From Memios
The Longevity Letter
Practical writing and video on living strong and active into your 90s. No hype, no supplements to sell. Just what the evidence supports and what it looks like on an ordinary Tuesday.
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MedicationsAluminium hydroxide
As an antacid, aluminium-containing products raise oesophageal pH more than placebo in people with heartburn.
2026-10-10 · 32 min read
MedicationsAscorbic acid
The evidence is strongest for the one thing the drug is approved for: replacing vitamin C in scurvy.
2026-10-10 · 27 min read
MedicationsBeclomethasone dipropionate
Inhaled beclomethasone is one of the best-tested asthma preventers there is: a Cochrane review of 60 trials in 6542 people found clear improvements in lung function and far fewer trial withdrawals for asthma attacks against placebo, and in people on oral steroids it cut prednisolone use by about 4.91 mg a day.
2026-10-10 · 30 min read
MedicationsBenzoyl Peroxide
Limited evidence. The evidence that it helps acne is real but weaker than its ubiquity suggests.
2026-10-10 · 23 min read
MedicationsBetamethasone
What is known depends entirely on the route and the condition. The strongest evidence is for a single course injected into a pregnant woman expected to deliver preterm: Cochrane rates it high certainty that this cuts perinatal death, neonatal death and respiratory distress syndrome, with absolute reductions of roughly 2 to 4 percentage points.
2026-10-10 · 29 min read
MedicationsBrompheniramine; Dextromethorphan; Pseudoephedrine
Limited evidence. Taken as a whole, the evidence is weak and mostly about adults.
2026-10-10 · 31 min read
MedicationsBrompheniramine maleate
The literature on brompheniramine is noticeably thinner than for its siblings, and that thinness is the most honest thing to report about it.
2026-10-10 · 28 min read
MedicationsBuffered aspirin
Well established. Two separate bodies of evidence have to be kept apart here.
2026-10-10 · 40 min read
MedicationsCalcium carbonate
Disputed. Two different jobs with two different evidence bases.
2026-10-10 · 57 min read
MedicationsCamphor
For the topical cough use the human evidence is thin and comes from trials of a combination rub rather than camphor on its own.
2026-10-10 · 26 min read
MedicationsCarbaspirin calcium
Limited evidence. Pharmacologically this is aspirin delivered in a different salt.
2026-10-10 · 26 min read
MedicationsCefuroxime
Well established. The evidence differs sharply between its approved uses.
2026-10-10 · 41 min read
MedicationsChlorhexidine
For the use with the strongest evidence - mouthrinse added to tooth brushing - Cochrane-rated high-quality evidence shows a large reduction in dental plaque.
2026-10-10 · 20 min read
MedicationsChlorpheniramine maleate
For hay fever it does something modest, and the modern placebo-controlled evidence for it is surprisingly scanty for a drug this old.
2026-10-10 · 35 min read
MedicationsCholine salicylate
It is a salicylate, so it blocks cyclo-oxygenase and the prostaglandins that carry pain and inflammation signals.
2026-10-10 · 29 min read
MedicationsCiprofloxacin 0.3% / dexamethasone 0.1% otic suspension
The evidence for this product is a set of randomised trials in children with discharging ears through tympanostomy tubes and in adults and children with outer-ear infection. In those trials it cleared discharge faster than ofloxacin drops, faster than ciprofloxacin drops without the steroid, and faster than oral amoxicillin/clavulanate.
2026-10-10 · 37 min read
MedicationsCodeine; Guaifenesin
Codeine has been the standard cough medicine for decades, and the trial evidence does not support it.
2026-10-10 · 30 min read
MedicationsDexamethasone; Neomycin; Polymyxin B
The combination exists for the situation where an eye needs a steroid and there is infection or a risk of infection. The pieces have decent evidence separately and poor evidence together.
2026-10-10 · 24 min read
MedicationsDextromethorphan hydrobromide
Lead with the awkward part: the use most people know it for is the one with the weakest evidence.
2026-10-10 · 38 min read
MedicationsDiphenhydramine citrate
The evidence for what this drug does is lopsided: the efficacy base is old and small, and the harm base is recent and large.
2026-10-10 · 41 min read
MedicationsDiphenhydramine hydrochloride
The honest summary is that diphenhydramine does several things reliably and few of them are the things it is most used for.
2026-10-10 · 61 min read
MedicationsDiphenhydramine
It blocks histamine H1 receptors, which relieves itching, weals and nasal allergy symptoms.
2026-10-10 · 32 min read
MedicationsDoxylamine succinate
Disputed. The evidence is mixed and use-specific.
2026-10-10 · 53 min read
MedicationsEpinephrine, over-the-counter inhaled bronchodilator
Inhaled epinephrine does open the airways: the sponsor's own dose-ranging trials showed a measurable rise in FEV1 against placebo at doses above 125 mcg.
2026-10-10 · 30 min read