophagy, a recycling mechanism that “cleans
up” the obsolete, damaged, or otherwise unneeded cell contents – via the cell’s very own Marie Kondos – plays a prominent role. Thank you, autophagic Maries! Among the benefits of
increased autophagy are increased lifespan, suppressed tumor growth, enhanced immune
response to cancer, and improved protection against heart disease; and these are only a few of its known effects.
Where to find Spermidine
When I read this list of benefits, I too think, sign me up! So, where can you find spermidine?
Spermidine can be found in many foods such as aged cheeses and wheatgerm. Though, if we
had to incorporate one spermidine-rich food into our diet on a daily basis, we would do what the long-lived Okinawans do and eat their version of natto, a Japanese delicacy and a long-
fermented tofu that has the highest spermidine content by weight. The Okinawan version is
fermented for one year in limestone caves. (That’s an anti-aging secret right there!)
Unfortunately, it is time-consuming to make (with or without a cave) and hard to find (depending on where you live); additionally, it has a unique smell, texture and taste that can put off even the hardiest of longevity enthusiasts.
If you’re not a natto enthusiast, perhaps the easiest way to maintain spermidine levels is
through supplements.
Not sure what to look for? I’ve done the work (and the research!) for you.
What’s in your spermidine supplements?
I’ve been taking supplements since I was diagnosed with autoimmune issues in 2004. I
remember going to Vitamin Cottage, my local health food store in Boulder, Colorado, and being grateful to just find the laundry list of supplements prescribed by my health care practitioner among the many shelves of supplements.
I probably started with 15 different supplements, all prescribed to me based on deficiencies
detected in my blood and urine.
Once I had the bottles, I simply took the supplements. No label reading. Just pill popping. But once I began to look into the supplement industry, I realized that not all supplements are created equal. Many brands contain what are known to supplement manufacturers as fillers and flow agents.
Fillers are there to “bulk out” the supplement capsule you are taking. They can range from talc and magnesium stearate to titanium dioxide and propylene glycol.
When I first spoke with encapsulators about manufacturing Primeadine®, Oxford Health-span’s spermidine supplement, I was told that I would need to add talc to make the food-grade, raw material heavier so it would more easily “fit” into two capsules – easier for the consumer.
However, I’m half Taiwanese and I lost an aunt and an uncle to stomach cancer, and I was
aware of research out of Taiwan showing the link between non-asbestos oral talc and stomach cancer.
Because I myself have already lived eight of my nine lives health-wise, I’m very careful of what I
put into my body and talc is definitely not something I want – for me or for you.
Flow Agents
What about flow agents? These are ingredients incorporated into the supplement material to
make the raw materials “flow” faster through the giant hoppers (imagine a reverse vacuum
cleaner pushing powder into the large “plates” that hold dozens of empty supplement
capsules). These can include hydrogenated soybean oil or other industrial seed oils – both of
which appear to create ‘wobbly’ cell membranes instead of perfectly round, stable membranes.
We don’t want that either. As a matter of fact, we actually “de-fat” our wheat germ to avoid the naturally occurring vitamin E in the wheat germ from going rancid and unstable. In addition, we have recently reformulated our product to take out the very small amount of rice husk that was originally used as a flow agent. This means that the yield in each manufacturing batch is lower, but that is very small price to pay to keep our integrity and your trust in us intact.
Primeadine packs a punch
I put a lot of thought into the purity of our supplements, making sure that they are food-grade and therefore more bioavailable and recognized by the body, but also so that the other polyamines that naturally occur with spermidine – spermine, which appear to lengthen telomeres, and putrescine, a precursor to the body making both – are included in our
formulation.
Synthetic vs. Natural Spermidine Supplements
Over the past few weeks I have received a number of DMs and messages asking why synthetic spermidine is so cheap and by contrast, the concentrated, de-fatted wheat germ derived spermidine we use in Primeadine is more expensive.
This is such an important question!
First of all, synthetic spermidine has only been tested in mice, not in humans or even primates.
Food-derived spermidine, however, has been in the human food supply for millennia and has a
very good safety profile as a result.
While synthetic spermidine mimics the chemical structure of spermidine found in food, it does
not come with the other polyamines that normally accompany spermidine in nature, such as spermine and putrescine, which create a virtuous recycling loop within your body.
This recycling loop allows the body to produce more spermidine, not just the amount that we
give you in the daily dose itself.
In addition, we add an indigestible fiber, a prebiotic resistant starch, that selectively feeds the beneficial bacteria strains in your own gut biome that produce spermidine for you.
Dosing
While the US FDA has no Recommended Daily Allowance or maximum daily dose, the European Union’s European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has set an upper limit of 6mg of supplemental food-derived spermidine per day. Adding to the confusion, well known longevity personality, David Sinclair, claimed on two podcasts that he takes 1 gram of spermidine daily (this has since been retracted).
Human clinical trials have never gone past a daily dose of 6mg, with only one trial using this
amount which is currently still in process. To date, most studies have been conducted using a
daily dose of 1mg of spermidine, together with spermine and putrescine.
While I know that many people believe that “if something is good, taking more of it is better,”
sticking to what we know are the safe daily dosages is prudent.
What makes Primeadine, Oxford Healthspan’s spermidine supplement, so great:
- Our spermidine is sourced from highly concentrated, defatted wheat germ extract,
which prevents oxidation and makes it extremely heat stable - Primeadine® is free from fillers and flow agents, no talc, shellac or any other synthetic
ingredients – as pure as it gets - Our manufacturing and processing sites are not only ISO 9001 certified, but also ISO
22000 certified and FDA-registered - Primeadine®️contains both spermine and putrescine, which compound the benefits of
supplementing with spermidine alone - We’re the only brand formulated with a prebiotic, which selectively feed the fuso and
bacterioides bacteria in your gut biome to support internal production of spermidine - Independent, third party testing is carried out to guarantee quality and purity in both
Japan and the US
A magic pill?
Most people first see the effects of spermidine – in their hair color and/or fullness – after two months of daily use. The effects on the inside, of course, you won’t see. Spermidine is not a
magic pill (not even Primeadine); but as the scientific world continues to study it, so too comes the good news about its effects. We say order some spermidine supplements and get ready to reap the health rewards!
CLICK BELOW TO BUY OXFORD HEALTHSPAN’S SPERMIDINE SUPPLEMENT
