A medical treatment used for health emergencies and autoimmune disorders is becoming the new hot wellness trend for CEOs, athletes and other longevity seekers.
Bryan Johnson, CEO and entrepreneur known for his strict longevity regimen and exploration of experimental anti-aging treatments, recently published in X about his experience with plasmapheresis or plasma exchange.
The procedure involves gradually removing small amounts of blood and centrifuging it. This is how the plasma is separated from the red blood cells to be extracted and replaced with another fluid, such as albumin, a plasma protein.
At a wellness clinic, you can cost between $5,000 and more than $10,000 (between 4,600 and 9,207 euros).
The founder of XPrizePeter Diamandishas tried it. So has the former NFL star Troy Aikmanwhich calls it “essentially a human oil change.”
Dr. Jonathann Kuo, a regenerative medicine specialist and founder of Extension Health, performed Aikman’s plasma exchange. Account to Business Insider that helps eliminate toxinssome related to aging, which accumulate over time.
“We call it an oil change because it’s like refreshing and revitalizing the circulation and getting rid of all the dirty stuff that’s circulating, basically,” he says.
According to Kuo, it is part of a set of cutting-edge anti-aging therapies that are offered at your clinic.
Plasma exchange can improve certain indicators of aging, at least in the short term, according to some studies with animals from the Conboy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. The same researchers found similar potential anti-aging benefits in a study very small exploratory in humans.
There is no significant risk of serious side effects, although infections can occurbut it’s not clear that plasma exchange is beneficial for most healthy people, according to Dr. Brian Adkins, a professor of pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Adkins performs plasma exchanges regularly to help patients with chronic diseases such as autoimmune disorders. According to him, the treatment is also used in serious circumstances such as organ failure or sepsis.
Should you have plasmapheresis for longevity?
Plasma exchange therapy is often used for specific conditions, such as Guillain-Barré syndromeand is reserved for more extreme cases, as explained to Business Insider Dr. Ryan Marino, a toxicologist and professor of emergency medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Johnson faced some backlash from medical experts in X for the apparent commodification of a treatment that can be crucial for people with chronic diseases, or save lives in emergency situations.
“It’s not supposed to be boutique medicine; it’s supposed to be evidence-based medicine,” Adkins notes.
Undergoing plasma treatment at a longevity clinic may not make sense for several reasons.
On the one hand, people who do not suffer from organ failure or other life-threatening conditions eliminate toxins naturally through the liver and kidneys.
Plasma exchange is also unlikely to help remove environmental contaminants such as microplastics, a growing concern for long-term health, since the procedure involves plastic bags and tubes, and components are exposed to plastics during processing.
It is also wrong to think that plasma exchange completely replaces plasma, since some of it must continue to circulate through the body while the patient is alive, such as when the oil is changed while the car is running.
Much of what we know about the safety and potential benefits of plasma exchange comes from data from people who donate plasma, which not only costs nothing, but can even be paid for.
Plasma removal can lower a person’s lipid levels, including “bad” cholesterol. However, this is temporary because plasma regenerates quickly, which is why it can be safely removed or donated.
Marino and Adkins say that interest in plasma exchanges for longevity is part of a enduring fascination with cleansing our bodies of toxinswhich dates back to ancient times and ancient procedures such as bloodletting.
“It sounds plausible that cleansing the blood or plasma would provide benefits, especially if you think there are circulating toxins that could be eliminated,” says Marino.
If you are interested live a longer, healthier lifethere are many other science-based longevity strategies, such as eating a nutritious diet, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep.
“There are a lot of really meaningful things you can do to improve your health. Maybe people would do better to explore some of those inventions,” Adkins says.
Learn how we work at BusinessInsider.
Tags: Science
