Why, Gods Of Biochemistry, Why?!!!:
Aging introduces what seem to be a whole host of unfair changes at just about every level of biology.
And depending on your genes & environment, these changes can start becoming noticeable as early as the age of 30.
Unless you’re Elizabeth Bathory, or HealthTrekker’s favorite immortal, Yazemeenah Rossi, these changes can add up fast.
So what do you do if you feel young & you want your body to keep up with your spirit?
The First “Hacker” Finds A Solution:
Well, our dark-ages monster Elizabeth began the very early, crazy-person stages of that research.
-Which is now becoming more formalized, less… -medieval, and increasingly-available to (admittedly-wealthy) civilians through a few new startups.
And to that end, new companies like Ambrosia in Monterey, California are launching right off the bat with their own treatment-trials in-place from day one.
These companies are based off the early studies from the 50s and more recent ones by Stanford, Harvard, et al. from just a few years ago.
As Simple As An Oil-Change:
As a refresher from our original Bathory post, the idea was simple:
Exchange blood or plasma from young mice into older ones, and muscle tone, brain health and activity level are all significantly improved.
The way Ambrosia will do this is by 4 plasma transfusions per week totaling about 1.5 liters from donors between 16 and 25 years old.
The way they’ll decipher the results won’t be limited to patient-reporting. They’ll try to collect data on about 100 indicators from the subjects before and after the work. Inflammation-signals will probably be a big part of this.
Out With The Bad? -We Hope:
We assume that as part of the procedures, they’ll also be Removing equal volumes of blood from the test-subjects.
-Because in both the 2014 study and a few others, it has been shown that there are products like ferritin that can build-up in people’s blood as they age.
This is also one of the main theories on why women live longer and have a greater healthspan than men, because up to a certain age, they lose more blood.
More-shocking than that data-point, in the Harvard/Stanford study the 2 mice’s circulatory-systems were connected and the young mice lost vitality while the older ones gained it; just like some magic spell from Hans Christian Andersen.
So it’s not just about Gaining something good, it’s about Losing something unhealthy too.
Just Like A Fairy-Tale, Complete With Vulture Capitalists:
The other odd part about Ambrosia is that it’s basically taking a Venture Capitalist approach to clinical trials, also.
With no existing trials completed, every single one of the participants is paying a minimum of $8000 to receive the treatments and have their data all be potentially published as Ambrosia’s first study.
-Paying Beta-Testers, if you will…
With enough subscribers, they say their first trial could grow as large as 600 people.
Just Like A Version 1 Apple Product, Paying Beta Testers:
And now as before, there is a fair amount of debate about the procedure & value of this test, as there was about even the previous results.
A few studies since the Stanford/Harvard one have gone back & forth over the presence or value of the main value-adding component: a protein called GDF11.
Some claim it declines with age, other studies the reverse; still more conclude supplementation doesn’t help.
As Before, It’s Probably A Cocktail, Not Just 1 Factor:
But like it or not, that Stanford/Harvard study absolutely Did show results, and exactly the type people want & will Pay for.
We live in a culture of self-improvement & undergoing almost any transmutation to improve yourself to gain or retain a competitive edge.
So it’s no wonder this type of company would of-course pop up now & in Silicon Valley of all places.
Either way, if the researchers get rid of some semi-mysterious buildup and then swap in GDF11+X-Factors, then maybe science really has found another way for average mortals to stay as clever & good-looking as Yazemeenah as long as possible.
But don’t just listen to HT, Billionaire VC Peter Thiel thinks Ambrosia is a great idea, too.
Check out the details at the Links:
Photo Credits: Tin Sign Advertisement For Moxie Soda with Ted Williams, by Moxie Soda
Links:
• Source: TechnologyReview
• More Coverage: HT
• Source Studies:
• Science-Restoring Systemic GDF11 Levels Reverses Age-Related Dysfunction in Mouse Skeletal Muscle
• Science-Vascular and Neurogenic Rejuvenation of the Aging Mouse Brain by Young Systemic Factors
• Aging.Cell-Lack of evidence for GDF11 as a rejuvenator of aged skeletal muscle satellite cells
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