Welcome to Running: A FEVER. My name is Michael Davis. My goal is to live a long, healthy, happy, active life right up to the very end. I do that by loving my life enough to make it last as long as possible. If that sounds good to you, then come on along! We’ll get there together.
We have covered this topic before, when I talked about a book entitled Real Age: Are You as Young as You Can Be? I couldn’t find the exact episode, but I remember it distinctly. I enjoyed that book and hoped that there would someday be an updated version, but none was ever published. The author, anesthesiologist Michael Roizen, has published several books, some using RealAge in the title, about diet, looks, exercise, weight loss, and even 3 books on anesthesiology. But he never updated the original RealAge book.
In episode 89, I had checked my real age via an online questionnaire and found out, as a 52-year-old, I was biologically only 49. Those online tests still exist. They are simplified versions of the very complex formula in the RealAge book.
But what I’m here to talk about today is something I’ve just discovered. There is a company called TruDiagnostic offering what they call TruAge Test, which is a DNA testing kit and subsequent analysis providing several insights based on your DNA analysis. They have at least two competitors as well. DoNotAge.org has what they call the “Biological Age Test Kit”. And My Aging Tests calls theirs GrimAge. My Aging Tests also offers a PhenoAge test, which is similar to these, but uses a blood test.
Keep in mind that much of the information I’m presenting comes directly from the product website, so take it with a grain of salt.
The TruDiagnostic TruAge Test kit and analysis costs $499. They also have an annual subscription plan that provides 4 test kits per year for $998. According to their website, you can use your Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account to pay for the kit and get the tax benefits associated with those plans. So what do you get for all this cash?
1. Biological Age Score (OMICmAge)
2. Pace of Aging (DunedinPACE)
3. 12 Cell Immunity Report
4. Grip Strength & Gait Speed
5. Alcohol Impact Score
6. 11 Organ Systems Age Scores (SYMPHONYAge)
7. Telomere Length Report
8. Inflammation Score (CRP & IL-6)
9. Smoking Impact Score
Let’s talk a little bit about these. I’m sure they mean something, but the acronyms are a bit arcane. Maybe they are intended to make this sound more scientific.
This is not an advertisement or endorsement of TruDiagnostic products, by the way. I’m just telling you about it. There seems to be more abundant information from this product than from the others. But in the blog post, there will be descriptions of some other ones.
1. The Biological Age Scores tell how old your body is compared to your real age. Don’t confuse this with the Real Age books by Michael Roizen. Here, it seems to mean the opposite, your chronological age. The number is a calculation of the toll that life has taken on your body, and can fluctuate based on lifestyle, environmental, and/or medical influences. The difference in each of our biological “mileage” is the reason why we may look and feel significantly older or younger than others who share the same birth year as us. The OMICmAge Algorithm uses advanced epigenetic analysis to measure biological aging. Examining over one million DNA methylation sites provides a highly accurate calculation of your biological age, reflecting the cumulative impact of lifestyle, environment, and medical factors on your body. The reports you get offer detailed insights into your biological age and rate of aging. They include actionable recommendations based on your unique epigenetic profile, allowing you to make informed decisions about your health and wellness.
2. Pace of Aging (DunedinPACE). This tells how quickly you age each year. Presumably, if your biological age is less than your chronological age, you are aging more slowly than normal. Your rate of aging measures how quickly your body ages over time, providing valuable insights into your long-term health trajectory. By monitoring whether your aging rate is accelerating or decelerating, you can measure the effect of various lifestyle changes. Your rate of aging, combined with your biological age–a snapshot of your cellular health at a single point in time–empowers you to take proactive steps to optimize your health. Whether it’s diet, exercise, or sleep, the test provides concrete data on how these factors influence your rate of aging.
3. Cell immunity report. The Immune Cell Deconvolution report breaks down the different types of immune cells present in a person’s blood, providing insights into how the immune system is functioning. By analyzing the DNA methylation patterns, the report can estimate the proportion of various immune cells like T-cells, B-cells, and macrophages, and track changes that may indicate immune system aging or dysfunction. This analysis helps in understanding how the immune system is involved in the aging process and its response to lifestyle or medical interventions.
4. Grip Strength and Gait Speed, aka Physical Fitness Age. This report calculates your OMICm FitAge, your overall biological age based exclusively on epigenetic biomarkers of physical performance. This measurement uses the OMICm FitAge Acceleration algorithm to calculate results. It also contains information about Muscle Strength (Grip Strength), Lung Function (VO2max and FEV1), and walking speed (Gait Speed). These metrics are reported in a format that tells you whether you are performing better or worse than others who share the same calendar age as you, and by what percentage.
5. Alcohol Impact. This tells how alcohol consumption has influenced your health. It helps you understand how drinking alcohol speeds up the aging processes of your skin, blood, and liver, as well as how it impacts your overall biological aging processes. You’ll learn how your lifetime alcohol consumption, as well as current drinking habits, affect your DNA expression. The Alcohol Consumption report also breaks down the latest research on how long it would take an average person to reverse the damage of drinking through abstinence.
6. Organ system ages. This is the age of key organs, including the heart, brain, liver, etc. They call this the SYMPHONYAge, which stands for System Methylation Proxy of Heterogeneous Organ Years. It’s a way of looking at aging by examining how different parts of the body age independently and synchronously. Our body’s systems don’t age in isolation. Many age-related illnesses stem from issues in various biological systems working together. For instance, arthritis is the result of both musculoskeletal wear and inflammation, whereas stroke can happen due to problems in the cardiovascular system, metabolism, inflammation, and brain function. These interconnected patterns can lead to different aging types, making some people more prone to specific age-related diseases. Understanding these patterns helps in forecasting health outcomes.
7. Telomere Length Report. Telomeres are an essential part of human cells that affect how our cells age. Telomere length has emerged as a necessary determinant of replicative senescence and cell fate – a critical indicator of the aging process and a wide range of disease states, including cancers, cardiovascular disease, and age-related disorders.
9. Smoking Impact Score. This tells how smoking has affected your epigenetic age.
They don’t say much about the details of the process, or even show the contents of the box you get when you send them 500 bucks. I’m wondering if there’s a questionnaire. It’s just hard to believe all this data comes from a DNA test. But maybe it does, I don’t know.
TruDiagnostic is promising a lot here, just from what I assume is a DNA swab. It’s tempting to get it and see what my reports say. But I kind of get an astrology vibe as well. Let me know what you think of all this by commenting on the episode. And while you’re at it, subscribe and like the episode. And until next time, if you’ve got the fever keep it burning, and if you don’t catch the fever, and I’ll see you next time on Running: A FEVER.
References:
https://tinyurl.com/raf-trudiagnostic
https://donotage.org/biological-age-test-kit
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/02/05/1228753141/biological-age-test-dna
https://myagingtests.com/product/epigenetic-age-grimage-test/