The Age of Rejuvenation: Decoding Biological Age Clocks for Ultimate Health

A warm welcome to the 150+ new subscribers who have joined over the past 2 weeks! For those who don’t know me yet I’m Maud, former operator turned advisor and investor for early-stage startups. My journey through a fast-paced career in tech led me to health challenges, including a burnout, but also to a remarkable recovery thanks to personalized medicine. This experience opened my eyes to the importance of proactive care. Through this newsletter, born from a blend of professional insight and personal transformation, I explore the future of health and the latest in Healthspan.

Housekeeping stuff:

1. As you may have noticed, I’m moving this newsletter from weekly to every 2 weeks. I want to keep the long form, and the scientific integrity and - who knew! - all the research takes time :). Do you like the long-form content? Do you have feedback? Leave comments.

2. I’m adding a section to this newsletter - “What I’m reading”. Yes, you have to actually read my newsletter to get to it…or just scroll.

A few months ago, entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, known for his fascination with immortality, launched the "Rejuvenation Olympics," a unique competition challenging participants to reduce their biological age as much and as quickly as possible. The concept of “biological age”, a pivotal metric in longevity research introduced by Steve Horvath in 2011, serves as the foundation for this contest. Since its inception, the “biological age” marker has not only gained traction in clinical research but has also become a popular offering on various wellness platforms and services - at times becoming one of these hot “vanity” heath metrics (like HRV, etc.) biohackers like to brag about.

A couple of years ago, driven by curiosity, I took my first biological age test—back then, it revealed I was 38, a year older than my chronological age of 37. At that time, the result didn't strike me as particularly useful, mainly because I had not yet started to actively optimize my health. Recently, as I became eager to reassess my biological age, I've encountered a lack of clarity regarding the scientific validity of biological age offerings and the tangible benefits they offer. This article is an attempt to navigate through this, shedding light on the science and business driving it and (healthily) scrutinizing the promise it holds for extending human healthspan. Buckle up.

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