{"id":764,"date":"2018-09-24T20:39:59","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T20:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshmitteldorf.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=764"},"modified":"2018-09-24T20:39:59","modified_gmt":"2018-09-24T20:39:59","slug":"chinese-longevity-herb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2018\/09\/24\/chinese-longevity-herb\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Longevity Herb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fo-ti is a root herb from traditional Chinese medicine that has been used for centuries as an anti-aging tonic, and has shown promise in limited Western-style analyses. \u00a0Interest has been held back by reports of liver toxicity, but there is some indication that the benefits can be separated from the toxic effects. In my readings, I found anecdotal evidence for rejuvenation plus one older study of impressive life extension in quails. I also found many more recent studies documenting beneficial biochemical effects which may be counted indirect evidence that makes life extension more credible. \u00a0There were two clinical trials, both with promising results.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019ve been looking into the effects of a root herb called Fo-ti or <\/span>He shou wu<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>\u4f55\u9996\u4e4c<\/span>) or <\/span>Polygonum multiflorum Thunbergia<\/span><\/i>, since a friend emailed me about rejuvenating effects when he fed it to his ancient German shepherd. \u00a0I\u2019ll call it PMT for the remainder of this page. I\u2019ve consulted the usual PubMed sources, in addition to books on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and some scientific articles in Chinese, which I ran through Google Translate, with fair results. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

TCM is based on herbal combinations and formulas. \u00a0Each ingredient has many active compounds, and the art of TCM is to combine the combinations. \u00a0Western medicine likes to study one compound at a time, based on a scientific tradition (reductionism) that tries to understand each separate piece, then study interactions from that understanding as a foundation. \u00a0The reductionist approach was responsible for the explosive success of 19th Century physics, and has been popular ever since, but it is not obviously the best way to make progress in 21st Century biology [<\/span>Carl Woese philosophy piece<\/span><\/a>]. \u00a0Another reason for the Western preference for single-compound treatments comes from patent law, which encourages the testing of purified compounds and disallows patents for whole plants. But our bodies are complex, homeostatic systems, and it is rarely true that the combined effect of two drugs is just the sum of the effects of each separately. \u00a0Strong interactions are the rule, rather than the exception. I believe that we are not going to find a single Fountain of Youth molecule, so I have been an advocate for high-throughput screening of many combinations of treatments, looking for combinations that stand out as especially effective. If we continue to study purified molecules in isolation, it may be a long time before we get to the point where we understand the biochemistry well enough to identify magic combinations on theoretical grounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A curious side-note: It is reasonable to expect some combinations of biochemicals to synergize in the human body.\u00a0 But why should we expect these combinations to be found regularly in a single plant?\u00a0 Herbal medicines are unreasonably effective in this regard.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here [<\/span>1988<\/span><\/a>] is the one lifespan trial that I was able to find, which reports 50% life extension in Japanese quails. \u00a0I looked on Cochrane and Examine.com, and found nothing. However, Joe Cohen over at Self-Hacked has an <\/span>extensive article<\/span><\/a>. \u201cMore than 100 chemical compounds have been isolated from Fo-ti, and the most biologically relevant components have been determined to be from the families of stilbenes, quinones, flavonoids, and phospholipids…Fo-ti exhibits a wide spectrum of pharmacological effects, including anti-aging, immunologic, neuroprotective, anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects.\u201d \u00a0Stilbenes are molecules in the resveratrol family; quinones are like CoQ10, and flavonoids are polycyclic molecules in the quercetin family.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the rest of what I report here comes from this Chinese review [\u738b\u4f3d\u4f2f, <\/span>2016<\/span><\/a>] and this English language review [<\/span>Bounda & Feng, 2015<\/span><\/a>].<\/span><\/p>\n

Laboratory studies and clinical practice have demonstrated that PMT possesses various biological and therapeutic actions, including anti-tumor,[<\/span>16<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>17<\/span><\/a>] antibacterial,[<\/span>18<\/span><\/a>] anti-inflammatory,[<\/span>13<\/span><\/a>] anti-oxidant,[<\/span>19<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>20<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>21<\/span><\/a>] anti-HIV,[<\/span>22<\/span><\/a>] liver protection,[<\/span>23<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>24<\/span><\/a>] nephroprotection,[<\/span>25<\/span><\/a>] antidiabetic,[<\/span>15<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>26<\/span><\/a>] anti-alopecia,[<\/span>27<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>28<\/span><\/a>] and anti-atherosclerotic activities.[<\/span>29<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>30<\/span><\/a>] It has been also reported to exert preventive activity against neurodegenerative diseases,[<\/span>31<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>32<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>33<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>34<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>35<\/span><\/a>] cardiovascular diseases and to reduce hyperlipidemia as well.[<\/span>36<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>37<\/span><\/a>] — Bounda & Feng<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anti-inflammatory<\/b>: [<\/span>13<\/span><\/a>] is a Korean study that found inhibition of inflammatory cytokines in white blood cells of mice. \u00a0Other studies [<\/span>77<\/span><\/a>] show suppression of NF\u03baB.<\/span><\/p>\n

Liver protection<\/b>: [<\/span>23<\/span><\/a>] A Taiwanese study that demonstrated reduced toxicity from CCl<\/span>4<\/span> after mice were treated with PMT extract. \u00a0[<\/span>24<\/span><\/a>] PMT reversed liver cirrhosis in mice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Antidiabetic:<\/b> [<\/span>15<\/span><\/a>] inhibits enzymes that digest starch [<\/span>26<\/span><\/a>] is an impressive study, that demonstrates inhibition of TGF-\u03b21 and COX-2, and simultaneous enhancement of SOD and glutathione from a chemical extract of PMT called 2,3,5,4′-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-\u03b2-d-glucoside (TSG). \u00a0TSG is chemically similar to resveratrol, and in a <\/span>worm study<\/span><\/a> was more effective than resveratrol at increasing lifespan (22%).<\/span><\/p>\n

