Anti-Aging CEO's Test Subjects Reportedly Suffered Grim Side Effects

An alarming new investigation by the New York Times accuses youth-obsessed tech mogul Bryan Johnson of covering up some grim side effects experienced by participants testing his line of supplements.

Johnson — who was an early investor in Futurism, but hasn't had any involvement for years — has gone to extreme lengths to slow down or even "reverse" his "biological age" through a series of sometimes extreme self-experiments, like using his teenage son as a "blood boy" and measuring his nighttime erections.

He's parlayed that hype into a line of supplements and meals called "The Blueprint Stack," bolstered by what the company says were promising study results.

But the NYT's reporting makes that study sound very dubious. Out of the roughly 1,700 participants, a whopping 60 percent experienced at least one side effect, according to documents viewed by the newspaper. Blood tests showed that some participants saw their testosterone levels drop or developed prediabetes.

The food regimen also reportedly had undesirable side effects.

"Longevity mix: A lot of comments about hating this as it is making them sick, vomit, have heartburn, etc.," one Blueprint employee told a colleague in early 2024, as quoted by the newspaper.

"TONS of people saying it’s causing nausea, bloating," another employee wrote, referring to allulose, a sugar alternative that Johnson has previously sung the praises of.

Thanks to a litany of confidentiality agreements employees reportedly had to sign, many felt afraid to speak up.

Blueprint executive and Johnson’s longtime longevity doctor Oliver Zolman, who worked on the study, appears to have had a falling out with Johnson.

Zolman left Blueprint last summer after raising concerns over the study, according to the NYT. The details surrounding his departure are eyebrow-raising, to say the least, with Johnson telling the newspaper that he had resigned "to seek professional help for his serious mental health concerns," though the NYT's sources deny that's the reason Zolman left.

Despite having promised to release the results of the study in mid-2024, Johnson has only released some data about a mere 300 participants — less than a fifth of the total — showing positive results in January. Whether the rest of the data could change that final assessment remains to be seen.

In a lengthy tweet detailing the data, Johnson claimed that after 90 days, depression symptoms "improved" by 23 percent, and blood pressure "improved" by seven percent, among other health markers.

The replies, however, quickly appeared to corroborate the NYT's reporting, with users complaining that the regimen "gave me heartburn, gas and bound me up."

The NYT story also alleges that blood test results showed that Johnson's age had increased by as much as ten years, despite a Netflix documentary released earlier this year saying it had been reversed by more than five years (Johnson told the NYT that the "decision to highlight the 5.1 year reduction was made entirely by the documentary’s production team" and that "biological age measurements fluctuate."

Johnson seemed concerned about the NYT story before it came out. Earlier this year, he accused the newspaper of sensationalism, describing its reporting as a "hit piece" designed to "construct a narrative about me."

More on Johnson's johnson: It Sounds Like Something Nasty Is About to Come Out About That Millionaire Biohacker Who Used His Son as a "Blood Boy"

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