Bryan Johnson, the entrepreneur who has garnered global attention for his intensive and costly pursuit of reversing aging, has expressed doubts about the extreme nature of his longevity efforts. The admission comes shortly after he disclosed his diagnosis with an incurable autoimmune disease.
In a recent post on X, formerly Twitter, Johnson, 48, stated, "Been thinking things over and wonder if I’ve taken this whole longevity thing too far." This reflection follows his announcement in early July that he is suffering from autoimmune gastritis (AIG), a condition he described as "My stomach is eating itself."
AIG affects a small percentage of the population, and its early symptoms can be mild or absent, often leading to delayed diagnosis. Johnson detailed the challenges he faced in identifying his condition and outlined the management and treatment strategies he is pursuing.
He shared that his earlier diet consisted of fast food and sugary items. After experiencing a period of what he described as "deep, chronic depression" in his 30s, coinciding with fatherhood and business building, he noticed the onset of autoimmune processes affecting his thyroid and stomach lining. Johnson was diagnosed with hypothyroidism at age 21 and managed it for nearly three decades before discovering the AIG diagnosis in May of this year.
"AIG causes irreversible damage – nutritional deficiency, anaemia, and over a long horizon, elevated cancer risk," Johnson explained. He had overhauled his medical team earlier this year to lay the groundwork for his $1 million-per-year "Immortals Care" longevity program, which aims to defeat death.
Diagnostic procedures, including a colonoscopy and a bi-directional endoscopy, along with blood biomarker analysis, revealed elevated levels of anti-parietal-cells antibodies, indicative of AIG. A subsequent stomach biopsy confirmed the presence of weakening stomach lining, an early sign of the disease.
Johnson and his team plan to address his AIG through ongoing monitoring of his iron levels and other biological indicators, alongside further tests to understand the disease's specifics. Potential experimental approaches include targeting immune system proteins, rebuilding regulatory T-cells, and employing engineered cell therapy. He emphasized that while no approved cure for autoimmune gastritis currently exists, he believes his team's novel approach could lead to a breakthrough.
"In the age of AI, multiomics, and custom-built DNA, proteins, and cells, no condition should be presumed incurable simply because no one has yet tried to cure it with today's stack," Johnson asserted.
His candid remarks have prompted discussions among his followers, with some questioning whether an excessive focus on extending life might detract from the quality of life itself. Others expressed continued interest in the long-term outcomes of his anti-aging experiments.