Healthy life expectancy is given priority over longevity and longevity.
Dr. Eric Topol’s new book, Super Agers, separates myth from fact when it comes to living longer, healthier lives.
AUSTIN — Driverless cars. Delivery without using a courier. …Medicine without a doctor?
That seems unrealistic. Not even possible. But in the era of medical democratization, where we have access to endless data points about our health via our smartphones, it’s closer to reality than you might think.
Pranita Patil, co-founder and chief business officer of Function, touted the company’s future healthcare model during a panel discussion at SXSW in March. For $365 a year, her company performs more than 160 laboratory tests that go beyond common blood tests, including thyroid function, exposure to environmental toxins, and biological age. Then, if a Function clinician flags an issue, the patient can seek additional treatment, undergo an in-house full-body MRI, or return for further testing.
But “many of our patients and members are using Function and are actually able to manage some of the things they are dealing with at home,” Patil said during a panel discussion at the conference. What’s the point? “Your doctor is really no longer the first opinion.” To be clear, medicine as a profession is not obsolete. But that is changing; fast.
Today is the era of “biohackers”. What does that mean exactly? Imagine a biohacker as someone who collects large amounts of health data about themselves, separate from the care they receive from their doctors, in an attempt to extend their lifespan. But that’s not all.
“In its most defensible form, biohacking is simply an application of geriatrics that uses data, intervention, and repetition to optimize healthspans,” says Dr. Eric Burdin, president and CEO of the Buck Institute on Aging. “At worst, it’s self-experimentation dressed up in scientific jargon, often done to sell a product.”
In some cases, people simply enter their symptoms or test results into an artificial intelligence chatbot where they get an initial opinion. It’s easy to see why. Many Americans don’t have a family doctor, and the shortage is likely to get worse. Health insurance premiums have increased.
Now, companies like Function and longevity clinics like Next Health are moving in that direction, giving customers unparalleled access to their health data. But becoming a biohacker isn’t as easy or foolproof as you might think. It’s fun to think about taking charge of your own health, but your actions have consequences. Knowing too much or focusing on trivial or irrelevant health indicators can lead to spending unnecessary money and creating extra health concerns.
Bourdain worries that biohacking is “sometimes years or even decades” ahead of the evidence.
“The reason it’s popular is because it offers agency and that’s very appealing,” he says. “Most of us do not want to be passive recipients of health care. That desire is legitimate, but implementation is often premature.”
“What works for you may not work for someone else.”
Next Health, like Function, also tracks biomarkers (also known as health indicators such as cholesterol, and more specialized indicators). The company performs blood tests, urine analysis and balance, VO2 max assessments, and even offers even more amazing treatments like hyperbaric oxygen.
“We used your data to create all kinds of personas for you,” he says. “For example, we also work with our customers’ wearable devices, and once we have all the data, doctors can actually understand what their current condition is and look at biomarkers from the lens of how to reverse chronic disease and optimize their current health.”
The goal of this type of medicine is to prevent people from dying preventable deaths and end the “wait and see” approach of traditional medicine.
Many doctors have rebranded themselves to join the longevity game alongside similarly unqualified influencers. One such practitioner is Dr. Poonam Desai, an osteopathic physician who also specializes in lifestyle and emergency medicine. My interest in preventive medicine grew after my training in the emergency room. “I always wondered what would have happened if they had met me 15 years ago and what if we could have done something else that might not have ended here.”
She believes that the terms “longevity” and “biohacking” can lead to a lot of misunderstandings. It’s about meeting people where they are.
“A big part of longevity medicine is practicing personalized medicine,” she added. “What works for you may not work for someone else.”
Like Desai, Next Health founder Dr. Darshen Shah believes in personalized advice rather than blanket recommendations from someone without the proper qualifications. “Just because it worked for that one person doesn’t mean you need it too. For example, you need 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight,” he says. “That’s what’s being shouted everywhere right now. I can tell you, I see thousands of patients, and many of them don’t need one gram of protein per pound of body weight.”
Is this a “golden age” of biohacking?
What does Desai think about the term biohacker? She once attended an evening talk show where the host asked her how many biohackers there were in the room. Most people raised their hands, some sipping on Red Bulls while others nibbled on desserts. “That doesn’t mean you can’t be a biohacker if you’re doing that. But I’m like, ‘How are you doing? What do you mean by definition?'” Because to me, a biohacker wouldn’t be drinking Red Bull at 7 p.m., or eating dessert or whole chocolate cake at these hours. ”
Gathering information about sleep motivates her because she believes in data. “I want to know how I slept. I’m going to do something different the next day. And some people look at that data and get anxious. ‘I don’t want to know that much.’ And I can’t sleep because I’m worried about the next day’s data showing up in my Oura ring.” ”
John Sullivan, chief marketing officer at wearables company WHOOP, believes data can only be overwhelming if left unchecked. Think of the information you get from wearables as nudges, not report cards. “It’s important to make all of these small decisions add up and experience a virtuous cycle of positive reinforcement and behavior change,” he says.
But there is also a dark side. Dr. Eric Topol, a physician-scientist and author of Super Agers, considers biohacking to be “predatory” when “people are promoting something to make money” without data or evidence. Supplements, chambers, what do you have?
And while the biomarkers these companies are measuring are likely to change the way we assess our health, “the question is whether we’re there yet and whether the data being sold to consumers is actionable. The honest answer is sometimes, but often not,” says Burdin. For example, today’s science shows that your biological age still doesn’t tell you anything practical about your health.
Still, the train has already left the station, so it’s better to board as far as you’re comfortable.
What will the role of a doctor be in 10 years? Or will it be five? “We see ourselves as a coach, a medically informed coach, that helps doctors really redefine their role and guide them in the right direction,” Shah said, explaining that he expects more and more patients to come to their doctors with AI, wearables and other assessments already in hand.
Function’s Patil agrees that things are changing. They already do that.
“We’ll never go back to a world where we don’t have access to this information,” Patil said.
As for the future of biohacking, WHOOP’s Sullivan says, “It feels like a golden age, and maybe we’re just at the beginning.”
