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A randomized, double blind human clinical trial conducted by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reveals that supplementation with GlyNAC – a combination of glycine and N-acetylcysteine – improves many age-associated defects in older humans and powerfully promotes healthy aging. This is relevant because until now, there have been no solutions toward improving many of these age-related declines in people.   Published in the  Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, the study shows that older humans taking GlyNAC for 16-weeks improved many characteristic defects of aging. This includes oxidative stress, glutathione deficiency and multiple aging hallmarks affecting mitochondrial dysfunction, mitophagy, inflammation, insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, genomic damage, stem cell fatigue and cellular senescence. These were associated with improvements in muscle strength, gait speed, exercise capacity, waist circumference and blood pressure. “This is the first randomized clinical trial of GlyNAC supplementation in older humans, and it found that a wide variety of age-associated abnormalities improved in older adults supplemented with GlyNAC, while no improvements were seen in those receiving placebo,” said corresponding author  Dr. Rajagopal Sekhar, professor of  medicine -  endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at Baylor. The improvements in oxidative stress, glutathione levels and mitochondrial function in the muscle tissue of older humans taking GlyNAC were similar to the improvements in organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys of aged mice supplemented with GlyNAC as reported in the researchers’  recent publication. Taken together, the results of these studies show that GlyNAC supplementation can improve these defects in many different organs of the body. “GlyNAC supplementation in aging mice increased their length of life mice by 24%,” said Sekhar. “Gait speed is  reported to be associated with survival in older humans. Our randomized clinical trial found a significant improvement in gait speed in older humans supplemented with GlyNAC. This raises the interesting question of whether GlyNAC supplementation could have implications for survival in people”.   For the last 20 years, Sekhar has been studying natural aging in humans and animal models to understand why age-related declines occur and how to correct them. His work brings mitochondria, known as the batteries of the cell, as well as free radicals and glutathione to discussions about how they are connected. Sekhar’s work and discoveries could also help explain why we age and how to improve health while aging.

Reference:  Kumar P, Liu C, Suliburk J, et al. Supplementing glycine and N-acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) in older adults improves glutathione deficiency, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, physical function, and aging hallmarks: A randomized clinical trial. J Gerontol A. 2022:glac135. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glac135

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