Hey Jonas - I have had the privilege of having questions answered by Dr. Matt Kaeberlein through emails for almost 3-years. Maybe because I was an early participant to his rapamycin study. Had several contacts with him and his wife.
It actually was Matt that steered me to rapamycin.news (his perspective is cautious, unbiased and his recommendations solid).
Recently I messaged him about two things Arginine-alpha-ketoglutarate (AAKG ) and Calcium-alpha-ketoglutarate (Ca-AKG).
Also, what he thought about high doses of rapamycin. As some of you know from my own personal experiences and biological testing. I think about 6-8 mg is right weekly anything 12 mg or higher in my opinion is too much.
In the recent Peter Attia/ Matt Kaeberlein/ David Sabatini podcast on the News fed. “Rapamycin: longevity benefits surge in popularity, unanswered questions and more” I give you this.
When Peter asks David if he can think of any other molecules [like rapamycin] that spans from yeast - to flies- to worms- to mammals. David says other than dietary restriction he can’t think of a single treatment that has longevity benefits across species from yeast to mammals. Peter was not aware of any either - just rapamycin stands alone.
Matt says he is going to respectively tell them they are wrong. There are other things out there like alpha-ketoglutarate where there are reports of longevity in yeast and flies and worms and mice - it just hasn’t been tested as much.
For those of you that are Kaeberlein “Fan Club Groupies” like me here is his reply on CaAKG or AAKG.
mkaeberlin
"Sounds like you are doing great on your own personal healthspan journey - congrats!
Re: CaAKG vs. AAKG, I don’t know of any direct comparison to base a preference off of. And it’s important to keep in mind that the mouse longevity benefits of AKG are relatively small and have yet to be reproduced, so… we’ll see. Having said that, there’s probably little risk and some reason to believe CaAKG may have additional health benefits irrespective of targeting the biology of aging. Differences? CaAKG probably has some bone health benefits (at least for some folks) and calcium homeostasis properties you won’t get from AAKG. AAKG might be better at promoting muscle mass/recovery, although if you’re also eating a high protein diet I’d guess this is minimal. Assuming AKG is an active ingredient for longevity/healthspan, that piece should be the same for CaAKG and AAKG.
Next, I shared with Matt my dosing experience and biological markers.
When I did 6-8 mg weekly for 1 1/2 years, I had my best GlycanAge test and
TruMe test my biological age was 37 GlycanAge and 50 TruMe. I know
biomarkers are an iffy subject from your many chats with Peter. But, bare with
me. Numbers stayed consistent retesting at 4- months.
But, when I went high 36 mg rapamycin every 7-10 days. For 7 months… my biological age speeded up to 50 GlycanAge and 53 TruMe. Significant increase.
Going back to 6 - 8 mg rapamycin for 4 months my GlycanAge went back down to 47 years and after 4 more months down to 42 years… no inflammation.
mkaeberlein
Re: Rapamycin dose - I honestly don’t know. I understand Misha’s rationale for pushing it as high as possible until you get to side effects. My concern there is that you might be getting to side effects and not know it right away or at all (silent pathology) until it’s too late to reverse the damage. I have no evidence for that, but it’s a concern I have.
I absolutely think it’s possible that 36mg could be net detrimental to health while 6-8 mg could be beneficial. I am certain the optimal dose will be different for different people.
So there you go - a few more tidbits from the Rapa Rock Star Matt Kaeberlein.
Jonas - Sorry Matt does not address AKG dosage, but does think it has potential and needs more research.