This Sugar Substitute May Extend Your Life | Lifespan with Dr. David Sinclair - S2, Ep. 9

Matthew LaPLante (0:00)

In fact, this molecule has been around since the dawn of time.

David Sinclair (0:02)

Even before life, glycine is a mysterious molecule, and by giving more glycine, you actually can make more collagen. I think for the skin, taking glycine might actually help because it does improve collagen synthesis, does extend the lifespan of many animals. We always want to look for that. And what they saw was really quite remarkable. Across the board, many of the hallmarks of aging were reversed.

Matthew LaPLante (0:22)

Glycine appears to improve memory in middle-aged adults. Glycine improves stroke recovery. Glycine was associated with an 11% reduced risk of heart attack.

David Sinclair (0:31)

So even if you're fit, it seems it can make you even better. Incredible.

Welcome to Lifespan, a show where we discuss the cutting-edge science of aging and how to live healthier at any stage of life.

I'm David Sinclair, a scientist and professor working on understanding why we age and discovering new ways to slow and even reverse the aging process.

On this show, I share an insider's look at the latest from my lab, the field, and what's just around the corner.

Want to know what's the best sweetener in the world? Glycine might be a contender, and its sweetness is only part of the story. Welcome back to Lifespan. Today, Matt and I explore a simple amino acid that helps build collagen, supports our antioxidant defenses, and has extended Lifespan in some mouse experiments. I spent years studying this amino acid during my PhD. It was about 30 years ago, I admit. I never imagined that I'd come back to it as a longevity researcher, or that the story would lead to NASA and microbes that survive in extreme environments. I consume glycine a lot. Pretty much every morning, I'm putting it into my drinks, just for sweetener. And I do find that I sleep better, at least. So today we're going to explore what the evidence says about how this differs from trimethylglycine or TMG, also known as betaine, and whether glycine could reproduce some of the benefits of restricting methionine. And I get Matt to try it on camera, which is something that's quite the challenge. I'm so excited to share that Lifespan magazine is now available, along with everything we're building around it to help you live a longer, healthier life. You'll get the gorgeous 100-page magazine, early access to Lifespan episodes, my longevity newsletter, clinical trial updates, AMAs, exclusive interviews, and a lot more to come. Go to lifespan.com to read the magazine, see what we're building, and support medical research too. There's a free version, an $8 a month membership, and a founder membership with lifetime access to the magazine, bonus material, and some personal gifts from me. Life's too short. Let's change that together. Okay, let's go.

Matthew LaPLante (2:56)

Welcome back to the Lifespan podcast with David Sinclair. I continue to be Matthew Laplante. This guy here continues to be Dr. David Sinclair.

David Sinclair (3:06)

How you doing, Matt?

Matthew LaPLante (3:07)

I am excellent.

David Sinclair (3:09)

Well, today we have a really interesting topic we're going to cover.

Matthew LaPLante (3:11)

We do. We are going to be talking about an amino acid called glycine, which you have a very long and distinguished relationship with.

David Sinclair (3:20)

Yeah, it's a love-hate relationship, mostly love, and it turns out that it's the most basic of all the amino acids, and it turns out to be relevant to aging and longevity.

Matthew LaPLante (3:30)

And if it was not for this amino acid, you actually would be doing something very different in your life, right?

David Sinclair (3:36)

True. If it weren't for glycine, I'd be dead, probably within 10 seconds.

Matthew LaPLante (3:41)

That was not the point I was trying to make, but that's a good point. You need this. Well, it's a conditional amino acid. You don't need it, need it, right?

David Sinclair (3:49)

But I don't know if you can generate it from serine, which is a slightly bigger amino acid.

Matthew LaPLante (3:53)

Yeah.

David Sinclair (3:53)

But yeah, I did my PhD on the catabolism, the processing of glycine in yeast cells. It gave me the PhD I needed to head over to America and do some stuff on aging.

Matthew LaPLante (4:04)

And now, all these years later, almost 30 years later, almost, you are Professor and Lab Director in the Department of Genetics at the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School.

David Sinclair (4:17)

That remains true.

Matthew LaPLante (4:18)

And the author or co-author of hundreds of research journals on the molecular underpinnings of our health and well-being and aging processes.