Anti-aging supplements are far from new. Indeed, one of the best ones first appeared in the 19th century. It’s pretty cool stuff.
BEFORE READING ON … ARE YOU, LIKE ME, A SENIOR WHO’S INTERESTED IN STAYING HEALTHY FOR YEARS TO COME? IF SO, YOU MIGHT LIKE TO SEE WHAT A SCIENTIST (ME) HAS TO SAY ABOUT HOW TO ACHIEVE IT AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU, WITHOUT EVEN HAVING TO LEAVE HOME, STARTING HERE: HEALTHY AGING NATURALLY.
Now back to today’s ‘sponsor’ – anti-aging supplements…
Gee … Where to Start?
Finding really good anti aging-supplements that won’t break the bank is quite a challenge.
The latest and greatest of them may not even measure up. They’re either to pricey or they don’t match with all the marketing hype about them. Or both.
Fortunately, plenty of excellent old-time anti-aging supplements go way back.
Vitamin C, for example, has been around since the late 1930s. Although it’s not billed as an anti-aging supplement, it certainly is one. And it continues to be one of the best early supplements in modern times (How to Get the Most Out of Vitamin C).
(BTW – Vitamin C supplements don’t really contain the real thing: Vitamin C Supplements Don’t Contain Vitamin C.)
However, another ingredient appeared on the market way before the discovery of vitamin C.
The substance I’m referring to is called methylene blue. It’s been around since the 1870s.
The kicker about methylene blue is that it works way better than anything else on the market for restoring deteriorating energy metabolism.
And dysfunctional energy metabolism is the primary driver behind all so-called ‘age-related’ diseases.
Addressing it is the key to slowing down aging.
Healthy Aging is All About Energy Metabolism
Healthy metabolism totally depends on electrons flying around, imparting their energy to enliven the molecules we need for life.
In fact, an entire ‘electron transport chain‘ is built in your cells’ mitochondria for exactly that purpose.
One outcome at the end of the chain is the synthesis of the super high-energy molecule, ATP.
Another is the production of life-giving ‘metabolic’ water.
Without those two outcomes, you’d be a corpse.
Pretty important, huh?
That’s why health researchers have for many years been looking for ways to boost the electron flow our lives depend on.
It’s a simple concept: boost electron flow, be healthier as you age.
Technically, this means raising electron levels to ‘grease’ their flow in the electron transport chain.
Thus, more ATP.
Supplements created for that purpose are, therefore, essentially electron donors.
The results of such efforts have sometimes succeeded, other times not so much.
Example Anti-Aging Supplements
One of the better known electron donors (aka, antioxidants) is vitamin C (i.e., ascorbic acid). It readily gives up electrons, which turns it into its oxidized form, dehydroascorbic acid. Then it gets quickly recycled back into donation mode by reacquiring replacement electrons, thereby becoming ascorbic acid again.
This process makes a good ascorbic acid supplement one of the routinely best supplements, especially since our bodies don’t make it.
It’s also one of the least expensive supplements on the market.
Another example is Co-Q10. Unlike ascorbic acid, Co-Q10 is a natural electron donor we can make in our own cells. Like other electron donors, it also has two forms. The donor form is called ubiquinol. Once it gives up its electron, it becomes its oxidized form, ubiquione.
As you might expect, ubiquinol is a more effective supplement than ubiquinone. (Even though ubiquinol supplements are more expensive, they’re worth it.)
The latest and ‘greatest’ anti-aging supplement for boosting energy metabolism is something called NAD+.
Our innate NAD+ alternates with its donor form, NADH, right at the head of the electron transport chain. It gets the whole energy ball rolling.
Scads of scientists support its use as an anti-aging supplement.
The most heavily marketed supplement for boosting NAD+ levels comes from a company called Elysium Health.
Unfortunately, NAD+ supplements are super pricey. A single bottle from Elysium Health runs around $60 for a month’s supply.
Doubly unfortunately, concepts behind its use are superficial and fatally flawed. (Explaining why would be highly technical at this point, so I’ll just let its high price be the main deterrent for using it right now.)
Methylene Blue to the Rescue
Let me restate this is clearly as I can:
This view is especially important regarding so-called ‘age-related’ diseases.
Indadequate electron transport accelerates aging.
Fortunately, this is where methylene blue provides its greatest value as a supplement.
It intercalates itself right into the electron transport chain.
This is what all that looks like in diagrammatic form, showing where methylene blue alternates with its oxidized form, leucomethylene blue.
As you can see, ATP forms at the end of the chain, right after the formation of metabolic water.
A Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On
That image is loaded with information. Even so, it skips a lot of the action.
Nevertheless, it sets the stage for the main premise of the review article it came from (Xue et al. 2021).
Now I don’t mean for you to relive potential past nightmares of biology exams over mitochondrial metabolism.
So instead I’ll just jump ahead and quote the abstract about the main anti-aging benefits based on how MB works in mitochondria, as follows:
This review summarizes the recent studies on the applications of MB in treating age-related conditions, including neurodegeneration, memory loss, skin aging, and a premature aging disease, progeria.
More specifically, neurodegeneration and memory loss refer primarily to Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease. Skin aging refers to thin, wrinkled skin. Progeria is a rare syndrome in children characterized by physical signs and symptoms suggestive of premature old age.
All this is just a beginning for what researchers are looking for regarding the health benefits of methylene blue.
When I say it’s just a beginning, it’s because PubMed already lists nearly 25,000 research articles on it. They’re not all health related, although research on its use as a medicine has been accelerating.
