Longevity research for healthier and longer lifespans
Welcome! I am a Norwegian PhD student at the University of Cambridge working on the biology of aging and cellular rejuvenation. I have dedicated my career to extending our healthy lifespans and plan to start a company focused on developing therapeutics that reverse aging in our cells and organs (possibly in Cambridge/London and Norway). Please let me know if you know someone who could be interested in joining or investing (click here for contact details).Following many requests, I have added my current supplement lists and habits below. The choices of supplements are based on many peer-reviewed publications and studies. The purpose of taking supplements is to 1. Hopefully extend our healthy lifespans (no supplement is yet known to extend healthspan or lifespan in humans), 2. Improve cognitive and physical performance, and 3. Help prevent deficiencies, while minimising side effects.Please check the lists at least every 2-3 months, because changes will be made as new studies get published. References and rationale will be added in the future.
Media (newspaper articles and podcasts episodes)
Supplement lists
(last updated 31/10/2024)
| Powder (with link to example product) | Dose (every morning) |
|---|---|
| Cocoa powder | 6 grams |
| Pea protein (minimise sugar) | 15 grams (morning) + 15 grams (lunch) |
| 100% bovine collagen | 15 grams |
| Creatine | 5 grams |
| Calcium alpha ketoglutarate | 1 gram |
| Taurine | 2 grams |
| Turmeric | 0.5 grams |
| Matcha green tea | 1-2 grams twice per day (before 12 pm) |
| Sometimes: Black coffee (if I am skipping matcha tea or have to perform very well). For example organic instant coffee. Americano/espresso (no milk/cream/sugar etc.) | 1 standard cup or 3 grams (if drinking instant coffee). Max 3 cups per day, not after 12 pm to not reduce sleep quality |
| 1-3 cups: Decaffeinated coffee (example) or decaf tea (example) | 1-3 grams (when instant coffee). Rationale: For electrolytes and health benefits besides caffeine |
| Name (tablet, * indicates highest priority) | Dose |
|---|---|
| Vitamin D3*+K2 | 4000 IU + 100 µg (up to 10000 IU vitamin D appears to be safe) |
| Vitamin C* | 1000 mg |
| Cod liver oil* | 800 mg (1 tablet) |
| B12* | 1000 µg, All days except Sunday and Wednesday |
| B Complex | 1/2 pill Sunday and 1/2 pill Wednesday |
| Iodine (Alternatively: Liquid Iodine Potassium Drops) | 150 µg |
| Zinc | 15 mg (in this case 1/2 pill) |
| Ginger root | 500 mg |
| Supplements taken sometimes | Dose (every 1-5 days) |
|---|---|
| Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) | 100 mg |
| Inositol | 500 mg |
| Alpha-Lipoic Acid | 200 mg |
| Selenium | 200 µg |
| Spermidine | 6.5 mg |
| Sleep supplements (see this page for more info) | Dose |
|---|---|
| Magnesium Threonate | 200-400mg 2-3 hours before sleep |
| Apigenin | 50mg |
| L-Theanine | 200-400mg |
| Glycine | 2 grams (every 3rd or 4th night) |
| GABA | 100 mg (every 3rd or 4th night) |
Some tips when taking supplements
You can save much time by preparing all the supplements in pill boxes for a week in one go. I use these boxes when travelling. Measuring the powders with a scale takes less than five minutes per morning (I also add some spices to improve the taste). In the morning, I take the supplements with fat-rich food for better absorption (such as yoghurt or olive oil). The supplements can be expensive, but lower doses than what I take can still be effective, You could also consider take them less frequently (except Vitamin D, C, B12 and cod liver oil).
May be added in the future (waiting for studies to inform risk/reward):
NMN or NR, rapamycin, metformin, statins, nattokinase, astaxanthin, UrolithinA (relatively well tested but expensive), fisetin, albumin, quercetin, butyrate, inulin, ergothioneine, ace inhibitor, plasmalogens, and probiotics
To be excited for: Treatment strategies that are currently or soon in human clinical longevity intervention trials
Infusion of plasma or plasma-derived factors from young donors (in human clinical trials).
mTOR inhibitors (in human clinical trials).
Partial epigenetic reprogramming in cells (soon in human clinical trials).
Some guidelines when choosing supplements
Read publications (for example on PubMed or Google Scholar) or trusted webpages (not where supplements are sold) describing doses, effects, and side effects observed, preferably in human clinical trials.
Look for supplements that have been tested for purity, heavy metals, or other harmful compounds. Labdoor.com can be a good start. Not all products contain as much of the compounds as they advertise.
Take regular blood tests (preferably at least every 3-6 months) to make sure your levels are not too low or too high.
Try to take supplements alongside food, especially fat-rich alternatives (olive oil or yoghurt for example). It helps with absorption of some supplements.
