How old are you? New tests want to know
Can you live longer? How to measure aging and weakness in the early 21st century: What can biotech companies have to offer to save the most?
Longevity researchers would tell you that aging itself is a disease that we can understand and treat, cancer and heart disease and dementia only its symptoms. They would tell you that the first person to live until 150 has already been born. The dream of biotech billionaires was created by fears of death and the illusion of control. There is real science here but on the other side of the coin. I let myself imagine. Maybe he will make it to that high school graduation after all.
Being able to entertain this reality is a privilege, as is the choice to start a family after my 40th birthday. The wealthiest among us live on average nearly 10 disability-free years longer than the poorest. As the data behind anti-aging science become more robust and actionable, this difference is likely to grow even more profound.
What would you find if you could measure my patient’s age instead of their biological age? We talk about how to measure weakness and fatigue. A gold standard is not present in the metric, so it is unclear if this is more meaningful than chronological age when making decisions about what interventions a patient can endure.
Companies that offer a simpler answer are at the forefront of longevity science. If you take a few drops of blood, you will get an estimate of your genetic age, based on the length of your telomeres and the amounts of impurities in your genetic material. Maybe this value is worth something, but it isn’t entirely clear if having a younger genetic than chronological age gives you a better life.
Why Is My Body Aging Or Why I Cannot Agitate (likely)? The Case of Melanoma Survivor Melanie Goldey
It might. And so there’s a part of me that’s tempted to send off my own blood, but I am not sure I want the information that I would receive in return. It could be that it would worry me or it could be that it would give me false reassurance. Even if we could slow down the clock, there would never be enough time for me to take care of my patients in the intensive care unit.
A few months ago, I found myself in a panic about a mole on my back, convinced that I had developed melanoma. This is not an implausible fear — we see stories begin this way all the time in the intensive care unit. The patient presentation is a 41 year old woman with no significant past medical history, six months pregnant, who was diagnosed with metastasis of melanoma. I scheduled myself an urgent appointment with a dermatologist, who took one look at my back and announced that I had no reason to worry. These were places for young people to hangout. For a moment I was taken aback. Are there age spots? But I’m ——”
“What we are trying to do, at the highest level, is to change the way we age,” says Melanie Goldey, CEO of Tally Health. “It’s one number that tells you how your body is really aging versus how many birthdays you’ve had.” (Goldey says her biological age is about six months younger than her chronological one.)
Sinclair was a controversial researcher in the antiaging field thanks to his promotion of the compound Resveratrol, which he once said was as close to a miracle molecule as you can find. Other researchers have been more cautious about resveratrol’s possible benefits, given its mixed results in animal tests. (Sinclair takes resveratrol supplements daily, and his Harvard lab is still pursuing research on the compound). Sinclair has founded several biotech companies, including ones focused on longevity, and his 2019 book Lifespan: Why We Age–and Why We Don’t Have To, debuted on The New York Times bestseller list.
Personalized Lifestyle Recommendations at a New York City, NJ, Placement: A Time-of-Frequency Study
In addition to giving each customer an age reading, the New York City–based company provides an action plan of personalized lifestyle recommendations, such as getting more sleep, spending less time sitting, minimizing stress, or eating more vegetables—arguably things that most people could benefit from. Users can take a one-time test for $229 or get a membership to test every three months so they can monitor their biological age over time. “We think that’s a good amount of time for people to get their action plan, be empowered by the information, choose the adjustments they want to make, and actually implement some change,” Goldey says. She says the company had amassed a wait list of more than 270,000 people when it launched, although she didn’t say how many people have signed up for a membership, which ranges from $129 to $199 a month.
