Maybe. Hard to know if it’s something specific with almonds. Worth experimenting with it.
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tongMD
#244
No experiment is perfect. But keep in mind, mice basically don’t get diabetes. These are not human studies.
A simple way to see this - acarbose is pretty much noninferior to metformin in humans for treating T2D in terms of A1C lowering…while in ITP metformin alone no effect, acarbose huge effect in male mice.
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Whats interesting is studies such as this one;
They used ‘sick’ mice in the sense that these mice were forced to develop T2Ds and then fed a diet that continue to exacerbate that disease and then fed Rapamycin to see its impact on mice with uncontrolled diabetes. This study reeks of control bias, but also a confirmation bias. If I fed a mouse Rapamycin, and then shot it with a shotgun at pointblank and said “Rapamycin showed no effect on mice shot at point blank with shotgun” is that something that furthers the science behind longevity?
How about a study that asks does Rapamycin/Acarbose have an longevity effect on mice with well controlled T2D.
Meh.
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I think it just shows that if you have diabetes or it is not well-controlled, then taking Rapamycin probably is detrimental to your lifespan. I think this promotes the advice of using a diabetes medication such as acarbose, canagliflozin, or acarbose (best choice IMHO) to control diabetic symptoms which are increased by Rapamycin. Hence, there is a condition called Rapamycin Diabetes.
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Dstunz
#247
You can buy sprouted almonds, or soak them yourself. This makes them much more easily digested and has a much higher bioavailability!
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What is a sprouted almond?
AnUser
#249
Fiber rich foods and other complex carbohydrates would do the same, I wouldn’t be so sure that’s how acarbose increases lifespan either, IMO.
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Dstunz
#250
Sprouted nuts are raw nuts that have been soaked in water to germinate, or begin to sprout. You can do this yourself at home if you’re patient, or I buy sprouted nuts, seeds and grains from places like thrivemarket.com or vitacost.com
Be careful, as with any sprouted product there is a danger of high levels of bacteria.
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AnUser
#252
The excepted gain seems net negative. Even if it’s 1%, made up, chance of bacteria growth with sprouting, repeated enough times, especially for elders… Also the process has to be completely sterile I think which is difficult. But even for younger people food poisoning isn’t good.
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Davin8r
#253
Also, regarding the almond study (20 grams of almonds 30 min before each meal), the almonds almost certainly resulted in decreased overall energy intake, since the almond eaters were less hungry/more satiated from the almond pre-meal. This likely accounted for the weight loss, although the authors apparently didn’t assess energy intake (likely because this is very difficult outside a controlled laboratory setting). Bottom line is that the extra calories from the almonds are very likely offset by decreased hunger and less energy intake from the meal afterward; in addition, you get the blunting of the glucose curve AND lack of gas/diarrhea/etc that many of us get from acarbose.
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Many good points. It’s an easy and harmless intervention that may prove very helpful. Worth trying it.
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I can buy 50 mg or 100 mg tablets for roughly the same price. Is there any reason I should not go for the 100s?
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Not really - I would just go for the 100s.
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Source of funding
Almond Board of California, California, USA.
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scta123
#258
I get 100mg which are divisible, without any effort you get two 50mg pills. I use glucobay from bayer. Check if yours are divisible as well.
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The Acarbose available in Hong Kong is a generic produced in Portugal called Farmoz. Has anyone heard of it or used it? The price is $255 USD for 1000 100 mg tablets.
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Wow - thats a great price.
How do you purchase it? Do you need a prescription? Any online Hong Kong pharmacies selling it at that price?
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I got a prescription at a local doctor and then went to the physical pharmacy. I think they only provide it to Hong Kong residents though. Although there may be a way to purchase the generic somewhere else? This is the first I have heard of the Potugese generic of Acarbose.
Here is the link to the pharmacy web page if interested:
https://www.loksintong.org/lok-sin-tong-community-pharmacy?_lang=en
It provides reference prices for MANY other medications as well. Realize that prices are in HKD which is 7.826 HKD = 1 USD
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Just noticed the price of Acarbose at CostPlusDrugs:
$16.50 for 90 X 100mg tablets, or 0.18$ per 100mg tablet. (so even better than your $0.25 price in HK).
Link to the Acarbose Pricing:
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