Biohakers live in mantras “Test, Don't Guess” – Knowing how well your cells and organs are aging, you know the lifestyle changes to make and the supplements you take for a longer, healthier life.
Some tests analyze intestinal bacteria or proteins in the blood to predict healthy aging, while others focus on DNA changes.
I recently tried one of these DNA kits – on sale by Manhattan-based Tally Health $249 Cheek Swab Test It estimates biological age and creates recommendations that will help improve results.
“The people who wrote to us and many who told us about how I used tests as inspiration and really made a powerful life change,” and Adiv Johnson, Head of Science Affairs and Education. Tally Healthtold me.
This test, known as Tallyage, was released in 2023. New peer-reviewed studies The Tally Health team has confirmed that dozens of diseases and health conditions, including pulmonary fibrosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cancer and tumors, increase the likelihood of a tally.
“We're trying to learn more about what kinds of things are lower and how to increase tally,” Johnson said.
How the counting works
Almost every cell in our body contains the same basic DNA set.
Aggregation measures DNA methylation when a chemical tag called a methyl group is attached to DNA, affecting how genes are read and expressed without altering the underlying DNA sequence.
Diet, exercise, stress and smoking are some of the lifestyle factors that can affect DNA methylation, the cornerstone of epigenetics. The degree of methylation varies widely between different cell types and tissues.
“We're looking at hundreds of thousands of DNA methylation sites across the genome,” Johnson explained.
“We get a value that indicates how methylated or unmethylated a particular site is in the sample,” he added. “Essentially what you get is the output of many values that the algorithm can convert to age.”
Results usually arrive within 6 weeks Sample collection.
Why a swab on the cheek?
Researchers use everything From blood to saliva To measure biological age – Sweat is being tested.
Johnson said the cheek swabs are as accurate as blood samples and are more accessible. It can be done easily at home.
“Both types of tissue are very effective in predicting epigenetic age, but the advantage of cheek swabs is its painless nature,” Johnson said.
Tally Health generally recommends testing once or twice a year. This can take months or a year for major lifestyle changes to be reflected in the outcome.
How does the tally compare with other aging tests?
There is not one biomarker that clearly reveals how well we age, so the trick for consumers is to find the right scale.
Of the tests I did, Tally Health gave me the most optimistic results.
I was 42 years old and had a slightly less tally than 37.
Johnson said I am in the top 5.7% of all users and in the top 3.2% of peers.
So when I agreed to take my eyes for my aging test last week, I felt quite confident. Biohackers World Conference. I was shocked to be 46 years old.
“If you take 10 different tests from 10 different companies, you get 10 different results,” Johnson was convinced.
“And the range will be huge. It will probably be like a 20-year range for the entire test,” he continued. “The reason is that not all of these tests are optimized for useful predictions, as companies use different algorithms.”
He noted that the latest study from Tally Health published in the Journal Geroscience demonstrated that the model stands out among the rest due to disease correlation.
He also noted that the tissues of various organs (cheeks and eyes) age at different rates.
Popular lifestyle changes
Aggregated users are encouraged to undergo a lifestyle survey on diet, fitness routines, sleep, mental health and daily habits for suggestions on how to lower their scores. My elder millennial mom's lifestyle was considered “moderately healthy.” There is room for improvement.
Tally Health Membership ($129/month) Includes personalized action plans, tests, supplements and product discounts every six months.
“We've seen a lot of people who like the challenge of trying to beat their age,” Johnson said. “It's kind of like gamification and it's really fun to get the score and optimize it.”
Stopping smoking and drinking alcohol is one of the biggest changes. “Data suggest that any amount of alcohol increases the likelihood that you'll get older,” Johnson said in Tally Health. Especially over 15 drinks a week.
What's next for Tally Health?
In that new paper, Tally Health linked exposure to PBB-153, an artificial chemical used as a flame retardant, to older adults. The US banned PBB-153 in the 1970s After being accidentally mixed into Michigan animal feed and contaminated food supplies.
“We also saw that people with untreated HIV are more likely to be epigenetically older, but then treated with antiretroviral agents, they are much younger than the untreated group,” Johnson said.
“These are the kinds that help us understand which types of interventions and variables are connected to older or younger epigenetic times,” he continued.