Incorporate one supplement at a time and assess whether they give you side effects.
Speak with your medical doctor to make sure that you can take the supplements at certain doses, given your health status and medications.
Do not take supplements instead of living a healthy lifestyle. Although many supplements reduce mortality and disease risk and extend lifespan and healthspan in model organisms, their effects on healthspan and lifespan in humans are yet to be determined with large studies.
No supplement list works for everyone. Read about risks and side effects (be aware that supplements can be harmful, similarly to medications). Decide doses based on studies and your levels. Keep testing blood tests to check if you are taking too much or too litlle of specific supplements.
Improving or optimising health and performance should be fun. Try to enjoy the learning and adaptation processes, without stressing or worrying.
You can find information about research articles and studies that tested supplements in ARDD conference talks on Youtube.
The following habits are more important than supplements to help increase healthspan (The period of life during which we have generally good health without suffering from age-related diseases and disabilities):
Sleep: 7-9 hours of high-quality sleep per day with regular bedtimes. Oura and Whoop have helped me change habits to increase sleep quality.
Exercise: Both strength and endurance. Aim for many hours per week. Intensive (so that you cannot have a normal conversation without stopping to catch your breath) and continuous exercise (without long breaks) reduce your all-cause mortality risk more. Move when you can.
Healthy diet: with plenty of whole plant-based and minimal processed and sugar-rich food and drinks.
Maintain close connections with family and friends. Aim to interact with them weekly.
Minimise stress: Yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, mindfulness, walking, music etc. can help.
Daily routines:
| Habit | Info |
|---|---|
| Exercise | Running 4 days/week (outside, mainly cross-country), strength 3 days/week (aiming for 60-90 minutes per day). Interval running once per week. Move every hour. Walk/bike when possible. I drink water or eat dried mango or apricots when I run for more than 1 hour. |
| My breakfast (tastes like a dessert) | 28 walnuts, 28g almonds, 28g cashew, 28g chia seeds, 28g sunflower seeds, 28g pumpkin seeds, 30 mL extra virgin olive oil (27g), 150g frozen/fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, with no added sugar), peanut butter (1-2 tablespoons), cocoa powder (6 grams), a lemon, 15g dark sugar-free chocolate, and a teaspoon of tahini. Add some water and let it sit overnight or for 20 minutes in the fridge. Optional: Coconut yoghurt (no sugar, soy, or dairy), a bit of whole oats (<100g), fruits such as orange, apple, and kiwi. Consider skipping bananas and raisins due to the high sugar content. Flaxseeds, and spices, including cinnamon, chili powder, cumin, oregano, black pepper, and herbs. Can also mixed in a blender to a 'mousse' and frozen in batches. |
| Food eaten most days | >150g beans/chickpeas/lentils (black for example), nuts (>28 g of walnuts, cashew, almonds), seeds (chia, pumpkin, sunflower), 30 mL extra virgin olive oil, 1 avocado, 3-5 eggs, 1 bell pepper, coconut milk yoghurt (without sugar), 1 lemon, 1 orange, 1 apple, >150g of frozen blueberries/raspberries/blackberries/strawberries, 10-20g dark chocolate with minimal sugar, and a selection of vegetables. I focus on the following vegetables (numbers are per week): >3 broccoli, >3 cauliflower, >200g kale, >200g spinach, >7 carrots, >3 onions |
| Other recommended food (references to come) | Fish (I eat 2 filets salmon/cod 1-2 days/week), seeds (chia, pumpkin, sunflower etc.), lemons, lime, mango, mushrooms, tangerines, grapefruit, chili, garlic, beetroot, organic spices (chili powder, cinnamon, cumin, oregano, black pepper, herbs etc.). You can get inspiration by reading How Not to Die or searching for the following diets: Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB), DASH diet, MIND diet. Fry with coconut oil or olive oil. I try to eat meat only a few times per week (usually chicken/beef). |
| Eating window | Less than 8 hours (except when socialising). Aim for more frequent, smaller meals rather than big ones. An eating window smaller than 8 hours is recommended (intermittent fasting). I currently try to eat between 8 am-4 pm when I do not have social events, but the window can be shifted (I did 12-8 pm before) Note: Children, very old people, and people who have certain chronic diseases or are pregnant should not do intermittent fasting. |
| Food/drinks that I limit | Ultra-processed food, sugar-rich food and drinks, red meat, fried food, carb-rich food (rice, noodles, pasta, potatoes, bread, oats etc.), raw meat, internal organs, salt, canned food (there is BPA in many metal containers), tuna (relatively high accumulation of heavy metals), alcohol, and dairy products. Remember to not be fanatic about what you cannot it. It is healthy to sometimes ignore what is healthy, especially when socialising or celebrating. |
| Wearables/monitors | Oura ring, Whoop watch, Garmin watch, Withings blood pressure monitor, Whoop Blue Light Glasses, Withings Body Cardio scale |
| Sleep | Aim to go to sleep at the same time +/- 10 minutes every night. Calm down 1 hour before bedtime: meditate/yoga/breathing exercises, read a book, no phone/laptop, listen to calm music, and try to ignore thoughts about work and tomorrow. Switch off lights except red light bulbs. Keep the temperature in the bedroom around 18.3 °C and you could try a weighted blanket. Mark Huberman made a great sleep toolkit and Matthew Walker had an inspiring talk about improving sleep. I try to drink as little as I can (any drink) several hours before sleep to avoid waking up in the night. |
