To slow down aging, a study tests exercise and anti-inflammatories : NPR

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

There’s a new study underway in New York to test whether a combination of exercise and pills can prevent or delay age-related diseases. The study includes healthy adults at least 65 years old. NPR’s Allison Aubrey reports.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: If you want to live to 100, you may be in good company – eventually. By mid-century, the number of centenarians is expected to quadruple. But what good is this milestone if you’re in poor health? That’s Robert Profusek’s take. He’s a lawyer in his early 70s.

ROBERT PROFUSEK: You know, I don’t really want to live forever if that means being in a non-vital state. But the idea of extending your runway, that’s very attractive.

AUBREY: He jumped at the chance to participate in the new study now underway at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The goal is to help people remain vital for longer, which is no easy feat. Dr. Thomas Marron is part of the research team. He points to an explosion of interest in anti-aging elixirs, supplements, injections and pills.

THOMAS MARRON: We want to study all these drugs ’cause a lot of people are popping these drugs, and you can get anything under the sun online. But it makes me very concerned when patients come in and they ask me – they say, should I take this? And I say, I have no idea ’cause there’s no science behind it.

AUBREY: To begin building the evidence, his team is testing a combination of three interventions, each of which has shown some promise. The first element is high-intensity interval training, mixed with resistance-band workouts. In addition, all the participants will take a popular supplement, often marketed for healthy aging, as well as a generic medication, both of which have anti-inflammatory effects.

MARRON: As we get older, the immune system is also getting older, and the immune system is really shifting away from, you know, good inflammation.

AUBREY: Which is the body’s short-term acute response to fend off injury or infection and promote healing. In contrast, chronic inflammation, which happens when there’s no injury or invader, can be harmful.

MARRON: And this sort of bad inflammation that happens as you get older really underlies the development of many different diseases.

AUBREY: Everything from cancer to heart disease to dementia. The goal is to measure changes in inflammation.

MARRON: We think that potentially by decreasing this inflammation, we can really decrease the incidence of these diseases that happen with aging, so we really can promote more healthy aging.

AUBREY: All of the participants will take a supplement called spermidine, which plays a role in stimulating a process known as autophagy, which is the body’s way of cleaning up damaged cells and reducing inflammation. The third component of the study is a generic medication. Participants will take either lamivudine, which is an antiviral or rapamycin, which has been FDA-approved for decades.

MARRON: Rapamycin is actually a true anti-inflammatory and that it’s a medicine when we use it at much higher levels, it’s actually used to suppress the immune system in patients who have kidney transplants. However, at much lower doses, people have been taking sort of off-label, very low doses once a week to decrease inflammation and prolong aging.

AUBREY: Throughout the study, Marron’s team will take blood samples from all the participants. They’re using a high-tech analysis to measure changes in markers of inflammation.

MARRON: And that’s really where we’re hoping that we’ll see a big difference, and his team are now semi-finalists in a competition called XPRIZE Healthspan. If results are promising, more research will follow. Finalists will share a $10 million prize. And as with any medication or supplement, it’s important to weigh risks and benefits, says scientist Philip Iffland of the University of Maryland. He wrote a review of the pros and cons of rapamycin.

PHILIP IFFLAND: So the angle that we took on it is not one that says that we shouldn’t be trying rapamycin for anti-aging therapy, but that a little bit more caution needs to be exercised.

AUBREY: With a focus on the potential for unwanted side effects, the Mount Sinai team agrees. Study participant Robert Profusek says he’s experienced no side effects and says he’s already feeling the benefits of the high-intensity exercises.

PROFUSEK: If you can do a regimen like this to make your vitality extend, why wouldn’t you?

AUBREY: The goal is not necessarily to live longer, but to live in good health for as long as possible.

Allison Aubrey, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.