Spermidine — the autophagy activator hiding in your cheese
So I’ve been deep diving into autophagy lately since starting tirz and came across spermidine. Turns out it’s one of the few natural compounds that actually triggers autophagy similar to fasting. The weird part? It’s found in aged cheese, mushrooms, and fermented foods.
I started supplementing with it about 6 weeks ago (1mg daily) and honestly I think I’m noticing better skin texture and my sleep has improved. Could be placebo but my Oura recovery scores have been consistently higher.
The science seems legit – there’s actual human studies showing it might support cellular renewal and even longevity. Apparently it declines as we age which is why supplementing might help.
Anyone else experimented with this? I’m curious if it actually enhances the autophagy benefits we’re already getting from GLP-1s or if I’m just wasting money on another supplement. My naturopath recommended it but you know how that goes sometimes lol. Would love to hear if others have tried it or know more about the research.
I’ve been taking spermidine for about 4 months now. Started at 2mg but dropped to 1mg because I honestly couldn’t tell if the higher dose was doing anything extra. The research is interesting – there’s a lot coming out of Europe on it. I pair it with my sema injections and do think there might be some synergy there since both are affecting cellular processes. My main thing was hair health and I swear my hair stylist commented on it being thicker last month without me saying anything. That said, hard to isolate what’s doing what when you’re on multiple things.
tbh I tried to just eat more aged cheese instead of supplementing lol. Did that for like 3 weeks but the calories weren’t worth it on tirz when I’m barely eating anyway. Switched to a supplement after that. One thing my doctor mentioned is that spermidine might interact with some medications so def worth checking before adding it to your stack.
The Oura recovery score improvement is interesting! I wonder if that’s the sleep quality piece. There was a study I read somewhere that spermidine improved sleep architecture in older adults. I’m 39F and have been considering adding it but already take NAD, berberine, and metformin along with my mounjaro so I’m hesitant to add another variable. BiohackerMike – did you notice the hair thing right away or did it take a while? That would actually be a huge bonus for me since tirz thinned mine out a bit.
I think the autophagy angle is legit but you’re probably already getting solid autophagy benefits from the GLP-1 and any fasting you’re doing. Spermidine works through a different pathway though (polyamine pathway vs mTOR inhibition) so theoretically they could stack. In my experience the benefits are subtle – not like you’ll feel it the way you feel a GLP medication kick in. Been on it for 8 months, 1.5mg daily. I justify it as longevity insurance more than anything with immediate noticeable effects.