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Longevity Industry’s Growth Outpaces Evidence, Raising Overdiagnosis Fears

Medical colleges say full-body MRIs for healthy people do not improve outcomes.

Overview

  • Public-health researchers say a booming market of life-extension tests and treatments is being sold without high-quality proof that it adds years or improves long-term health.
  • Venture capital, celebrity investors and pharmaceutical companies are pouring funds into offerings that range from supplements and peptides to cryotherapy and red light therapy.
  • Experts warn extensive testing can generate incidental findings that trigger unnecessary procedures, costs and anxiety, with follow-up care flowing back into already stretched hospitals.
  • Marketers frame longevity services as preventive care, yet researchers stress that proven prevention centers on vaccinations, age-appropriate screening, exercise, nutrition, sleep and social supports.
  • High-profile figures such as Bryan Johnson exemplify costly, extreme regimens that include strict diets, large supplement stacks and experimental interventions like plasma transfusions.