Tier 2 — strong

Higher spermidine intake is linked to lower mortality: a prospective population-based study

Kiechl S, Pechlaner R, Willeit P, Notdurfter M, Paulweber B, Willeit K, Werner P, Ruckenstuhl C, Iglseder B, Weger S, et al.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2018 108(2):371-380

Bibliography

PubMed: PMID 29955838
DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy102
Funding: Supported by the Austrian Science Fund and institutional grants to the Medical University of Innsbruck and Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg; full disclosure in the original publication.
Competing interests: None declared in the published article.

Study snapshot

Design	Prospective community-based cohort study with independent replication cohort
Model	Human adults, general population cohort
Sample	829 participants (Bruneck cohort), independently validated in the SAPHIR cohort
Intervention	Dietary spermidine intake, assessed via repeated validated food-frequency questionnaires (not a supplement intervention)
Duration	20 years of follow-up (1995-2015)
Endpoints	All-cause mortality

What the study showed, in plain terms

This 20-year study followed over 800 adults and found that those who ate the most spermidine-rich foods had meaningfully lower death rates than those who ate the least, independent of overall diet quality and other risk factors.

Key findings

Participants in the highest third of dietary spermidine intake had substantially lower all-cause mortality than those in the lowest third, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.76 per 1-SD increase in intake. The finding was independently validated in a second cohort (SAPHIR) and was robust to adjustment for lifestyle and dietary confounders.

What this study can and cannot tell us

This is an observational dietary study, not a supplement trial, so it cannot prove that spermidine itself — rather than the overall dietary pattern rich in spermidine foods — caused the mortality reduction. Residual confounding by diet quality remains possible.

Citation network

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Jul 11, 2026 Fisetin vs Spermidine: Two Different Longevity Bets (2026)Fisetin is studied as a candidate senolytic, while spermidine is studied for autophagy-related biology. Their mechanisms and human evidence are different, and...Read analysis

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Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction

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