Skip to content
← Index board

Health Optimization Index

Rapamycin

Nick’s assessment
Promising
Research evidence
C, mixed evidence
Attention
31.2 / 100▲ Rising this week
6.8/ 10

BioHarmony score

Rapamycin (sirolimus) inhibits mTORC1, a nutrient-sensing pathway tied to autophagy, senescence signaling, immune aging, and lifespan in animals. The animal evidence is unusually strong: Harrison 2009 and Miller 2014 showed lifespan extension in the NIA Interventions Testing Program. Human longevity evidence is still early. Moel 2025 found one year of weekly low-dose rapamycin was relatively safe in healthy aging adults, but the primary visceral-fat endpoint was not meaningfully improved.

Read the full report Benefits, risks and practical guidance.

Read Nick’s assessment Why it earned this rating

Rapamycin is a 6.5–7.0/10 fit for medically supervised longevity experimenters who understand mTOR tradeoffs and can monitor labs, not a casual supplement or proven human lifespan drug. The cleanest evidence anchors are Harrison 2009, which showed lifespan extension in genetically heterogeneous mice, and Mannick 2018, which supports immune-aging translation with low-dose TORC1 inhibition. Moel 2025 adds useful context: found relative safety in a one-year human trial but no clear primary visceral-fat win. The practical gap is the same one that shows up across the report: mechanism and early outcomes are more convincing than broad real-world certainty. In practice, Rapamycin belongs after the basics, works best when the target is specific, and deserves tracking around benefits, side effects, interactions, and cost before it becomes a standing protocol.

✅ Best for: Adults 50+ with measurable age-related immune decline, strong curiosity about geroscience, and access to a prescriber who understands off-label sirolimus. Best fit is someone willing to run baseline and quarterly labs, track side effects, avoid CYP3A4 mistakes, hold before surgery, and treat benefits as uncertain. It is also reasonable for people following the TRIAD, PEARL, and ITP literature closely who understand the difference between animal lifespan evidence and human longevity proof. Harrison 2009, Miller 2014, Mannick 2018, and Moel 2025 justify interest, especially in older users, but they do not justify casual self-prescribing.

❌ Avoid if: You are under 40, immunocompromised, pregnant, trying to conceive without physician clearance, breastfeeding, dealing with active infection, preparing for surgery, unwilling to do blood work, or taking strong CYP3A4 inhibitors or inducers without prescriber guidance. Avoid if you have a history of interstitial lung disease or pneumonitis, uncontrolled diabetes, severe dyslipidemia, impaired wound healing, or recurrent infections. Also avoid if you want evidence-backed certainty. Hands 2025 is blunt: healthy-adult anti-aging benefit is not established, and no major preventive-medicine authority endorses rapamycin for longevity.

Share your experience

Your answers are optional and help other readers — they never change my score. How community input works.

Tried it in real life?

How would you assess it?

Favorable is the strongest rating, followed by Promising, then Experimental. Overhyped means the claims outrun the evidence or interest is fading.

Make a 12-month prediction Will it rise or fall in the Index?

Choose a direction and your confidence. Correct predictions earn leaderboard points.

Your 12-month call on Rapamycin
How sure are you?

Your prediction is final once submitted. We’ll check it in 12 months. See the leaderboard →

Updated Sep 21, 2026 How the Index ranks →

Educational information, not medical advice. Ask a qualified clinician about risks and interactions. Independent ratings: no affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings.