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.
579 items
MedicationsProgesterone
Disputed. The evidence is strongest for two things.
2026-10-03 · 23 min read
MedicationsPromethazine
Limited evidence. The evidence is thin for a drug this old.
2026-10-03 · 34 min read
MedicationsRamipril
Ramipril lowers blood pressure and, in two large placebo-controlled outcome trials, lowered the risk of dying.
2026-10-03 · 46 min read
MedicationsRimegepant
The strongest evidence is for stopping a single migraine attack: in placebo-controlled trials about one in five people were pain-free two hours after a 75 mg dose, compared with about one in ten on placebo.
2026-10-03 · 26 min read
MedicationsRisperidone
Risperidone reliably reduces the symptoms of acute psychosis and reduces relapse when continued.
2026-10-03 · 36 min read
MedicationsRizatriptan
The evidence is that rizatriptan shortens an individual migraine attack; it does not prevent migraine.
2026-10-03 · 26 min read
MedicationsRopinirole
Well established. The evidence is strongest for two things and weaker than most people assume for a third.
2026-10-03 · 29 min read
MedicationsSacubitril; Valsartan
Well established. The evidence is strong for one specific situation and weak or absent for the others.
2026-10-03 · 19 min read
MedicationsSenna; Docusate
Limited evidence. The two halves have very different evidence.
2026-10-03 · 41 min read
MedicationsSildenafil
For erectile dysfunction the evidence is strong and comes from many randomised placebo-controlled trials pooled in a systematic review: sildenafil raises the proportion of intercourse attempts that succeed.
2026-10-03 · 29 min read
SupplementsSilicon
Limited evidence. The human evidence is limited and mostly indirect.
2026-10-03 · 16 min read
MedicationsSitagliptin
The evidence is that sitagliptin lowers blood sugar modestly and does not change the risk of heart attack, stroke or death.
2026-10-03 · 29 min read
MedicationsSodium Fluoride
For preventing tooth decay the evidence is strong and quantified at the low end of exposure, and it gets contested as exposure rises.
2026-10-03 · 35 min read
SupplementsSodium
The state of the evidence: how much sodium people eat is one of the most heavily trialled questions in nutrition, and reducing it lowers blood pressure by a small but reproducible amount.
2026-10-03 · 14 min read
MedicationsSodium Salts
Disputed. What the evidence shows depends entirely on which salt and which use.
2026-10-03 · 41 min read
MedicationsSolifenacin succinate
Well established. The randomised evidence shows a real but modest effect.
2026-10-03 · 34 min read
SupplementsStrontium
Almost everything known about strontium and fractures comes from one prescription drug, strontium ranelate, at 2 g a day - not from the citrate salt sold as a supplement.
2026-10-03 · 20 min read
MedicationsSulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim
Well established. It kills bacteria by blocking two consecutive steps in folate synthesis.
2026-10-03 · 33 min read
MedicationsTacrolimus
For transplantation, the evidence is strong: a meta-analysis of 30 randomised trials in 4,102 kidney transplant recipients found tacrolimus better than ciclosporin at preventing graft loss and acute rejection.
2026-10-03 · 28 min read
MedicationsTadalafil
Tadalafil does not create arousal; it amplifies a signal that only appears when nitric oxide is already being released.
2026-10-03 · 23 min read
MedicationsTelmisartan
The evidence is strongest for what telmisartan does to blood pressure: placebo-controlled trials show falls of roughly 6 to 13 mmHg systolic depending on dose.
2026-10-03 · 29 min read
MedicationsTerazosin
For urinary symptoms of an enlarged prostate the evidence is solid and the effect is symptomatic, not disease-modifying.
2026-10-03 · 39 min read
MedicationsTerbinafine
For nail infection, Cochrane rates the evidence as high quality: oral terbinafine was six times more likely than placebo to achieve clinical cure, and it probably beats the azoles with the same risk of side effects.
2026-10-03 · 25 min read
MedicationsTicagrelor
Well established. The evidence for ticagrelor is unusually large and splits sharply by who is taking it.
2026-10-03 · 51 min read