Hi Reader,

This week’s health headlines swing from revolutionary to alarming. The Gates Foundation just placed a record-breaking $2.5 billion bet on women’s health and longevity. At the same time, two conference-goers landed on ventilators after getting exhibit hall peptide injections, and researchers discovered we now carry a plastic spoon’s worth of microplastics - each - in our brains.

Today's letter will cover two big topics with a lot of new science, so buckle up!

Extending ovarian health means extending life—regardless of fertility

The ovary burns out decades before other organs. Menopause hits around age 51 while life expectancy pushes 80. This isn't just a fertility issue. When ovarian function declines, women lose hormonal protection against cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, cognitive decline, and all-cause mortality.

The economic impact is staggering: menopausal health issues cost the US economy $1.8 billion annually in lost productivity alone. We're finally seeing interventions that could extend ovarian function by years.

Rapamycin: Weekly Pills for Ovarian Youth

Columbia University's VIBRANT study is testing whether rapamycin (an immunosuppressant typically used to prevent organ rejection) could delay ovarian aging. Early results from 50 women aged 35-45 suggest a weekly 5mg dose might extend fertility by five years.

The mechanism: rapamycin activates autophagy, the cellular recycling process that clears damaged proteins and organelles. Animal studies show just 2 weeks of treatment can extend fertility for 16+ months in both young and middle-aged female mice.

VIBRANT Participants also reported better memory, hair, and nails, suggesting broader anti-aging effects. Columbia is now expanding to 1,000 women.

The timeline: If successful, rapamycin for ovarian aging could be available within 3-5 years. Much faster than most longevity interventions because the fertility endpoints are measurable within months, not decades.

Importantly, the findings can be extrapolated for general longevity not just for females, but all of us interested in an effective, accessible intervention.

How Stress Matters for Ovarian Longevity at the Cellular Level

New research in Nature Aging revealed that women with premature ovarian failure often have defective NCOA7 protein. This cellular "janitor" normally clears out stress granules (temporary storage compartments cells create during oxidative stress).

When NCOA7 fails, stress granules accumulate, triggering cellular senescence and accelerated ovarian aging. The fix? Boosting autophagy (again, with rapamycin) or delivering functional NCOA7 via nanoparticles successfully reversed aging in human ovarian cells.

Frontier Regenerative Approaches: PRP and Stem Cells

Intraovarian platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection (a technique commonly used in orthopedics and sports medicine) concentrates a patient's growth factors and delivers them directly to ovaries. Meta-analysis of 38 studies involving 2,200+ women showed significant improvements in hormone profiles and fertility markers, with pregnancy rates of 12-20%.

More sophisticated is Spain's "Stem Cell Regenera" protocol: mobilize stem cells from bone marrow using G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, typically used in cancer treatment to boost white blood cell production), then inject stem cell-enriched PRP into ovaries. In 145 women with ovarian failure, this achieved 68% oocyte activation, 7% spontaneous pregnancies, and 14% IVF pregnancies.

Your Move

These approaches need larger, longer trials. PRP protocols need standardization. But unlike most anti-aging interventions, we can measure success within months through hormone levels, follicle counts, and pregnancy rates.

Your action plan: If you're a woman over 35 with concerns about ovarian reserve, consider getting baseline AMH and FSH testing now. Track Columbia's VIBRANT study expansion for potential participation, or discuss rapamycin with your doctor.

The convergence of evidence from multiple therapeutic approaches points to the same conclusion: ovarian aging isn't inevitable. We may finally have tools to slow it down.

Following Healthy Eating Guidelines? You’re Likely Still Losing Half the Weight You Could

A landmark study published in Nature Medicine just shattered a fundamental assumption about healthy eating. Researchers at University College London fed 50 adults two different 8-week diets, both perfectly aligned with the UK’s official healthy eating guidelines. The twist? One diet used minimally processed foods (think home-cooked meals from raw ingredients), while the other used ultra-processed foods (UPFs) like breakfast cereals, ready meals, and packaged breads.

Both groups lost weight. But...people on the minimally processed diet lost twice as much weight (1.84 kg vs 0.88 kg) and showed significant reductions in body fat, visceral fat, and food cravings. The ultra-processed group? No meaningful fat loss despite following the exact same nutritional guidelines.

This is the first study to prove that how your food is processed matters as much as what nutrients it contains.

Red Meat Gets Vindicated While Plant-Based “Healthy” but Processed Foods Don’t

Meanwhile, a separate meta-analysis of 24 intervention trials found that unprocessed red meat - often vilified in dietary guidelines - showed no significant effect on weight gain, BMI, or body fat percentage. This suggests the problem isn’t meat itself, but rather the processing and additives in many meat products.

The researchers noted that protein-rich foods like lean unprocessed meat actually increase satiety and could potentially support weight management when used strategically.

Why One Bite Turns Into the Whole Bag (Spoiler: It’s Not Your Willpower)

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are designed to short-circuit the body’s natural “I’m full” signals:

• Calorie density: Water and fiber are stripped out, while sugar and fat are pumped in—so you rack up calories long before you feel full.
• Fast-track eating: Soft textures mean fewer chews and 40 % faster bites (Japanese data). Your brain’s satiety alarms never catch up.
• Hormone hijack: UPFs suppress the appetite-braking hormones GLP-1 and PYY while boosting hunger-spiking ghrelin. Cravings stay switched on.
• Microbiome mayhem: Additives feed inflammatory gut bugs, undermining leptin sensitivity—the signal that tells your brain “we’re fed.”
• Engineered bliss point: Precision blends of sugar, fat, and salt light up reward circuits like a slot machine, making it nearly impossible to stop at one serving.

Bottom line: Even when a UPF has “healthy” nutrients on the label, its texture, chemistry, and speed of consumption push you to overeat - and stall weight-loss efforts - before willpower ever enters the picture.

UPFs make up over 50% of energy intake in the UK and US, and nearly 70% of what American children eat.

The 3-Day Photo Test That Reveals Your Weight Loss Saboteurs

Identify your UPF intake: Use your phone to photograph everything you eat for three days. Look for ingredient lists with more than five items or ingredients you wouldn’t cook with at home.

Start with breakfast: Swap packaged cereals for steel-cut oats, plain yogurt with fruit instead of flavored varieties, or eggs instead of breakfast bars. Breakfast sets the metabolic tone for your entire day.

Focus on the perimeter: Shop mainly around the edges of grocery stores where fresh, minimally processed foods are typically located.

Read labels differently: Instead of just checking calories and macros, count ingredients and aim for max 3. Foods with fewer, recognizable ingredients are generally less processed.

Cook conveniently: Prepare batches of minimally processed staples (roasted vegetables, cooked grains, proteins) to make healthy eating more convenient. Use frozen if needed for convenient, quality ingredients.

If you’ve been struggling with weight loss despite “eating healthy,” the problem might not be your willpower or metabolism. It might be that your food is working against you at the cellular level, no matter how virtuous the nutrition label looks.

Hillary Lin, MD

Co-Founder & CEO

​Care Core​

​

Follow me for more longevity insights: YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTok​

Want to turn your wellness brand into a full-service health destination? Learn about Care Core's platform or Get Started Here​