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What actually extends life?
These are the claims where death from any cause was the measured outcome — the hardest endpoint there is. Fair warning before you read on: this is where longevity marketing is weakest. No supplement or drug has yet shown a lifespan benefit in a human trial, and several famous candidates have well-conducted evidence against them. What follows is every lifespan claim we have appraised, strongest first.
Where the human evidence supports the claim
Graded strong or moderate — replicated human research points the same way.
- SleepModerateLifespan
Both short and long habitual sleep are associated with higher all-cause mortality
Two independent systematic reviews of prospective cohorts — together covering millions of participants — find the same U-shape: mortality is lowest around seven hours and rises with habitually shorter or longer sleep. As association evidence goes, this is about as replicated as it gets.
- Aerobic exerciseModerateLifespan
Regular aerobic activity and higher fitness are associated with markedly lower all-cause mortality
In 55,137 adults followed for 15 years, runners had roughly 30% lower all-cause mortality — with benefit visible even at 5–10 minutes of slow running a day. In 122,007 patients undergoing treadmill testing, higher cardiorespiratory fitness predicted longer survival with no observed upper limit. The pattern repeats across essentially every cohort ever assembled.
Unsettled: early, mixed, animal-only or too thin to judge
This is most of the field. Interesting is not the same as demonstrated.
- SpermidineEarlyLifespan
Higher dietary intake is associated with lower mortality
A 20-year prospective study of 829 adults found higher dietary spermidine intake associated with lower all-cause mortality.
- Resistance trainingEarlyLifespan
Is associated with lower all-cause mortality
A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohorts found regular muscle-strengthening activity associated with roughly 10–15% lower all-cause mortality, alongside lower cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes risk.
- EpithalonEarlyLifespan
Extends human lifespan
Uniquely among grey-market peptides, this claim cites human data: a 15-year follow-up of elderly Russians given the parent pineal preparation, reporting lower mortality in treated groups. Read the design before the result: participants were not randomised, the study was run by the peptide's developers, and no independent group has ever replicated it in half a century of opportunity.
- FisetinPreclinicalLifespan
Clears senescent cells and extends lifespan
In mice, this claim has real support: fisetin given to aged animals reduced senescence markers across tissues and extended remaining lifespan and healthspan. It is among the more striking senolytic results in animals — and remains entirely an animal result.
- Creatine monohydrateInsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan
No human trial has tested whether creatine supplementation affects how long people live. Trials measure strength, body composition and occasionally cognition over weeks to months.
- Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN)InsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan
No human study has tested whether NMN affects lifespan. Claims of this kind extrapolate from rodent work, where results have themselves been inconsistent.
- Nicotinamide riboside (NR)InsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan
No human study has measured whether NR affects lifespan.
- RapamycinInsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan
No human study has measured whether rapamycin extends lifespan. The claim rests on consistent mouse data — the strongest animal evidence of any candidate, and still animal evidence.
- MetforminInsufficientLifespan
Extends lifespan in people without diabetes
No randomised trial has tested metformin for longevity in people without diabetes. The famous observational comparison suggesting treated diabetics outlived non-diabetics has known methodological problems, and the TAME trial designed to answer this question has not reported.
- Sauna bathingInsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan
No randomised study has tested whether sauna use lengthens life. The associations above are consistent but cannot establish cause.
- TaurineInsufficientLifespan
Age-related taurine decline drives ageing, and supplementation counters it
The 2023 Science paper reported lifespan extension in taurine-supplemented mice alongside cross-sectional human associations. A 2025 human longitudinal study then reported evidence against the foundational premise, finding no consistent age-related taurine decline in people.
- Calorie restrictionInsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan
No human study has measured whether calorie restriction extends lifespan; the animal literature is strong but species-dependent, with even primate studies disagreeing between sites.
- Intermittent fastingInsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan
No human study has measured whether any fasting regimen extends lifespan.
- Collagen peptidesInsufficientLifespan
Slows ageing or extends human lifespan
No study has tested this. Collagen's trials measure skin instruments, joint pain and body composition over weeks — the 'anti-ageing' framing on the label is a marketing extension of those narrow results.
- GLP-1 receptor agonistsInsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan
No trial has tested a GLP-1 agonist with lifespan as a primary outcome, in any population — let alone in healthy people. The longevity-clinic framing of these drugs runs ahead of that entirely.
- ResveratrolInsufficientLifespan
Higher resveratrol exposure is associated with lower mortality
The InCHIANTI cohort measured urinary resveratrol metabolites — an objective marker of intake — in 783 older adults and followed them for nine years. Resveratrol exposure was unrelated to mortality, cardiovascular disease, cancer or inflammation.
- ResveratrolInsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan
The claim that launched a thousand supplements rests on a 2006 study of mice on a high-fat diet. In normally fed mice, the NIA's rigorous multi-site testing programme found no lifespan extension, and no human lifespan study exists.
- NAD+ (direct supplementation)InsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan or slows ageing
No trial of direct NAD+ administration has measured any ageing-related outcome. The clinic marketing extrapolates from the biology of NAD+ decline, not from tests of the drip being sold.
- Coenzyme Q10InsufficientLifespan
Slows ageing in healthy adults
The claim on the label has no trial behind it: no study has tested CoQ10 against ageing-relevant endpoints in healthy adults.
- CurcuminInsufficientLifespan
Extends human lifespan or slows ageing
No human or animal-replication evidence supports an ageing claim for curcumin.
Where well-conducted research goes against the claim
Knowing what does not work is as valuable as knowing what does.
- Vitamin DAgainstLifespan
Reduces all-cause mortality in generally healthy older adults
This is the rare longevity claim that has been directly tested: the D-Health trial randomised over 21,000 older Australians to monthly vitamin D or placebo for five years with death from any cause as the primary outcome. It found no reduction.
- Aerobic exerciseAgainstLifespan
A prescribed exercise programme reduces mortality beyond general activity advice
Generation 100 randomised 1,567 older adults to five years of supervised moderate or high-intensity training versus advice to follow national activity guidelines. Mortality did not differ significantly between groups. The control group stayed unusually active, so the trial tested structured training against an already-active life — a genuinely informative null about prescriptions, not about movement.
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