5-AVAB
5-aminovaleric acid betaine (5-AVAB) is a small molecule produced by the gut bacterium Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, whose levels decline with age — in mice, giving it reduced age-related inflammation and improved cognitive and motor function.
Number of studies
1
Safety
High
Time to effects
No human data — in mouse studies, effects were observed after a period of regular administration within the experiment, but no human interventional trials have been conducted yet.
Who it's for
Table of contents
TL;DR
5-aminovaleric acid betaine (5-AVAB) is a small molecule produced by the gut bacterium Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, whose levels decline with age — in mice, giving it reduced age-related inflammation and improved cognitive and motor function.
- →In mouse studies, eased chronic age-related inflammation (inflammaging) across multiple organs at once
- →Linked to improved memory, motor coordination, and mood-related behavior in aging mice
- →Lower 5-AVAB and BP bacterium levels correlate with higher microbiome biological age on the MicroAge clock — a potential aging biomarker
| Compound type | Postbiotic — a bacterial metabolite (5-aminovaleric acid betaine) |
|---|---|
| Source bacterium | Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum (BP) |
| Research level | Early — data mainly from mouse models, described in 2026 |
| Key observation | BP abundance and 5-AVAB levels decline with age in humans |
| Related biological clock | MicroAge — a microbiome-based biological age clock |
| Studied effect | Reduced inflammaging and improved cognitive/motor function in mice |
| Status in humans | No published interventional trials in humans |
Understand
Overview
5-AVAB (5-aminovaleric acid betaine) is a small microbial molecule produced by the gut bacterium Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum (BP), identified in 2026 as the key metabolite behind this bacterial species' potentially geroprotective effects. The topic combines two closely related angles: what the molecule itself is and its link to organismal aging, and how gut bacteria actually produce it.
The starting point for this research was the observation that Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum abundance in the gut microbiome declines markedly with age in both men and women. People who retained higher levels of this bacterium showed a lower "microbiome biological age" according to a microbiome clock called MicroAge, developed in the same study. Circulating blood levels of 5-AVAB — BP's main functional metabolite — also decline with age in humans, which prompted researchers to test whether directly administering the molecule could reproduce the benefits seen with higher bacterial abundance.
This is unambiguously frontier, fresh aging science — the key paper describing 5-AVAB and its link to so-called inflammaging (the chronic, low-grade inflammation that accompanies aging) was only published in 2026, and the strongest evidence so far comes from mouse models. No direct human interventional trials have been conducted yet, so calling 5-AVAB a ready-made anti-aging intervention would be premature.
Mechanism of action
Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum produces 5-AVAB through gut fermentation, likely via metabolic pathways processing amino-acid precursors (lysine derivatives) available in the intestinal lumen. The resulting molecule crosses into the bloodstream and circulates throughout the host organism, making it an example of a so-called postbiotic — a biologically active product of bacterial metabolism, rather than the live bacterium itself.
In studies on aging mice, administering 5-AVAB eased chronic, low-grade inflammation (inflammaging) simultaneously across multiple tissues — liver, lungs, muscle, kidneys, heart, and spleen — while also improving performance on tests of memory, motor coordination, and mood-related behavior. The study focused on extending so-called healthspan (the period of life spent in good health) rather than lifespan itself — a narrower goal than classic anti-aging interventions tested in animal models. The precise molecular mechanism by which 5-AVAB suppresses inflammation across so many different organs at once has not yet been fully worked out and remains a subject of ongoing research.
Production by gut bacteria
Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum produces 5-AVAB during gut fermentation from available metabolic precursors.
Entry into circulation
As a postbiotic, 5-AVAB crosses from the gut into the bloodstream and circulates through the body, reaching distant tissues.
Easing age-related inflammation
In mouse studies, 5-AVAB suppressed chronic inflammation (inflammaging) across multiple organs simultaneously.
