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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

In animals, pooled review of 167 papers: rapamycin extended lifespan, metformin did not

Ivimey-Cook and colleagues · Aging cell · 2025

Original title: Rapamycin, Not Metformin, Mirrors Dietary Restriction-Driven Lifespan Extension in Vertebrates: A Meta-Analysis.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Rapamycin extended lifespan; metformin did not. Dietary restriction also extended lifespan. High heterogeneity and publication bias affected all results (911 effect sizes).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
167 studies · Eight kinds of vertebrate animals in 167 papers
What was tested
Rapamycin, metformin or dietary restriction vs untreated animals, measuring lifespan
What it measured
The question itself: aging and age-related decline
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No conflicts of interest declared.
Journal
Aging cell, 2025
Source
PubMed record 40532901. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 167 studies.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: aging and age-related decline.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: aging and age-related decline

    3

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 1 no difference

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    2

    2 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    2

    2 benefit

  4. Population studies

    1

    1 no direction

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  6. Animals

    2

    2 benefit

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does rapamycin slow aging in people?”

Not shown in people.

Confidence: very low. Based on 16 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer
  • Part of the finding “Rapamycin lengthens life in mice and other animals”.
  • Summed up in “What reviews found”: Pooled 911 results from 167 papers covering eight vertebrate species. Concluded that rapamycin, but not metformin, extended lifespan, about as much as eating less, with high variation and signs of publication bias.

Other reviews on this question

See all 16 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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