Biohacker finds ‘no benefits’ after injecting himself with the blood of teenage son
Biohacker tech mogul Bryan Johnson has revealed that he won't be swapping plasma with his teenage son again after 'no benefits were detected'.
Johnson has been on a quest to reverse his biological age for some time now.
The tech mogul spends $2 million on a rigid daily routine overseen by a team of 30 doctors.
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He told the BBC: "My left ear is 64, my fitness tests say I'm 18, my heart is 37, my diaphragm strength is 18.
"I playfully say I'm trying to become like, an 18-year-old. My son is 17, so I always tease him and say, 'When I grow younger, I wanna be like you'."
To achieve those results, in addition to exercising daily, he also eats a strict vegan diet totalling 1,977 calories per day and eats his last meal at 11 a.m. with more than 100 daily supplements.
However, the 45-year-old tweeted last week that he was stopping the blood swaps with his son.
Having undergone blood transfusions with a stranger in the past, this time Johnson decided to try the same thing with his 17-year-old son, Talmage, and dad Richard, 70, two months ago.
The trio travelled to a clinic in Dallas, where Richard and Talmage had a litre of their blood removed and converted into a batch of plasma, and another of red and white blood cells, and platelets.
Talmage’s plasma was fed into Johnson’s veins and Johnson’s plasma was given to Richard.
However, Johnson has said that he's stopped the experiment after seeing 'no benefit' from the treatment.
"Young plasma exchange may be beneficial for biologically older populations or certain conditions. Does not in my case stack benefit on top of my existing interventions.
"Alternative methods of plasma exchange or young plasma fractions hold promise.
"My father's results still pending."
Claims that plasma from younger bodies can improve the health of older generations have been around for some time.
Studies on the matter have been carried out on mice in the past, though experts say the results are inconclusive and suggest trying it on humans is fairly reckless.
Charles Brenner, a biochemist at City of Hope National Medical Center in Los Angeles, said: "We have not learned enough to suggest this is a viable human treatment for anything."
Adding: "To me, it’s gross, evidence-free and relatively dangerous.”
Johnson began his anti-ageing mission, which he labelled Project Blueprint, after selling his company, payment processing company, Braintree Payment Solutions, to eBay for $800 million in cash.
He also went through a divorce and gained 60lb (27kg) on a diet of cookies and pizza.
This led to depression, suicidal thoughts and violent mood swings, with him admitting it was like a 'internal demon' that took him 'years to remove'.
He continued: "We are quite literally mad as a species. We are addicted to junk food, to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes.
"All these things which make us feel bad. We are at war with ourselves. How can we hope to save the planet, to survive as a species, if we can't make peace with our own bodies?"
Johnson added: "I had done a lousy job of looking after myself so I thought, what if I let my body decide how it wants to live?
"What if data, not emotions, managed how I eat and sleep?"
Amelia Jones