Courtesy Dustin Giallanza
- Bryan Johnson, a biotech founder, aims to have the body of an 18-year-old, Bloomberg reported.
- He and a team of experts started a program called Project Blueprint to unlock the key to aging.
- Test results show that Johnson has the heart of a 37-year-old, according to the report.
Bryan Johnson is 45 years old but, according to a new report, his test results show he has the heart of a 37-year-old and the lungs of a young adult.
Johnson is a biotech entrepreneur who hopes to game nature's course of aging and have the organs and health of an 18-year-old by going through an intense data-driven experimental program he's called Project Blueprint.
According to a recent Bloomberg profile of the CEO, Johnson could spend up to $2 million on his body this year and there are early glimpses that show he may be on track to unlocking the secret to age reversal.
Test results from doctors suggest that Johnson has the heart of a 37-year-old, the skin of a 28-year-old, and the lung capacity of an 18-year-old, Bloomberg's Ashlee Vance reported.
The program is led by Oliver Zolman, a 29-year-old physician who calls himself the "rejuvenation doctor," and is supported by a team of more than 30 health experts, according to the report.
While it's still in its experimental stage and is constantly being tweaked, the health program consists of an intense daily regimen of carefully curated supplements, meals, exercise, and a slew of bodily tests.
Johnson's 5 a.m.-mornings for example start with two dozen medicines and supplements for all kinds of purported health benefits: lycopene; turmeric, zinc, metformin to prevent bowel polyps, and a small dose of lithium for brain health, Johnson told Bloomberg.
Although there is some evidence that lithium can treat mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, there is scant evidence that it can rejuvenate cells or preserve memory. There is also the risk of lithium toxicity when taken in high dosages.
His meals, a mix of solid and soft foods, are vegan and restricted to 1,977 calories a day. He exercises daily, with three high-intensity workouts a week, and goes through blood tests, MRIs, and colonoscopies each month, Bloomberg reported.
"What I do may sound extreme, but I'm trying to prove that self-harm and decay are not inevitable," Johnson told the outlet.
His efforts in 2021 have amounted to what Johnson claims to be a world record epigenetic age reversal of 5.1 years.
Doctors say he has the gum inflammation of a 17-year-old, and a device that tracks Johnson's rate of nighttime erections is like that of a teenager's, Bloomberg reported.
"Epigenetic age is like an experimental measure," Zolman told Insider. "It's kind of an easy way of doing all the direct measurements across all the organs."
Zolman said that each organ has various "markers" that can be looked at to determine how Johnson's organs compare to that of a 37 or 17-year-old.
For example, a marker for gums can be gum recession which increases with age, he said, and you can compare Johnson's to the average 18-year-old.
Zolman qualified that this is not evidence to say that Johnson reduced his age in every organ by five years. He added that there needs to be more long-term data that shows consistent "reduction" of the markers.
Johnson hopes to encourage others to follow his data- and medical-driven program by turning his relentless pursuit of youthfulness into a competition.
Recently, he started a website called Rejuvenation Olympics, which displays an "epigenetic leaderboard," ranking the 1,750 people in the world who are fighting against Father Time.
Johnson currently stands in first place.
Editors note, Wednesday, February 1, 2023: This story has been updated to include additional information about epigenetic age and to clarify the supplements and medicines taken by Johnson.