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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MedicationsFluticasone furoate with vilanterol
For COPD with a history of exacerbations the pragmatic Salford Lung Study found an 8.4% lower exacerbation rate than continuing usual care over a year.
2026-10-03 · 39 min read
MedicationsGlimepiride
Glimepiride makes the pancreas release insulin whether or not blood glucose is high, and that single fact explains both its strength and its main danger.
2026-10-03 · 29 min read
SupplementsGuggul
Disputed. The state of the evidence: it is genuinely split.
2026-10-03 · 16 min read
MedicationsHydralazine
Disputed. The outcome evidence is split by what it is used for.
2026-10-03 · 23 min read
MedicationsHydrochlorothiazide; Triamterene
Thiazide diuretics have high-quality randomised evidence that they lower blood pressure and reduce death.
2026-10-03 · 35 min read
MedicationsHydrocortisone
Well established. The uses split into two very different evidence bases.
2026-10-03 · 40 min read
MedicationsHydroxychloroquine
Well established. In lupus the evidence is good.
2026-10-03 · 32 min read
MedicationsInsulin degludec
Degludec lowers blood glucose the way the body's own insulin does, by pushing glucose into muscle and fat and switching off glucose production by the liver.
2026-10-03 · 21 min read
MedicationsInsulin Detemir
What is well established is that it lowers blood glucose, and that in randomised trials it reaches the same HbA1c as NPH insulin while causing less hypoglycaemia - particularly overnight - and less weight gain. What is not established is any effect on the things people care about most. The Cochrane review of long-acting analogues against NPH rated the...
2026-10-03 · 26 min read
MedicationsInsulin human with insulin isophane human
Insulin lowers blood glucose by driving glucose into muscle and fat and shutting off the liver's glucose output.
2026-10-03 · 39 min read
MedicationsInsulin Isophane
Insulin replaces or supplements the body's own insulin, lowering blood glucose by pushing glucose into muscle and fat and switching off glucose production by the liver.
2026-10-03 · 30 min read
MedicationsIpratropium bromide
Inhaled, it blocks the vagal nerve signal that keeps airway muscle partly contracted, so the airway widens.
2026-10-03 · 37 min read
MedicationsIrbesartan
Well established. The strongest evidence is for the kidney.
2026-10-03 · 30 min read
MedicationsIsosorbide
Both are vasodilators: they release nitric oxide, which relaxes the smooth muscle in blood vessels, mainly veins, so less blood returns to the heart and the heart has less work to do.
2026-10-03 · 49 min read
MedicationsKetoconazole
Ketoconazole kills fungi by blocking the enzyme that converts lanosterol to ergosterol, so the fungal cell membrane fails.
2026-10-03 · 30 min read
MedicationsKetorolac tromethamine
For short-term severe acute pain the evidence is reasonably good: pooled single-dose trials give a number-needed-to-treat of about 3 for at least half the pain relieved.
2026-10-03 · 25 min read
MedicationsLabetalol hydrochloride
For lowering blood pressure it works, and the label documents the dose-response in detail.
2026-10-03 · 41 min read
MedicationsLansoprazole
Lansoprazole reliably cuts stomach acid, and the randomised evidence for healing damaged oesophagus and preventing ulcers is strong and quantified: 8-week healing rate ratio 1.62 (95% CI 1.46-1.76) against ranitidine.
2026-10-03 · 37 min read
MedicationsLetrozole
Well established. In postmenopausal breast cancer the evidence is strong and quantified.
2026-10-03 · 32 min read
MedicationsLevetiracetam
It reduces seizures, and the evidence for that in drug-resistant focal epilepsy as an add-on is solid: in the pivotal placebo-controlled trials it cut weekly partial seizure frequency by 26.1% to 30.1% over placebo.
2026-10-03 · 30 min read
MedicationsLevocetirizine
Randomised placebo-controlled trials show levocetirizine reduces nasal and eye symptoms in allergic rhinitis and reduces itch in chronic idiopathic urticaria.
2026-10-03 · 34 min read
MedicationsLevofloxacin
Levofloxacin kills bacteria, and for several respiratory and urinary infections trial evidence is consistent with benefit.
2026-10-03 · 40 min read
MedicationsLinaclotide
Well established. It makes the bowel wetter and faster.
2026-10-03 · 43 min read
MedicationsLiothyronine sodium
T3 is the form of thyroid hormone that actually acts on cells, so giving it works biochemically: trials consistently show higher blood T3 and lower T4.
2026-10-03 · 27 min read