Just wanted to add my thanks to @Mauritio for continuing to add to this fascinating collection of studies.

@sunsunsun unecessary crash out.

@LucH -Thanks for your cautionary words.

@evan-hinkle said in Effects of 2-year cocoa extract supplementation on inflammaging biomarkers in older US adults:

There was one in particular that was mentioned at a dose of 80mg, (so it seemed like the researchers thought it was particularly significant).

I would not put too much credence in 80 mg. The study below shows that 70% cocoa dark chocolate consumption can benefit verbal episodic memory two hours post consumption in healthy young adults relative to a white chocolate control. These findings support the notion that everyday available portions (35 g or 35,000 mg) of dark chocolate can confer benefits to the brain in healthy consumers.

Beneficial Effects of Dark Chocolate for Episodic Memory in Healthy Young Adults: A Parallel-Groups Acute Intervention with a White Chocolate Control (2020)

I suspect that the 80mg was used for safety reasons. Perhaps to get the study approved. 🙄

you need thiamine for oxidative metabolism not just t3, thiamine deficiency and hypothyroidism have identical symptoms, t3 uses thiamine alot faster so these studies may just be inducing beriberi

@Mauritio said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:

On top of that im not comfortable with NAC's role in cancer.

I won't take HD NAC with HD B3
When Niacin (or vitamin B3) and NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) are combined, especially under specific pH and concentration conditions, a chemical reaction may occur that forms pyrazinic acid (pyrazine).
Most sources specify that no interaction has been found between NAC and niacinamide (or nicotinamide). This is incorrect when there is prolonged concomitant use with a high dosage of NAC.
The toxic effects of pyrazinic acid may include cellular damage and oxidative stress, which is of particular concern for people with predispositions to oxidative stress-related diseases.
Source:
Hepatotoxicity related to anti-tuberculosis drugs: mechanisms and management
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jceh.2012.12.001 2013.
The toxicity of pyrazinamide is both dose dependent with a higher dose at 40–50 mg/kg, with NAC combination. (2 800 to 3 500 mg NAC for 70 Kg/weight, or +/ 170 Lb).

Moreover NAC may not be safe for people who bleed easily. NAC may raise your odds of bleeding problems if you have a bleeding disorder such as hemophilia or you take blood-thinning drugs (aspirin, some essential oils or curcumin, which have some impact on platelet aggregation).
=> Prolonged dose NAC interfere with platelet aggregation.

@CrumblingCookie - I do not know; but here is my guess. The first and last authors both work at "Laboratory of Extracellular Matrix Regeneration, Institute of Translational Medicine, Department of Health Sciences and Technology". Longevity is not within the Institute's purview. They reported the increase in longevity with the additional glycine but they did not expand on their findings.

Similarly, at the bottom of page 4 of the PDF there is a section entitled "Synergistic longevity by combining α-ketoglutarate and 3 Gly : 1 Pro : 1 Hyp". Synergistic longevity may be outside the Institute's purview.

Apigenin inhibits xanthine oxidase so it can raise atp and lower uric acid.

Elderberry extract increases testosterone and steroidogenic enzymes strongly. It lowers aromatase and 5areductase, which is unfortunate. To me it doesn't feel like it lowers DHT at all. Quite the opposite. So I'm wondering if the increase in androgen receptors and steroidogenic enzymes is enough to compensate .
And, 5aR isn't the only pathway towards DHT, and the backdoor pathway wasn't tested so maybe it has to do with that .

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39683564/

Also by the same group:

Identifying obesity and dementia risk: body adiposity and neural connectivity in cognitively normal, mid-life adults (2025)

Obesity is a risk factor for dementia, creating a chronic inflammatory state that results in white matter (WM) injury. Edge density imaging (EDI) is a novel technique that has demonstrated reliability in quantifying WM changes. Thirty obese and 20 non-obese cognitively normal adults underwent structural and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were quantified via VOXel Analysis Suite by separating signal intensities of adipose and non-adipose tissue. Scans were processed by a pipeline (MaPPeRTrac) to generate EDI. Among obese participants, there was a negative association between the VAT/SAT ratio and EDI, which was not seen among non-obese participants. Additionally, males had decreased EDI compared to females. The results of this study suggest that obesity, through WM damage, may confer increased risk of dementia, with sex as a potential differential factor. EDI demonstrates promise in delineating the neuropathology of obesity and dementia.

@yeyo12 My interpretation of the results were that caffeine co-administration with oxandrolone increased the absorption of the latter via inhibition of PGP.

@LucH You get enough cysteine from protein foods.

Cysteine supplementation reverses methionine restriction effects on rat adiposity: significance of stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20871132/

Glutathione (GSH) drives cancer metastasis by promoting cell survival under hypoxia
https://haidut.me/?p=2816
https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-24-1556

There is thread on reuteri and it has a brief mention of oxytocin as means to increase DHT. There is more on oxytocin buried in video that Hans made.
https://bioenergetic.forum/topic/2188/l-reuteri?_=1764322121932

I am still fermenting dairy to make a reuteri yogurt so I think I have my oxytocin levels are at acceptable levels.

Mitochondrial NAD+ drives liver regeneration. Nat Metab (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-025-01414-7
NB: not yet the full study. Published 1 day ago.

https://lowtoxinforum.com/threads/incomprehensive-ble-notes-on-choline.23228/

A Cancer Therapy By Max Gerson - Selected Parts

[..]effects of choline and methionine [in protecting the liver] can be reversed by excess fat supplements.

With the tremendous amount of experimental work done on lipotropic agents, and their effectiveness in dietary fatty liver in animals, it is only natural that clinicians should turn to these substances in the treatment of fatty liver; however, the only type of fatty liver that choline (the most important of the lipotropic substances) can cure is the one due to a choline deficiency. It is likely that at least some of the fatty livers in man are due to choline deficiency, but in fatty livers of prolonged infection or those due to toxins, no deficiency of choline in the diet can be postulated, and therefore, no beneficial effect from choline can be expected.
Mitchell A. Spellberg, Diseases of the Liver, p. 309.​