Humanin is a component of the body that prevents many common diseases. Specifically, humanin can be found inside the power source of the cells, the mitochondria.
Research published recently in the journal Aging, from the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology showed that humanin is associated with a longer life span in animals and humans.
The study looked at several organisms like the C. Elegans worm and the naked mole-rat. The naked mole-rat stands out among rodents because of its long life span of more than 30 years with no change in their body composition and function as they age.
Usually, in any organism, the levels of humanin go down with age, even with humans. However, in centenarians, those who live up to a hundred years old, it usually stays high. In fact, even the children of centenarians also showed that they have more humanin compared to others.
Effects of Humanin
Humanin is involved in the maintenance of the mitochondria, the energy source of cells. It is similar to the battery of cell phones. A cell phone with several apps is useless with a dead battery.
Humanin protects cells by assuring that it has enough energy to maintain itself. Humanin also has multiple roles in preventing common diseases like atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis involves all the blood vessels supplying the different organs in the body. That is why it is related to strokes, heart attacks, hypertension, and kidney disease.
Cell-Protective Effects
In their study, mice that have been genetically mutated to produce more humanin were subjected to cyclophosphamide. Cyclophosphamide is a drug used in cancer chemotherapy with many side effects.
The study showed that the humanin transgenic mice had fewer side effects when they were exposed to cyclophosphamide. The side effects were a decrease in the lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cells. Lack of lymphocytes results in early cell death or apoptosis.
The effect of cellular apoptosis on an organ is similar to an office, with many f its employees not showing up for work.
They also did another study, This time, synthetic humanin was injected into mice. After a few days, those mice have less body weight and visceral fat without a change in the subcutaneous fat (fat under the skin, which is good for metabolism).
Visceral fat is found inside the abdomen. In excess, it coats the internal organs and is a source of cytokines that causes inflammation. Diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and many others are all related to inflammation.
On the other hand, subcutaneous fat that is located just under the skin is good for metabolism and not associated with inflammation.
That is why low humanin levels can mean a higher tendency to develop diseases like cancer, kidney disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
In animal models, humanin has shown to be protective against Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, humanin was first discovered when they were looking for proteins that can reverse the amyloid build up in Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s disease patients have low humanin levels.
Exercise and Humanin Levels
In the study mentioned above, mice were injected with humanin analogs. These analogs are not available in the market for human use yet. However, there are ways to increase humanin by exercise.
High-Intensity Interval Training
In a study of young untrained men who did 10 x 60 seconds of all-out stationary cycling, the humanin in the muscle and plasma increased acutely after training.
Resistance Training
Another research of 55 men with prediabetes was studied to see if humanin will go up after resistance training.
They trained 3 times a week for 12 weeks with progressive increases in the weights every week. The training program was intense enough to reach loads of 80 – 90% of a maximum repetition (1 RM) in the last 2 weeks.
The result showed increased humanin levels in the muscle tissues by 35% and lower blood sugars as evidence by a 2-hour glucose loading test.
Physical Activity and Life Span
Humanin levels can explain why physical activity correlates with lifespan. People who do more exercise in terms of frequency and intensity are found to have a longer life compared to others with lesser activity.
An article with the many studies that show that exercises prolong life are contained in Physical Activity Correlates with Life Span.
What is impressive is that physical fitness and strength lowers the risk of dying from all causes. That includes common chronic diseases that are in the top ten causes of deaths, severe infections, cancers, and trauma.
The American Heart Association recommends 150 hours of moderate-intensity exercises or 75 minutes of vigorous activities per week. An article about exercise guidelines for different age groups, including pregnant women, can be read in Exercise Guidelines.
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References:
- . The mitochondrial-derived peptide humanin is a regulator of lifespan and healthspan. Aging (Albany, NY). 2020; 12:11185-11199. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103534
- Jonathan S. T. Woodhead, Randall F. D’Souza, Christopher P. Hedges, Junxiang Wan, Michael V. Berridge, David Cameron-Smith, Pinchas Cohen, Anthony J. R. Hickey, Cameron J. Mitchell, and Troy L. Merry. High-intensity interval exercise increases humanin, a mitochondrial encoded peptide, in the plasma and muscle of men. Journal of Applied Physiology 2020 128:5, 1346-1354
- Gidlund, Eva-Karin et al. “Humanin skeletal muscle protein levels increase after resistance training in men with impaired glucose metabolism.” Physiological reports, vol. 4,23 (2016): e13063. doi:10.14814/phy2.13063
Image Credit: Humanin By WriteScience – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35996267
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