Ian Tait isn’t obsessed with health. He enjoys drinking and partying. He doesn’t wear a fitness tracker.
But Tate, 50, pays more than $20,000 a year for membership at Hook, a London-based private practice focused on longevity.
When Tate, an asset manager, learned that he had high cholesterol levels and that a friend had suddenly died of a heart attack, he convinced him to take his health more seriously. “Something changes, you feel a little weaker, and you start thinking about your own mortality,” he said.
We know that many people are willing to pay large sums of money to avoid the fear of death. The number of high-end health and longevity clinics is rapidly increasing. Although hard data on the industry is lacking, one estimate puts there are as many as 800 such clinics in the United States alone. Some pay five-figure annual fees for access to many medical tests and personalized health recommendations. Additionally, a la carte anti-aging treatments can cost thousands of dollars per session.
Patients say the intervention makes them feel rejuvenated and that while the large amount of data can be overwhelming, it ultimately helps them feel more in control of their health. But experts worry that these clinics are exploiting people’s fears about aging and dying without providing much tangible benefit. This is because most of these treatments are not covered by insurance and have no proven life-prolonging effect.
It’s like being turned inside out.
The first step in many longevity clinics is a thorough evaluation, which includes several types of imaging tests (CT, MRI, DXA scan, etc.), blood panels, physical fitness assessments, cognitive tests, and genomic sequencing. It’s not just about knowing the condition. Not just your current health status, but what you may face in the future.
“Our first responsibility to our clients is to make sure they don’t fall off a cliff with a disease they never knew they had, but it’s completely preventable and curable. ” said Dr. David Callow, past president of Human Longevity. Clinics based in San Diego and San Francisco. (Dr. Carrow resigned from his position this month.) Annual membership in Human Longevity’s top program costs $19,000 and includes testing, behavioral health recommendations, concierge primary care, and hormones. Treatments include therapy and peptide therapy. A general term for a class of medicines that includes everything from collagen supplements to medicines like Ozempic).
Mr Tate’s tests at Hook University revealed calcifications in his neck arteries, which put him at an increased genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Based on his results, the Hook team created a personalized plan centered around improving his diet, exercise, and sleep.
They’re not trying to “reassure you that everything is okay,” Tate said. “This is pretty much turned inside out to look for things that could befall you in the future.”
“And it gives me a feeling of gratitude,” he added. “Because if you were feeling a little bit vulnerable, this program was there and gave you the best opportunity to address your issues.”
Hook chief executive Kate Woolhouse said Mr Tate was representative of many people seeking longevity care. Although some biohackers are millennials, most are over 50 and often motivated by health concerns, she said. For many people, the goal is not to live long, but to stay healthy as they age.
That was the motivation for Human Longevity patient Joe Nevin, 78. Nevin, who runs a senior ski program in Aspen, Colorado, rejects the term “longevity.” Rather than trying to extend lifespan, he said, he wanted an answer to the question: “How do I know I’m healthy?”
“There’s a big difference between what’s on the outside and what’s on the inside,” Nevin says.
During his first medical examination in 2017, it was discovered that he had a tumor in his left kidney. Dr. Callow referred him to an interventional radiologist who removed the tumor. Mr. Nevin and his wife have returned to Human Longevity every year since then.
It’s about “treating the risk, not the disease.”
Detecting chronic health conditions early with tests offered by longevity clinics can help you live longer. But while a thorough medical exam is relatively low-risk, some experts say testing is largely unnecessary for people with no symptoms or relevant family history.
Dr. Deborah Korenstein, senior medical director of Mount Sinai Solutions, a concierge primary care program in New York City, said, “We’re seeing people who truly believe their lives were saved by these things.” “I hear a lot of anecdotes, and maybe that’s what happened.” But what we don’t see are others who ran it and found nothing.
She and other experts also expressed concerns about misleading or unusable results. For example, the dozens of blood tests a doctor’s office orders may not provide actionable information that people can take action on. Others question whether preventive genome sequencing actually helps people’s health.
Dr. Katherine Livingston, associate professor of family medicine at Oregon Health and Science University and director of the American Academy of Prevention, said, “There is no evidence that whole-body MRI scans improve outcomes such as mortality.” Medical Science and Translation Committee. But whole-body MRI has a high false-positive rate, she added. The American College of Radiology and the American College of Preventive Medicine currently recommend against this practice.
These false-positive results can cause people a lot of stress and anxiety, and even lead to unnecessary procedures and biopsies. In some cases, a genuine tumor may be identified, but it is what Dr. Livingston calls an “accidental tumor,” a growth that is benign or never progresses to the point where it affects a person’s health. is. However, it is found and the patient is sent for treatment.
For Dr. Callow, these results aren’t necessarily a bad thing. “Precision medicine is all about treating the risk, not the disease,” he said.
But he added that his clinic is careful to avoid unnecessary procedures. “Before we stick someone with a needle or refer someone for consultation or follow-up, we want to make sure it’s something to be concerned about. is possible.”
“It doesn’t feel like snake oil.”
If the treatment recommended after these tests is a behavioral change, such as improving diet or exercise, there is little harm, Dr. Korenstein said. But that can change as they start trying new and often unproven treatments.
At Manhattan clinic Extension Health, such treatments include hyperbaric oxygen therapy, plasma exchange, and ozone therapy, as well as a number of supplements, peptides, and hormones.
Retired cosmetologist Craig Lindsley, 67, consulted pain expert and Extension Health founder Dr. Jonathan Kuo more than a decade ago to treat lower back pain and arthritis in his wrists. I started seeing a doctor. It started with traditional pain management, but as Dr. Kuo’s interests expanded into regenerative medicine and longevity, so did Mr. Linsley’s treatments.
He is currently undergoing several rounds of platelet-rich plasma therapy. This is an experimental treatment that uses a patient’s plasma to help heal damaged tissue. She also takes two types of peptides that are said to reduce inflammation, which Linsley says can also improve skin, hair, nails, and overall stamina. He spends $5,000 to $10,000 a year on treatment.
“What they’re doing is very realistic,” Lindsley said. “It doesn’t feel like snake oil.”
Although there are no FDA-approved treatments that target aging, many of the treatments offered at the Longevity Clinic are approved for other conditions and can be used off-label at the physician’s discretion.
For example, plasmapheresis (also called plasmapheresis) is used to treat some blood diseases and autoimmune conditions. The procedure, which costs $12,000 for a single session at Extension Health, involves removing a patient’s blood, separating red blood cells from liquid plasma, and then returning the cells and plasma replacement to the body. It claims to purify the blood of toxins and has become popular among biohackers and longevity enthusiasts. However, Dr. Kuo acknowledged that “there is no specific FDA approval for routine use for longevity or detoxification purposes.”
The lack of evidence is a red flag for many geriatric physicians. Dr. Alison Moore, director of gerontology, geriatrics and palliative care at the University of California, San Diego, said people are looking for “things that will make the passage of time more gentle.” For most of the treatments offered, “I understand the desire, but we don’t really have the evidence.”
Dr. Callow and Dr. Kuo said they use the “biological age” test in their clinics as an indicator to patients that the intervention is working. But they also acknowledged that these types of tests are flawed and have limited accuracy. But doctors claimed their treatment could make people feel younger.
That’s been Lindsley’s experience. “I was starting to feel crunchy, like frail,” he said. “And that stuff just disappeared.”
“I know I’m not getting any younger, but I feel like I’m staying beautiful,” he added.
