If he gets someone off the couch and out of the fast food restaurants and off alcohol, then he helped. But people should graduate from this 5th grade level stuff as soon as possible.
There are no magic bullets (not even MB)
There are no superfoods (a marketing technique)
Health and happiness can go together but have to be relearned if we lived all the wrong lessons from TV and words of internet influencers.
#1 — lose the visceral fat #2 — move a lot, everyday #3 — honor your biology (circadian rhythm, natural light, whiole foods)
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. #99 — take supplements
If you haven’t seen it, the new ‘Don’t Die’ documentary on Netflix was pretty good. I thought it gave a fair and balanced critique and some behind the scenes on his motivation.
It makes sense why he dropped rapamycin, he cannot sell rapamycin because it’s a prescription. He would have to hire doctors and do online consults - too complicated. It’s easier to dispense unregulated supplements. This was a calculated move.
I share your healthy skepticism. In my opinion, there is mostly no need for supplements if you follow healthy diet, lifestyle and exercise. That said there are some people with medical conditions that may require extra vitamins and supplements. this supplementation should be done with guidance from medical professional with blood tests to establish and track deficiencies.
Guess what? Everyone touting fitness or longevity on social media has a motive. However, nobody forces you to watch or buy their products. I do find it interesting that people seem to be hypercritical of Bryan Johnson while not applying the same scrutiny to others.
Yes - I’ve become increasingly disappointed with his commercial focus with more hype than science. He does increase the attention on the field and the focus on longevity generally, which is positive. But the lack of engagement with the scientists in the field, and lack of disclosure of detailed measures and rationales for protocol decisions (and really, it should be the doctors he’s working with discussing this as its not Bryan’s area of expertise) means his approaches are increasingly unhelpful in really moving the science of longevity forward. It seems more and more like just a marketing effort more similar to Dave Asprey’s efforts than anything new and unique.
But the people who he attracts who are serious about longevity and the science around it may eventually make their way to our site here and that might help move things forward faster… so it could all still be a net positive.
I like him and love that he is introducing options for a healthier lifestyle to so many who would never receive the message if given by scientists. (Normalizing not drinking, going to bed early, making health a priority, etc).
Until he got into the business end of things, he was sharing which supplements he was taking and sending people to affordable options. I respected that.
Did the supplement line that seems to be a focus now come only after his popularity took off or was this a brilliantly executed long term plan? I have no idea.
I hated the marketing for his special with a passion….the ol’ are we the first generation who won’t die, schtick, but it probably got peoples attention.
I actually quite like some of his supplements and use two of them. They are not noticeably more expensive than procuring the ingredients separately (at least when I have looked) and you get it all in 1 or 2 pills, depending on your preference.
However, on the lack of science aspect, I agree and it is bothersome. I emailed the company to ask for the rationale or to provide the studies behind some of the dosing decisions, and I quickly got back a very friendly reply that said absolutely nothing.
If I didn’t know how many people wanted to take him down, I might not even trust his supplements at this point, but I believe they must be true to what is on the label because I assume there are droves of people sending them to a labs, but I don’t know for sure!
I agree with this. I feel like the measurements he gives are cherry picked at certain points in time and don’t really give a full picture of his health. For example, it’s hard for me to believe that his hormones, in particular testosterone, have not tanked being in a calorie deficit for so long. His supposed 5 degree temperatures lower is evidence of this.
I disagree totally. I feel from observing him closely that he is motivated by some higher ideal. Not an ideal I agree with, but I don’t think it is about profit.
His marketing is done by the young woman in the film and I suspect she is not a very talented marketer in trying to convey his motives.
I would guess that most of the critics here have never created a business and tried to market a product.
Do Bryan’s motives matter? I ask because I don’t think it’s important if the products he produces provide real value to the people he’s selling it to. Blueprint’s range is all geared towards preventative healthcare, diagnostics, blood tests, aging test and supplements. So if we remove Bryan from the equation is the company he’s creating of value for people who want to optimize their health, and I would say yes; albeit with some caveats. The supplements that Bryan sells are optimized to Bryan’s biology, and are most likely a waste for most people- thought I’m sure they’re better than nothing. But there’s a lot more to it than supplements, I’ve no doubt he’ll be offering stem cells and gene therapy further down the line, and it’s up to people to opt in or tune out.
Bryan’s motives seem obvious to me. He wants to change the world, which is both idealistic and grandiose at the same time. He’s said so very explicitly, and I think we can take that whatever way we want.
I know one thing for certain that if I had his wealth I would be doing the exact same thing. I’d be doing by own blueprint. I’m sure that almost everyone on this site would as well. I think Bryan is a net positive for health optimization, his motives at least to me are less important than his products that might provide me with value- I haven’t used any BTW.
I completely agree. He is an odd duck (I like that about him!), which makes him so very polarizing.
As an example, Peter Attia doesn’t get the same treatment. Does he provide great value, yes he does. Is he also in it for the money, yes, he most certainly is.
Are Attia’s patients getting 150k of value from him per year for his medical care… no. They are being ripped off and many know it, however, they are still getting value from him, and are happily willing to pay. No harm done. I’d say he is ripping people off way more than Blueprint’s overpriced MRI.
Attia whined about not liking protein bars and then months later he introduces one. All the podcast bros talk about his meat sticks. And Attia pushes us to eat more protein which is self serving for him financially. This doesn’t make his advice bad or his products bad. I imagine it’s all good. But, because he’s a seemingly more ‘normal’ dude, he doesn’t get the same level of pushback Johnson gets.
Bryan’s continued attack on rapamycin as detrimental to longevity. He already… if true has 5 years of clearing benefit… so if he stops…It’s not like all that gets undone.
Furthermore, in the article - Mr Johnson had been consuming 13 milligrams weekly? Double + the 6 mg normal longevity dose.
More is not better… it can be poisonous… I found that out… my higher doses after moderate doses effected my biological age negatively…6 mg is my sweet spot and gave me benefits on biological tests… and the same for many on this site.
Anti-Ageing Influencer Bryan Johnson Ditches ‘Longevity’ Medicine Over Health Concerns
Very skeptical of his reasons for war against rapamycin. Maybe Big pharma is making a deal with him.
And as Kaeberlein says… who knows his trustworthiness. He says he is not taking rapamycin… but what if he does it on the side.
Very much done with him. He has a non-typical up bringing… and some things he does like his genetic re-enginering is untested and more reckless than science.
I can only speculate about what he is doing. My first thought was that he is already inhibiting mTOR with all the intervention he is doing. And taking 13 mg one week and then 6 mg the other weak. Might, under that kind of regimen, be too much. Maybe he has been advised by his lawyers to stop rapamycin, to avoid being sued by people trying to create a case out his transparency.
