Everyone is looking to slow down aging — one class of over-the-counter drugs is growing in popularity because it targets problematic cells.
Senolytic supplements are designed to eliminate “zombie cells” that no longer function properly but refuse to die. Unfortunately, they may not be the miracle drug fans are hoping for.
Zombie cells, also known as senescent cells, accumulate in tissues over time. They stop dividing but don’t undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis, contributing to inflammation and cellular damage that’s been linked to arthritis and other degenerative diseases.
Senolytic supplements, which commonly contain quercetin and dasatinib, are designed to destroy senescent cells, effectively turning back the clock.
A promising 2018 study on mice showed that administering the drugs led to improved physical function and an extended lifespan.
In 2024, the Mayo Clinic conducted a trial that had 60 healthy, postmenopausal women take senolytic supplements for 20 weeks.
The results indicated some positive influence on bone formation, suggesting the drugs could be effective at reducing frailty and improving musculoskeletal health in older adults.
The supplements were much more successful in study participants who had high levels of senescent cells, so they may not work for everyone.
Dr. Sundeep Khosla, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic and lead author on the study, said at the time that people were using them “as anti-aging agents without knowing if they have high enough senescent cell numbers to benefit, or what dose or dosing regimen is needed to be effective yet safe.”
The US Food and Drug Administration doesn’t regulate OTC supplements with the same rigor as drugs.
Khosla noted that more research is needed to determine who would most benefit from this treatment or to develop a drug that would have more of a widespread effect.
Dr. James Kirkland, director of Cedars-Sinai’s Center for Advanced Gerotherapeutics, similarly cautioned against rushing to buy a product for its unproven anti-aging effects.
“People have to be very, very concerned about what they buy,” he recently said. “Don’t take advice over the internet and pay exorbitant prices for things that may or may not work.”
He emphasized that it was better to avoid senolytics “until and unless we have really rigorous, reproducible scientific data that pharmaceutical regulators and the medical community accept,” especially because “some interventions that target fundamental aging processes could even cause a lot of harm.”
But if the science does catch up, the results could be life-changing.
“We know 2% of what we need to know,” Kirkland said. “This is a completely new area of medicine. If it works, it would change everything.”
