TOGETHER WITH

Welcome back to The Drop In, DoubleBlind’s newsletter serving up news, culture, and independent journalism about psychedelics straight to your inbox.

Today’s lead story is about early research looking at how psilocybin might protect skin cells from the kind of damage brought on by a high-sugar, high-fat diet. The study undoubtedly has its caveats, but in a country where the food system is stacked against us in a multitude of ways — like containing additives that are banned in other countries and just the sheer difficulty of eating well, to name a couple — a study about defending our bodies from the foods most easily consumed in the US is both a gut punch and fascinating. You can find the piece below!

If you keep scrolling, you’ll find stories about Resilient Pharmaceuticals refiling its MDMA-assisted therapy application to the FDA, a new gripping biography about Carlos Castaneda and psychedelic grifters mirroring his path, and how the wellness space needs better, more ethical facilitators.

Manifesting cooler temps for all,
Mary Carreón
Editor-in-Chief

On October 13-14, Beyond Wonderland will be taking over Austin, Texas, to present the most important research and progress happening in human consciousness right now!

Over two days, you’ll hear from experts discussing the latest on:

You’ll hear from an array of experts, including MAPS founder Rick Doblin, renowned mycologist Paul Stamets, documentary filmmaker Celine Cousteau, and many, many more!

Now part of Dave Asprey's Beyond ecosystem, Beyond Wonderland brings together the people building what comes next. Federal agencies are finally moving to accelerate psychedelic research, and many of the people driving that shift will be in the room.

DoubleBlind readers get 20% off with discount code DB20.
Discount ends Sept 4 at midnight!

Register Here

A new study found psilocybin eased signs of aging in human skin cells stressed by sugar and fat, but its real-world applications are still unclear.

Anti-aging is the backbone of the skin care industry. Especially in the United States, a large swath of the skin care industry is designed around maintaining or achieving the elusive appearance of youth. Topical anti-aging products, however, generally have a low ceiling of efficacy, leading people to med spas for a conveyor belt of injectables and treatments to preserve or restore radiant, buoyant skin. And when it comes to how diet factors into aging, most people don’t know where to begin. But what if psilocybin mushrooms could actually protect skin cells from premature aging?

Researchers at the University of Lethbridge in Canada, led by Farzaneh Norouzkhani, found early evidence that psilocybin may help protect human skin cells from one culprit behind sagging, wrinkling skin: A poor diet. Published in the journal Biochemistry and Cell Biology, the study suggests that psilocybin eases inflammation and cellular stress in skin cells exposed to high levels of sugar and fats, PsyPost originally reported. 

“Diet plays a critical role in mitochondrial health and the aging process,” the study’s authors write. “Elevated glucose levels have been linked to increased oxidative stress…Chronic high glucose exposure has also been associated with disrupted mitochondrial dynamics, aggravating cellular dysfunction, and senescence [or when a cell permanently stops dividing, but does not die]. These processes are implicated in aging-related conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.”

The team studied fibroblasts, or the cells that produce collagen and elastin. Both of which are proteins that form a scaffolding that keep your skin firm and springy. A diet rich in sugar and unhealthy fats, such as sugary sodas and fried foods, speeds up the aging process causing some of the proteins in your skin, like collagen, to become brittle. To mimic this type of metabolic stress, the researchers marinated cells in high glucose and palmitic acid, replicating the common fats and sugars present in a diet heavy in processed and fried foods, for 48 hours. It sent fibroblasts into senescence and ultimately led to inflammation, which began to corrode nearby tissue.

The scientists used psilocybin to test the cells at two different points of the study to best gauge how the psychoactive compound impacted the stressed-out cells. They treated the cells at the same time the fat and sugar infiltrated the cells as a way to test damage prevention, and treated them afterwards to see if it could repair damage. They ultimately found that both approaches worked. The treated cells were more likely to stay alive and showed fewer signs of aging, according to the researchers measurements. But the psilocybin worked best when added at the same time as the sugars and unhealthy fats, as the cells were less likely to self-destruct and they went back to growing and dividing on a more normal schedule. 

Psilocybin also seemed to help skin cells rebuild the materials it needs to maintain youthful looking skin. Skin gets its bounce and radiance from collagen and elastin. When the psilocybin was administered to the cell at the same time as the sugar and fat, the cell was prompted to speed up its elastin production. Collagen production hardly changed, though, so the benefits only went so far. When psilocybin was administered after, it reduced inflammation, which wears skin structure down over time.

It’s still unclear how psilocybin achieves these outcomes. We know that psilocybin binds to serotonin receptors and fibroblasts in the skin also contain those same receptors. The study’s authors suspect the link is what creates the effect. But they never tested that directly, so the mechanism of how the compound protects skin remains unknown. 

There are several caveats to this study however. The first — and very obvious one — is that the research was conducted in a petri dish in a lab, making it nearly impossible to translate the data into real-world applications. Additionally, it’s unclear how a person would actually get psilocybin to specifically impact their skin. The researchers directly bathed isolated skin cells in psilocybin at concentrations likely far higher than what circulates in the body during a psychedelic experience. The authors suspect the psilocybin would have to be applied topically rather than swallowed. But it’s unclear whether psilocybin can even be absorbed through the skin. 

“While the in vitro nature of this study limits its direct translation to in vivo settings, these findings highlight the potential of psilocybin in mitigating age-related skin changes and promoting overall skin health,” the study’s authors wrote. “Further research is needed to investigate its long-term effects, optimal dosage, and mechanisms of action in vivo to validate its therapeutic potential. Additionally, exploring its interactions with other anti-aging compounds and evaluating its clinical applications will be essential.”

At Dave Asprey’s Beyond Wonderland held on October 13-14 in Austin, Texas, you’ll have the opportunity to try this technology.

Think EEG-driven neurostimulation, digital therapeutics, biofeedback, and vagal nerve work, all of which are designed to give you more clarity, focus, and control over your own state of mind.

Meet the people building this new technology and learn about the research behind why and how it works

DoubleBlind readers get 20% off with discount code DB20.

Register for this event