Internet divided over 41-year-old who claims ‘biological age’ is 27
Sean Kelly may have been born nearly five decades ago, but he claims he is actually just 27 years old thanks to his extensive supplement routine he says turned back his biological clock.
The California-based entrepreneur takes more than 40 supplements a day to achieve this feat, he said in a recent thread on X, which has more than 10.5 million views.
Mr Kelly claims the supplements are necessary to turn back time and that food alone is not enough to get the nutrients you need to be at optimal health.
But many are skeptical, with X users commenting: ‘Total lie… Body can manage this by itself’ and ‘Fix your diet if you need this many supplements.’
And people are pointing out his biohacking advice may not be purely altruistic. A disclaimer on his tweet states the company he works at, The Family Fund, is an investor in two of his recommended products, a biological age testing kit and supplement line- seemingly giving him financial motivation to promote claims experts say are not supported by science.
Popularized by millionaires like Bryan Johnson, more people are interested in trying biohacking, which involves rigorous daily exercise, strict diet and sleep routines, and is measured through blood tests, sleep trackers and in some cases, erection trackers.
Sean Kelly, a 41-year-old entrepreneur based in California, has been investing in and founding wellness companies since at least 2008.
In this photo shared on X, Mr Kelly claimed ‘food is typically not enough to give your body the full amount of nutrients you need to achieve optimal nutrition.’
Mr Kelly uses more than 40 supplements, and acknowledged in the thread it’s easy to buy poor-quality supplements, but promoted one company – Momentous – as one of the only brands he uses.
Mr Kelly’s venture capital firm, Family Fund, invests in Momentous, according to their website.
He also wrote that he gets his blood tested by a company called Lifeforce four times a year. According to Family Fund’s website, the company also invests in Lifeforce.
For one biomarker blood test, telehealth visit and clinical report, Lifeforce users pay $549, though the company offers a membership, which costs $349 up front, plus $129 per month.
Membership includes retesting every three months and a discount on the company’s products, including supplements.
For the tests, people can either prick their finger at home or go into a lab to get blood drawn or provide saliva samples.
Mr Kelly said he gets four blood tests done a year and sends them to the company, which gives him a score out of 100 based on how biologically healthy his blood seems.
His score, he claims, is 93/100, amounting to the score of a 27-year-old.
Mr Kelly founded a healthy vending machine company in 2008. Since then, he’s been attached to various food and wellness companies. He’s a general partner at a venture capital fund that invests in these kinds of products as well.
As biohacking becomes more popular, more companies are offering ways to test your biological age, though they often run hundreds of dollars.
One company, TruMe Labs, offers a one-time biological age test kit using your spit for $110. GlycanAge advertises their one time blood test for $348.
The tests look at epigenetic changes, which are microscopic signs of age that accumulate in your cells over time – like rust on a nail or scratches on a CD. This is called an epigenetic clock.
Epigenetic clocks were originally identified by scientists as a way to determine how much damage a cell has suffered over its lifetime.
The markers, known as epigenetic clocks, have since become a standard measurement for determining if someone’s longevity is in sync with their actual age.
Though scientists use epigenetic clocks in labs, the measurement is still experimental, so it’s not yet useful for individuals at home, Dr Daniel Belsky, an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, told The New York Times.
‘I think you could say the best of them [biological age tests] are not completely useless,’ Dr Belsky, who studies epigenetic clocks, said.
He added: ‘But these are not tried and tested clinical tools yet, so they’re more for the curious.’
Some research has even shown that biomarkers fluctuate over a 24-hour period, meaning you could get different results based on the time of day you get your blood drawn.
It’s not that it’s a bad measure, it’s just that it hasn’t been perfected yet, so people might be getting misleading results, experts say.
Even if it was a perfect measure, scientists have not come to any consensus about what to do about advanced aging.
There are no proven anti-aging techniques, despite what biohackers claim, Dr Charles Brenner, a biochemist at City of Hope, a non-profit research center in California, said.
He told the Guardian that someone who uses anti-aging routines, ‘can say that he’s put himself on a better aging trajectory, but one cannot say that he has reversed or eliminated aging.
‘There are people who aged remarkably well and lived for 110 to 122 years. None of those people had highly regimented practices.’
The supplement brand Mr Kelly had promoted is Momentus, which is chaired by neuroscientist and wellness guru Andrew Huberman.
Mr Huberman, however, has been accused by former partners of irresponsible behavior, including allegedly spreading sexually transmitted diseases during an affair, leading doctors to call his expertise into question.
Mr Huberman ‘fills his podcast with confident displays of pseudoscience,’ Dr Andrea Love, a microbiologist, and immunologist told Slate.
She added: ‘It contains grains of truth, but those grains of truth are exaggerated beyond the point of usefulness, even so far as to lead away from the truth.’
This, Dr Love previously told DailyMail.com, could extend to his supplements. ‘They are saying it’s science-backed or it’s got evidence or data behind it – they’re extrapolating a nugget of truth.’
Nutrition experts nearly universally disagree with Mr Kelly’s claim that the body can’t get enough nutrients from food alone.
And claims like these have led many to believe they need to spend money on pills that don’t do much, Dr Pieter Cohen, an internist, and associate professor at Harvard Medical School said.
‘The thinking is that taking these pills can somehow improve your health or protect you from disease,’ Dr Cohen said.
He added: ‘while some people may need specific vitamins or supplements to help with deficiencies, for the average healthy person, following a diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables provides all the essential vitamins and minerals.’
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