Why is Autophagy important to our health? How is Spermidine related to Autophagy?

What is Autophagy?

Autophagy is the cell's quality control process to dispose of cellular garbage, debris, microorganisms, and unwanted compounds. A system that breaks down waste inside cells and recycles cellular components. It is an important quality control mechanism for the mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells. Autophagy allows damaged or defective mitochondria to be broken down and disposed of. The disposal of mitochondria is more tightly controlled than was before believed.

 

What is Spermidine?

Spermidine is a polyamine, meaning it has two or more primary amino groups. It is naturally occurring and is widely encountered in ribosomes and living tissues. It plays a critical role in cell function and survival.

Spermidine is known to stimulate autophagy. Polyamines can bind to many different types of molecules making them very useful. They support processes, including cell growth, DNA stability, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. It also appears that polyamines function in a similar way to growth factors during cell division. This is why spermidine is important for healthy tissue growth and function.

Sources of Spermidine

Spermidine is found in many dietary sources such as grapefruit, soy products, legumes, corn, whole grain, chickpeas, peas, green peppers, broccoli, oranges, green tea, rice bran, and fresh green pepper.

It can also be found in shiitake mushrooms, amaranth grain, wheat germ, cauliflower, broccoli, and a variety of mature cheeses, and durian.

Health Benefits of Spermidine

There are some potential health benefits from supplementing or eating enough spermidine in the diet. Even better, it may also influence aging and support healthy longevity.

1. Autophagy and Spermidine

Spermidine can bind to and activate critical molecules involved in cell growth, genetic expression, and protein synthesis. Spermidine also plays a significant role in regulating the immune response and the antioxidant system.

Spermidine helps fight cellular aging via several mechanisms. It exerts significant antioxidant activity, especially in protecting membrane lipids and nucleic acids. But it is spermidine's role as an enhancer of autophagy and mitochondrial function that produces substantial anti-aging effects.

In addition to dietary sources, spermidine can be manufactured from the amino acid ornithine in the human body. Still, tissue concentrations decline with age, primarily due to a decline in the activities of spermidine-synthesizing enzymes. A higher spermidine intake is linked to a lower overall mortality rate, including reduced mortality from cancer and cardiovascular disease.8-10 Spermidine also shows promise in protecting against the effects of aging on the brain, improving liver function and overall metabolism, and protecting against intervertebral disk degeneration.

2. Support Anti-aging

On the longevity front, the administration of spermidine has been shown to increase lifespan in a number of animal studies and prevents liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. This also appears to be the case with a diet rich in polyamines. There is also some evidence to suggest that it improves resistance to stress and that the age-related decline of spermidine supports the onset of age-related diseases.

3. Anti-Inflammatory Activity

Some studies suggest that Spermidine has anti-inflammatory properties and is involved in lipid metabolism, cell growth and proliferation, and programmed cell death, which is known as apoptosis.

It is widely accepted that while inflammation plays a helpful role in wound healing and repelling invading pathogens, the persistent inflammation associated with aging, often called inflammaging, is harmful. Chronic inflammation prevents healthy tissue regeneration, causes immune cells to become dysfunctional, and can even accelerate the speed at which healthy cells become senescent. Spermidine appears to reduce this chronic inflammation and may slow down one way in which cells and tissues age.

4. Support Cardiac health

There is also some evidence that it might reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. In a 2016 study, spermidine was found to turn back the aging clock and improve cardiovascular function in aged mice. At the organ level, heart structure and function were improved in the aged mice given spermidine. The same mice also saw improvements to their metabolism due to restoration of mitochondrial structure and function following spermidine supplementation.

In humans there were two population based studies (summarized in the same paper) whose data suggests that spermidine intake is linked to a reduction of all cause, cardiovascular and cancer-related mortality in humans.

Revive your youth with Spermidine

S-CELL Health’s NMN 12000 Pro is the S-CELL premium anti-aging supplement. It contains Spermidine. Besides Spermidine, it is also formulated with Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN), Pterostilbene (known as the new generation of resveratrol), and N-Acetyl Cysteine aka NAC (the precursor of well-known antioxidant glutathione). NMN 12000 Pro is an all-in-one anti-aging supplement that can revive your youth and reverse aging.

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