A new study finds that a widely available drug used to treat high blood pressure may extend life and slow aging without side effects.
In the study published on the websiteEugene SealRilmenidine has been shown to slow aging in worms, an effect that could help achieve this in humans.
The site said the drug was chosen because it was shown in previous research to mimic the effects of calorie restriction in the body, which extended life in many animal models.
In a series of tests conducted by an international team of researchers, worms treated with the drug lived longer and showed signs of good health.
“The drug has been shown to extend lifespan in animals,” says molecular biogerontologist Joao Pedro Magalhaes, from the University of Birmingham in the UK. “We are now keen to explore whether relmenidine may have other clinical applications.”
The researchers relied on worms called “C. elegans” because their genes are similar to human genes.
Tests showed that gene activity associated with calorie restriction can be seen in kidney and liver tissue, health benefits seen with the high blood pressure medication many people already take.
This particular chemical structure of the drug could be used in future attempts to improve lifespan and slow aging.
The importance of the drug is that it gives the same benefits of following a low-calorie diet without side effects such as hair thinning, dizziness, and osteoporosis.
According to the researchers, what makes relmenidine such a promising candidate as an anti-aging drug is that it can be taken orally, which is already widely used, and its side effects are relatively rare and mild, and include palpitations, insomnia and drowsiness in a few cases.
