New AI-powered tests tell consumers their biological age by determining the speed at which organs, cells and tissues are deteriorating.
Start-ups are launching at-home tests that collect blood, urine or cheek swabs to analyze changes in the epigenome, the mechanism that helps read the DNA code.
Here, Tally Health, one such company, recently presented 13 years of research showing that epigenetic changes can be safely reversed in mice to improve tissue function, such as re-establishing cellular programmes.
The company believes the same can be done with humans.
Elysium contains a biological age test that provides "science-backed recommendations" to help consumers improve bodily functions, in hopes of turning back time.
Consumer interest in the longevity space has increased, with the global longevity economy expected to reach $27 trillion in 2026, and the longevity technology sector to reach $2.7 trillion by 2025.
While the idea of "turning back the clock" sounds like science fiction, the concept is a real service that can be purchased for $299 a month.
Harnessing the power of the epigenetic clock, current biological tests are a predictive test that draws on data from 8,000 biological samples from 51 healthy human tissue and cell types.
It was developed by Stephen Horvath, a geneticist and biostatistician at UCLA, in 2013 and measures DNA methylation patterns associated with aging and disease and uses an algorithm to guess a person's age, WIRED reports.
Tally Health launched its technology on February 23, promoting it to improve health and extend life span on a cellular level.
"DNA is no longer the sole predictor of our fate or longevity," Harvard co-founder and biologist Dr. David Sinclair said in a statement. "Less than 10% of our longevity is determined by our genes; more than 90% is the result of our daily lifestyle choices and our environment." "A lot of research and interventions in the near future will focus on extending the lifespan of people. The interest in aging has generated huge research insights in this field globally and has pushed gerontology to a new level."
Tally Health requires a simple cheek swab analyzed by the TallyAge watch, which has been trained on the largest human adult cheek tissue DNA dataset, with over 8,000 samples.
After analyzing a user sample, they receive personalized insights and recommendations to help extend life and unique supplements to help along the way.
“We created Tally to be the science-backed health ally for anyone looking to improve their health and increase longevity,” said Melanie Goldie, CEO of Tally.
Elysium was also co-founded by its chief scientist, Dr. Leonard Guarente, who began researching aging in 1982 and uses epigenetic clocks as the basis of the company's technology.
Guarente, who is also a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said epigenetic clocks were a major advance in the field of aging, because they allow the accurate study of biological aging without the need for a long-term timeline.
For consumers, the indicator was the first and most accurate measure of aging, and remains the only product to offer a simple saliva-based biological age test.
The addition of nine systems expands this concept of measuring aging in specific pathways, which provide more useful information for making lifestyle changes to improve health. Leveraging this new technology through the Center for Aging Research provides an exciting opportunity to dramatically accelerate breakthroughs in the field of aging through direct collaboration with consumers who choose to subscribe and have the greatest potential benefit to gain.
The Elysium test is called the Index and requires a sample of consumers, which is then fed into machine learning algorithms that measure 10 different aspects of aging.
According to Elysium, “With the superior accuracy of our Algorithm Platform for Epigenetic Screening (APEX), Elysium calculates your biological and systemic ages by examining the sites on your DNA where methylation has occurred.”
DNA methylation is defined as a genetic modification that affects how genes are expressed and the genome-wide pattern changes predictably with age.
Source: Dell Inclines
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