Anti-atherosclerotic<\/b>: [<\/span>29<\/span><\/a>] Mice don\u2019t get heart disease so they work with rabbits. \u00a0Large reductions in measures of arterial blockage in rabbits fed a water-extract of PMT. \u00a0[<\/span>30<\/span><\/a>] This is really about anti-inflammatory benefits of TSG fed to mice and rats.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neurodegeneration<\/b>: [<\/span>31<\/span><\/a>] This was about adaptogenic benefit in mice. \u00a0Mice were protected from nerve damage by paraquat if they had been prepared with extract of PMT. \u00a0[<\/span>32<\/span><\/a>] worked with a mice that had been genetically modified to give them Alzheimer\u2019s disease. \u00a0TSG was found to ameliorate the loss of memory. [<\/span>33<\/span><\/a>] Older rats lose their memory, as tested in their ability to remember from day to day the location of a hidden platform in a tank of water. \u00a0TSG protected memory in older rats. [<\/span>34<\/span><\/a>] This is a study for people who believe in the Amyloid-\u03b2 theory of Alzheimer\u2019s disease. \u00a0A large number of herbal substances were screened in cell lines that generate Amyloid-\u03b2, and the only effective inhibitor was found to be PMT extract. [<\/span>9<\/span><\/a>] Suppresses lipid peroxidation in response to Amyloid-\u03b2 in a mouse model and increases glutathione. [<\/span>116<\/span><\/a>] Another successful trial, this time of TSG in a mouse model of AD. [<\/span>119<\/span><\/a>, 120 is in Chinese] Two clinical studies found substantial improvement in cognitive performance of AD patients with PMT.<\/span><\/p>\n

Liver injury<\/b> from PMT is linked to a certain genetic difference, labeled CYP1A2 * 1C. \u00a0I didn\u2019t find anything more about this genetic variant. Curiously, I found several studies that claimed that PMT <\/span>protects<\/i><\/b> the liver, for example <\/span>this<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

My inclination is to look for empirical evidence and downplay theory (both Western and Chinese theory). \u00a0I believe that the emphasis on single compounds is a serious limitation of Western medical research, because the interactions are more important than the individual effects. \u00a0For me, it is an attractive feature of TCM that there is so much accumulated wisdom, not just about herbs that contain many active ingredients, but about potions that combine typically a dozen or so herbs that have been found to work well together. \u00a0So the maddening thing I\u2019ve found is that the Chinese scientists who have studied PMT and other promising Chinese herbs fall into the Western trap and isolate one compound at a time to study their effects. What is missing is the lifespan studies based on whole herbs, or combinations of herbs, as they would be prescribed by a traditional Chinese herbalist.<\/span><\/p>\n

I went to a local herbalist this week and asked for advice about He Shou Wu. \u00a0She explained to me that in TCM, herbs are always given in combinations. There are classic formulas with 6 or 10 or 20 herbs, and these are adjusted for individual prescription. \u00a0The main ingredients are large quantities of the herbs that move the metabolism in some direction, and the lesser ingredients counterbalance the main ingredients by pushing in the opposite direction. \u00a0Some of the directions they talk about correspond to observables we might recognize (high or low energy, sexual stimulant), and some of them are more esoteric (wet or dry, hot or cold, yin or yang). She gave me a formula with He Shou Wu as the main ingredient, and I\u2019m going to do some more reading before I decide whether to take it.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, I\u2019m taking a gram of He Shou Wu extract processed with black beans each morning before breakfast and I think I detect an increase in aerobic stamina which has not listed anywhere as one of the benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Acknowledgement: The idea for this research came from Jeff Bowles, who is a frequent commenter on this blog. \u00a0The Chinese research was kindly supplied by Wen-jun Li, a post-doc in the Beijing lab where I have worked the last 3 summers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fo-ti is a root herb from traditional Chinese medicine that has been used for centuries as an anti-aging tonic, and has shown promise in limited Western-style analyses. \u00a0Interest has been held back by reports of liver toxicity, but there is some indication that the benefits can be separated from the toxic effects. In my readings, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChinese Longevity Herb - Josh Mitteldorf<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2018\/09\/24\/chinese-longevity-herb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chinese Longevity Herb\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fo-ti is a root herb from traditional Chinese medicine that has been used for centuries as an anti-aging tonic, and has shown promise in limited Western-style analyses. \u00a0Interest has been held back by reports of liver toxicity, but there is some indication that the benefits can be separated from the toxic effects. 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. This makes the mechanism challenging to understand and to model. more at http:\\\/\\\/mathforum.org\\\/~josh\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/AgingAdvice.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/author\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chinese Longevity Herb - Josh Mitteldorf","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2018\/09\/24\/chinese-longevity-herb\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chinese Longevity Herb","og_description":"Fo-ti is a root herb from traditional Chinese medicine that has been used for centuries as an anti-aging tonic, and has shown promise in limited Western-style analyses. \u00a0Interest has been held back by reports of liver toxicity, but there is some indication that the benefits can be separated from the toxic effects. 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. This makes the mechanism challenging to understand and to model. more at http:\/\/mathforum.org\/~josh","sameAs":["http:\/\/AgingAdvice.org"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/author\/joshmitteldorf\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/fo-ti-root-polygonum-multiflorum.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtN8h-ck","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}