| After waking up | Drink water, walk outside (5-10 minutes if sunny and 15-20 min if overcast), use a 10,000 lux lamp, meditate, exercise. |
| Books, podcasts, and talks | These books are helpful to learn the basics about aging research and lifestyles that seem to support longevity: Outlive by Peter Attia and Why We Die by Venki Ramakrishnan. Hundreds of talks (Youtube) from leading longevity scientists and companies from the invaluable ARDD conferences. |
| Extra habits to consider | Sauna, cold showers/baths, continuous glucose monitor, heart monitor, Eight Sleep Pod, genetic testing, more extensive tests for body composition (DEXA or MRI) hormones, organ age, cancer (whole-body screens) etc. Measure biological age and the rate of aging using clocks (when they are improved). |
More information about my research and plans
I started my PhD after doing a 3-year BSc in Molecular Genetics at King's College London. For the past eight years, I have been following the scientific literature on aging research and lifestyles/interventions that may extend healthy lifespans.The PhD projects aim to identify causes of aging and identify therapeutic targets that may enable us to reverse aging and extend our healthy lifespan. I am currently working on two projects that aim to 1. develop a quantitative epigenetic profiling method and 2. identify novel epigenetic drivers of aging that may be targeted to enhance cellular rejuvenaton.A proposed definition of the aging process is that it is the progressive decline in function at the molecular, cellular, and organ level, leading to an increased risk of diseases and death. Aging is the main risk factor for a range of common, debilitating, and deadly diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases (Niccoli & Partridge, 2012). Thus, reversing the aging process (rejuvenation) can help us to broadly prevent and reverse age-related diseases and decline in health (López-Otín et al., 2013). This would increase our healthspan (the period of life during which we have good health and do not suffer from age-related diseases and disabilities). Indeed, eveloping therapeutics that may slow or reverse aging is clearly the most promising approach to extend healthy lifespan and reduce the risk of most chronic diseases.To contribute as much as possible to human longevity, I plan to start a company within the next 2-3 years to develop rejuvenation therapeutics.I am particularly interested in the development of strategies that can clear away large amounts of age-related damage. Examples include: epigenome editing, organ replacement, partial epigenetic reprogramming using Yamanaka factors, and removing harmful factors, such as metabolites and damaged organelles, that accumulate in cells. I heavily doubt that drugs or supplements will have satisfactory effects. We need more broad and robust therapeutics such as mRNA vaccines.My main motivation is to extend the period during which people can do what they love without suffering from diseases and disabilities of aging. Additionally, aging research has great potential to mitigate the substantial healthcare costs and other major challenges associated with the increasing proportion of older individuals in our societies. Personally, I would spend my extra healthy years travelling, trying loads of new activites, meet many new people, and contributing to solving other global challenges.There is a big need for more people to contribute to the field of aging and rejuvenation, so I am more than happy to guide you. You do not need a science background to contribute.I am a Trinity College student and my PhD supervisor is Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian at the University of Cambridge. He invented the widely used Solexa-Illumina Next Generation DNA Sequencing Technology. Previously, I worked in the Sinclair Lab (Harvard Medical School), Evandro Fang Lab (University of Oslo), and the Oakey Lab (King's College London).See my LinkedIn profile for more information about the aims of my research and motivation of my work: LinkedInGood publications to start learning about aging and age-reversal research: An invaluable perspective on aging (2016) and a broad overview of aging research (2023), Rejuvenation: A 2022 review and a 2024 review.Here is an Overview (from 2024) of companies that work on aging.
My PhD projects are funded by:
Contact details
Would you like guidance on how to join or contribute to the longevity field? Do you have suggestions for this webpage? Do you, or do you know someone, who would like to join or invest in a rejuvenation startup (possibly in Cambridge/London and Norway)?
Connect on social media:
Work email: [email protected]
Private email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: Bjorn Fraser Olaisen
The supplement lists are based on publications and educated guesses by many people. Thank you to those who guided this work.Disclaimers:
I do not receive financial compensation for any of the content on this webpage, and I do not earn a commission on sales made through any links.Medical Disclaimer:
This webpage is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is formed. The use of information on this webpage or materials linked from it is at the user’s own risk. The content of the webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.