Link to cognitive and motor function
In aging mice, 5-AVAB administration was linked to improved memory, motor coordination, and mood-related behavior test results.
Evidence: early-stage — based on 1 study in this database.
Benefits
Common myths
Myth5-AVAB is a ready-made, available anti-aging supplement.
Fact5-AVAB is not currently an available, clinically tested supplement — it is the subject of early basic research, based mainly on mouse models, with no published human interventional trials.
MythSince the bacterium and its metabolite decline with age, taking a probiotic with this species will automatically reproduce the beneficial effects.
FactThe relationship between a bacterium's presence in the gut and its circulating metabolite level in the blood is complex — it isn't yet known whether supplementing with the bacterium alone would raise 5-AVAB levels in humans the way it does in animal studies.
Check your profile
Not sure which supplements actually make sense for you?
Answer a few short questions about your lifestyle, diet, sleep, and goals. VitMode will build your profile and show supplements worth considering — with reasoning and evidence strength.
Recommendations take your answers and the strength of the scientific evidence into account. A supplement's popularity has no bearing on whether it gets recommended.
Practice
Frequently asked questions
There are no published human clinical trials confirming the safety and efficacy of 5-AVAB supplementation — available data comes from mouse studies. Any products marketed as containing 5-AVAB currently lack solid clinical backing in humans.
A probiotic delivers live bacteria, which must colonize the gut and produce the metabolite themselves. 5-AVAB is already the finished product of bacterial metabolism (a postbiotic) — hypothetically, skipping the colonization step could give a more predictable effect, but this hasn't yet been compared in studies.
At this stage of research, the direction of this relationship can't be definitively established. Mouse experiments in which 5-AVAB administration eased age-related symptoms suggest a possible causal link, but confirming this in humans requires further research.
What to combine with
Good combinations
Gut Microbiome — 5-AVAB is an example of a specific, well-characterized metabolite produced by gut bacteria, discussed more broadly in the context of health and aging
Safety
Side effects & contraindications
Possible side effects
Contraindications
No significant contraindications at typical doses.
Is it worth taking?
Who it's for
- People following frontier research on the biology of aging and the role of the gut microbiome
- People interested in the concept of postbiotics as potential geroprotective factors
Not for
- No significant contraindications at typical doses.
Evidence
Worth knowing
The name 5-AVAB comes from its full chemical name: 5-aminovaleric acid betaine.
The key study describing 5-AVAB was published in Nature Aging in August 2026, involving collaborators including the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
5-AVAB's effect was studied simultaneously across six different mouse tissues — liver, lungs, muscle, kidneys, heart, and spleen.
Studies
A geroprotective probiotic and its functional metabolite counteract inflammaging to extend healthspan
Early-stage evidenceLu X, et al. · Nature Aging · 2026
A paper identifying Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum and its metabolite 5-AVAB as factors linked to milder age-related inflammation (inflammaging) and improved cognitive and motor function in aging mice; it also describes the MicroAge microbiome-based biological age clock. Data come mainly from mouse models — direct human interventional trials have not yet been conducted.
View studySources & bibliography
Citations are illustrative for this demo version and require full bibliographic verification by the editorial team before production publication.
Compare with similar entries
About the authors of this entry
Author
dr Anna KowalczykEditor-in-Chief, Molecular Biology
Anna studied molecular biology at the University of Warsaw, then spent eight years after her PhD in a lab researching the mechanisms of cellular aging and autophagy. She stumbled into science journalism almost by accident — frustrated by how easily her field's findings get oversimplified in the media, she started a blog explaining the biology of aging in plain language. That blog became the seed of VitMode. Today Anna oversees the entire editorial process, holding every piece to the same rigor her old lab demanded: primary sources, methodology checks, and honesty about the limits of the evidence. Outside work, she's a dedicated boulderer.
