Taking a drug called sirolimus once a week might help older adults get stronger when combined with weight training, by giving muscles a break to clean out damaged parts between workouts — but we’re not sure yet if this actually works in people.

0

Pro

62

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No supporting evidence found

Contradicting (1)

62

Community contributions welcome

62

A single-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, two-arm study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of once-weekly sirolimus (rapamycin) on muscle strength and endurance in older adults following a 13-week exercise program

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2024 Oct 1

The study is testing the same idea—giving older adults weekly sirolimus with exercise—but the results aren’t available yet, so we can’t say if it works or not.

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

A single-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, two-arm study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of once-weekly sirolimus (rapamycin) on muscle strength and endurance in older adults following a 13-week exercise program

Score: 62

DOI: 10.1186/s13063-024-08490-2

Similar Assertions

Taking a weekly 6 mg dose of the drug sirolimus doesn't help older adults get extra benefits from exercise — and might even cancel out some of the gains they'd normally see.

73

0

84%

Taking rapamycin between workouts might help your muscles clean out junk and rebuild stronger as you age — like getting the best of both rest and exercise.

11

73

83%

Taking rapamycin with exercise might help improve muscle strength in older people by affecting a specific cell pathway in the body.

0

73

73%

When you lift weights, your muscles turn on a specific molecular switch called mTORC1, which helps build more muscle protein. But just because this switch flips on right after a workout doesn’t mean you’ll definitely get bigger muscles over time—it doesn’t always line up.

1

0

72%

As we get older, a protein in our muscles called mTORC1 can become overactive, which slows down the body's cleanup process for damaged parts inside cells. Taking rapamycin might help turn that cleanup process back on.

0

73

72%