The Optimization JournalEvidence-Based Health · Performance · Longevity
Topic

Longevity

Healthspan, biomarkers, and interventions with real evidence behind them.

Longevity

Parkinson's Disease: What It Is, What's FDA-Approved, and What GLP-1s, TRT, and Exercise Actually Do

GLP-1 drugs looked genuinely promising for Parkinson's in early trials — then a 667-patient meta-analysis said otherwise. Here's what the real research shows across medications, peptides, hormones, and exercise.

9 min readJul 6, 2026
Longevity

Rapamycin for Longevity: Promising Data, Real Caveats

Rapamycin is the most-replicated life-extension compound in animal research ever studied. The human data is finally catching up — and here's an honest look at whether any peptide comes close to doing what it does.

5 min readMay 7, 2026
Longevity

NAD+ and Aging: What the Studies Actually Show

NAD+ precursors reliably raise blood NAD+ levels in human trials — but "reliably raises a number" and "reliably improves aging" are different claims. Here's what the human data actually shows, and the other compounds researchers are studying alongside it.

4 min readMar 13, 2026
Longevity

CICO: What "Calories In, Calories Out" Actually Means, and Where It Gets Oversimplified

Energy balance is real physics — but the "calories in, calories out" slogan hides real biological complexity underneath it, including why the body pushes back against weight loss and why not every calorie source behaves identically.

5 min readJul 17, 2025
Longevity

VO2 Max as a Longevity Marker: Why It Matters More Than You Think

If you could only track one number for how long you're likely to live, the research says it shouldn't be cholesterol or blood pressure. It should be VO2 max — and the data behind that claim is stronger than most people realize.

4 min readJan 9, 2025