A 45-year-old multimillionaire named Bryan Johnson is working to delay the ageing process.
To do this, the software developer adheres to a strict routine. He also spends a staggering $2-million (R40m) a year to maintain his youthful appearance.
He believes that frequent blood transfusions will prolong the youth of his internal organs.
And now, he has recruited Talmage, his 17-year-old son, to serve as his own “blood boy” in plasma-swapping, a contentious procedure.
Caring for others begins with care of self pic.twitter.com/K7rQO3SVTO
The US-based businessman went to a clinic in the Dallas area of Texas with his 70-year-old father for a novel tri-generational blood-swopping procedure.
According to Bloomberg, Johnson frequently receives plasma from unidentified donors who have been rigorously screened to make sure they have a good body mass index (BMI), a healthy lifestyle, and are disease-free.
Son Talmage provided a litre of his own blood, which was then divided into batches of liquid plasma, red and white blood cells, and platelets.
After Johnson's blood was drawn, Talmage's plasma was injected into his father’s veins. When Johnson's father Richard arrived, he underwent the same procedure.
For the uninitiated, the concept of employing plasma as an anti-ageing therapy first attracted attention when scientists conducted studies on mice. in one study, young and old mice were joined together so they shared a circulatory system.
The older rodents showed improvements in cognition, metabolism, and bone structure, while the younger rodents profited from regular blood donation. However, there is still a dearth of human-based research.
According to a report by “Business Day”, many academics are sceptical about plasma switching because its effectiveness as a human lifespan enhancer is debatable.
Charles Brenner, a biochemist at City of Hope National Medical Centre in Los Angeles, says not enough is known about plasma-swopping to suggest that it is a workable human treatment for anything.
He says it is not supported by evidence and could be risky. According to a “Daily Mail report”, blood plasma was once administered to patients who were suffering from trauma, burns, shock, severe liver disease and clotting difficulties.
Johnson has been outspoken about his battle with ageing. His anti-ageing programme, Project Blueprint, aims to reduce the biological ages of his organs.
Johnson follows a very rigid schedule that involves a taking variety of supplements, strenuous exercise, following a low-calorie vegan diet, and even a precisely timed teeth-brushing routine.
In addition, he monitors his sleep habits using a device that records the number of erections he has during the night.
Johnson insists that despite the doubters, his expensive treatments have given him a heart that functions like a 37-year-old’s and skin that looks like a 28-year-old’s.
His desire to live forever led him to found Kernel, a business that makes $50 000 brain-measuring helmets. These helmets track brain activity and evaluate how well meditation and drug treatments for chronic pain work.
The goal of all of this is to restore his internal organs to how they functioned when he was in his adolescent years.
Johnson says he embarked on his project because he felt unable to stop himself from binge eating to cope with life's stresses, according to an article in the “New York Post”.
Despite his accomplishments, including having three children and selling his company, Braintree Venmo, for $800m at the age of 30, there was nothing he could do to stop himself from engaging in this self-destructive behaviour when 7am rolled around.
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