I started looking (yet again) for ways to improve my sleep; to fall asleep faster and make sleep more restorative. Chamomile is noted for relaxation so I was looking for a stronger extract of chamomile or at least the sleep-inducing part of it, thought to be a flavonoid called Apigenin. A search on Google Scholar showed that apigenin is being investigated as potential therapy for everything from cancer to Alzheimer’s. Here are some of its benefits:

Start with our personal energy production, which slows with aging, because an enzyme required for energy production (NAD+) declines with age. Why – because it is being destroyed by an inflammatory enzyme made by gene CD38 – apigenin proves to be a very effective inhibitor of CD38, which restores levels of NAD+, allowing us to feel like a 30 year-old again. Taking NMN, a precursor of NAD+ raises levels even higher, making every bodily function better.

Apigenin improves immune function in several ways, meaning we don’t get sick as often, and cells in the process of turning cancerous get killed off before they can start tumors. It throttles down several inflammatory pathways, especially those that are known to increase with aging, including virtually all the autoimmune diseases that manifest in aging. Apigenin aids directly in abdominal fat loss and improves metabolic syndrome, increasing insulin sensitivity and reducing blood sugar levels – all good!

Some interesting study references: “Apigenin restores endothelial function by ameliorating oxidative stress, reverses aortic stiffening, and mitigates vascular inflammation with aging“; “Antioxidant Apigenin Relieves Age-Related Muscle Atrophy by Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Hyperactive Mitophagy and Apoptosis in Skeletal Muscle of Mice“; “Apigenin Alleviates Oxidative Stress-Induced Cellular Senescence via Modulation of the SIRT1-NAD++-CD38 Axis“; “Apigenin as neuroprotective agent: Of mice and men“

Apigenin exhibits very low toxicity to healthy cells, but selectively induces cell death in most types of cancer cells. It crosses the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) and lowers inflammatory processes in the brain, reducing depression, anxiety and slowing if not reversing neuronal damage in the case of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS. My conviction in this regard is that apigenin promotes better operation of the recently discovered “Glymphatic System” which detoxes and cleans out our cerebrospinal fluid while we are in the deepest mode of sleep. Animal studies show improvement of memory and learning with apigenin.
Apigenin in chamomile is responsible for its popularity as a sleep aid, and acts as a sedative in higher doses. I started looking for higher dose supplements, because apigenin has very low water solubility, and would be much more bioavailable in liposomal form. I found this at Amazon: Liposomal-apigenin-500mg-.

When it arrived I took the first dose that night at 9:00 PM along with my other sleep supplements: 5-HTP 200 mg, L-theanine 200 mg, GABA 1500 mg, SAM-e 400 mg and a Costco “Sleep Aid” (Doxylamine 25 mg) which typically let me get to sleep in around a half hour. This time I seemed to take hours to conk out and it seemed like I was awake more than asleep. Taking the same the next night, I swear I was awake all night – if I wasn’t, I was dreaming that I was awake virtually all night. The time in bed was quite distressing, and I felt next day like I had been studying for a final exam all night. I took the apigenin again the next morning and it didn’t make me sleepier, so for me not a great sleep aid!

I do plan to make it a permanent part of my antiaging strategies, and I think this is a great product I hope remains available.

To Your Greater Health and Fitness,

Frank,