121 publications on this site
Medical review
dr Piotr ZielińskiEndocrinologist
Piotr has practiced endocrinology for more than fifteen years, mostly in male hormonal disorders and metabolic health. He joined VitMode as a scientific consultant because, as he jokes, he got tired of explaining the same testosterone questions at every appointment and decided to write the answers down properly, once. He reviews content on hormone therapy, supplement pharmacology and drug interactions, making sure articles never turn into encouragement to self-supplement in situations that genuinely need diagnostics and medical supervision. His professional motto — "evidence first, enthusiasm second" — has come up more than once with a patient who arrived with a supplement plan they found online.
174 publications on this site
Related entries
4.6Gut Microbiome
Trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi colonizing the gut aren't a passive "passenger" in the body — they're an active ecosystem influencing digestion, immunity, and even mood, with an increasingly well-documented, though still not fully mapped, role in whole-body health.
4.3Inflammaging
Chronic, low-grade, systemic inflammation that accompanies aging even without an active infection — a term coined in 2000 by Claudio Franceschi, today considered one of the fundamental mechanisms linking aging to age-related disease.
3.9MicroAge
A machine-learning model that estimates biological age from the composition of the saliva microbiome — a very early, emerging approach to aging biomarkers, distinct from the mortality-focused OMAA Score.
4.2Immunosenescence
The progressive, multi-directional remodeling of the immune system with age — not a simple 'weakening,' but a complex change that both lowers the ability to fight new threats and raises the baseline level of inflammation.
3.9Urolithin C
Urolithin C is one of the lesser-known metabolites from the same family as the well-studied urolithin A — it forms from the same plant compounds, but in cell and animal studies it stands out with a different activity profile, including in the context of insulin secretion.
4.3Autophagy
An intracellular 'housekeeping' process that clears out damaged proteins and organelles, whose discovery earned a Nobel Prize — one of the key mechanisms studied in the context of slowing aging.
4.2TFEB
The transcription factor TFEB acts as a master on-off switch for autophagy and the production of new lysosomes in the cell — one of the best-characterized molecular nodes linking these two processes, studied as a potential target for interventions in aging.
4.2NAD+ Recycling
The level of NAD+ in the body isn't just about how much of the coenzyme a cell makes from scratch — it's mainly about how efficiently it reclaims NAD+ from the byproducts of its own breakdown, a process called the salvage pathway, whose efficiency declines with age regardless of how much precursor is supplied through diet or supplements.
Related articles
Badania naukoweWhat we now know about NMN and longevity — a review of human studies
NMN, a precursor of NAD+, has for years been one of the most hotly debated supplements in the biohacking community. We look at what the latest clinical trials in humans show, as distinct from earlier studies in mice.
August 11, 2026
Badania naukoweLongevity Vitamins: Which Supplements Actually Have Real Scientific Evidence Behind Them
Every supplement shelf promises a longer life in every capsule, but the hard data from large clinical trials tells a far more measured story. We go through which vitamins genuinely extend healthy lifespan in people with a real deficiency, and which — despite their popularity — have no supporting evidence at all, or worse, evidence of no benefit.
August 20, 2026
PoradnikiNMN vs NAD+ vs Resveratrol — What Actually Extends Life?
Three of the biggest names in longevity, one shared hypothesis, and a very different level of evidence in humans for each. An honest comparison of mechanism, clinical trial quality, and monthly cost — with no marketing rounding up.
August 20, 2026
PoradnikiVitamin D3 and Longevity — Does a Deficiency Shorten Your Life?
Low vitamin D levels correlate with higher mortality across dozens of observational studies, yet the massive randomized VITAL trial found no evidence that supplementation extends life in people without a deficiency. We break down this apparent contradiction piece by piece.
August 20, 2026
Comments (2)
- KW
Kasia W. 2 weeks ago
Very clearly explained, especially the interactions section — I hadn't seen it laid out this well anywhere else.
- MT
Marek T. a month ago
Are you planning to update this with the newest study from this year? I saw an interesting meta-analysis.