To give you a better flavor of how research on the health benefits of methylene blue is going, at the end of this post I’ve listed quite a few of the references I’ve dug up over the several months of my research into this topic. Just taking a peek at some of the titles tells you a lot about what researchers have been finding.
Just keep in mind it’s not an exhaustive list. That would fill a big book. (In fact, Amazon already lists several books on the health benefits of methylene blue. And even they are well short of being comprehensive.)
A Crucial Factor in Methylene Blue Medicine
A seemingly irrelevant property of methylene blue is its color – i.e., blue. It transmits blue, which means it absorbs red.
This means red light can ‘activate’ the blue dye to enhance its electron donor properties.
Add this to the following diagram showing where a nearby color, near infrared (NIR) stimulates the activity of complex IV in the electron transport chain.
Indeed, the absorption of red light by MB and the stimulation of complex IV by NIR each goose up the end of the electron transport chain. (See Gonzalez-Lima and Auchter, 2015, cited in the reference section below).
The question is, can they be used together to really ramp up mitochondrial energy output?
The answer is a resounding YES!
Indeed, a whole subset of health related research on methylene blue now includes its combined effects with what’s called low-level laser light therapy (LLLT) or photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy using red and NIR light.
The leading areas of research on such a combo involves two nasty outcomes of mitochondrial energy dysfunction: neurodegneration (e.g., Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease) and cancer (See Yang et all, 2017 and 2020, cited in the references section).
These are the epitome of ‘age-related’ mitochondria-based diseases.
They are therefore the most important health issues to be addressed with the combination of methylene blue and red/near-infrared light therapies.
Now here’s the really good news:
In addition to MB being pretty cheap, red/NIR is absolutely free!
Of course, you could get either a pricey red laser device for use at home, or expensive medical treatments using it which may or may not be covered by insurance).
Or, you could simply go out in the sunshine. The red/infrared portion of sunshine occurs all day, from morning ’til evening.
In fact, it’s the most abundant portion of the solar spectrum.
So, at this point, I’m jumping ahead to say this:
Indeed, I’d go even one step further and say it’s the best anti-aging supplement combination of all time.
(Gee…I hope I’m not coming across as too wishy washy here!)
The medicos are just starting to realize this.
And all you have to do is take some pharmaceutical grade methylene blue and go outside into the sun.
How simple is that!
Wait…There’s More!
If you do a Google search on the health benefits of methylene blue, you’ll get a load of results that all seem to say the same thing.
I.e., – MB boosts energy metabolism, reduces cognitive decline, mitigates pain, and reduces inflammation overall. Oh, and it’s a great treatment for malaria, which is growing in incidence in the U.S. these days. (Although I love a good cocktail, I’d say MB is a more effective malaria treatment than gin and tonics. It simply works better than the quinine in tonic water.)
Oh, one more thing.
MB was one of the earliest treatments for malaria. It’s based on its oxygen-boosting properties in the electron transport chain. As such it sort of simulates the effects of quinine, HCQ, and other COVID-19 treatments. Medicos are just now starting to catch up with that rather obvious idea. (See Hepburn et al., 2022, in the references section. And note the approach in that article includes MB and red light therapy. It would have been even better with the addition of infrared light.)
[Personally, so far so good – I haven’t had malaria yet!]
The list of health benefits of MB just keeps growing.
Dosages and Contraindications
Here’s the tricky part.
Although MB is an FDA-approved medicine, it’s main uses in clinical settings may not be what you are looking for. They include treatments for septic shock (from a body-wide infection), cyanide poisoning, and carbon monoxide poisoning. (The latter two otherwise inhibit oxygen use at complex IV in the electron transport chain.)
And it’s administered intravenously for those treatments.
The tricky part is figuring what dose is helpful as an oral supplement. Manufacturers aren’t allowed to make dosage recommendations on a medicine sold as a supplement, so there should be no information about it on a product label.
Nevertheless, so-called ‘low-dose’ levels start out at 0.5-2 mg per kilogram body mass. This is actually pretty high.
For my size, it would mean taking up to 160 mg a day. That’s way too much.
However, knowledgeable practitioners of MB therapy recommend anywhere from 5 to 20 drops of liquid at 0.5 mg per drop, up to 4 times a day. (E.g., see the short video by Dr. Eric Berg, Fascinating Health Benefits of Methylene Blue.)
For my maintenance purposes, I take about 10 drops of a liquid form of MB containing 0.5 mg per drop. Or, about 5 mg total. The, to boost its benefits, I immediately go out in the mid-day sun for at least 30 minutes.
Make sure whatever MB product you use is pharmaceutical grade, such as the one I use: BpH Methylene Blue.
Contraindications
Certain conditions warrant avoiding MB.
The most common condition is if you’re taking an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) to treat depression anxiety, or other psychological conditions. The most commonly marketed SSRIs include Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Luvox, Paxil, and Zoloft.
MB is also contraindicated for the rare condition of an enzyme deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD).
And it’s not recommended for newborns, pregnant women, or nursing mothers.
Comments or Questions?
I’d love to hear from you. This and every other post here provides a comment section at the end of the post, exactly for that purpose.
So, by all means, leave me your thoughts.
I would be especially grateful if you point out any flaws in my logic, factual errors, or ordinary typos. (I’ll give you a little ‘huzzah’ in my heart.)2441HazardiaSquarrosa3942!!@@
Then I’ll respond as soon as I can.
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