American technology tycoon Brian Johnson, who is worth nearly US$5 billion, used the blood plasma of his 17-year-old son to exchange blood for himself in pursuit of "eternal youth". According to the "Daily Mail" report on June 3, Johnson claimed that he was taking more than 80 vitamins and pills every day, and eating more than 60 catties of vegetable puree every month. He claims to have "the skin of a 28-year-old and the health of an 18-year-old". However, scientists say some of the theories are "nonsense".
Earlier, Johnson carried out the transfusion experiment with his son Tallmadge and father Richard, which attracted public attention. Johnson, 45, reportedly sold his company 10 years ago for $800 million. Today he is worth nearly $5 billion and spends $2 million a year on his pursuit of eternal youth. Johnson said that he started pursuing the anti-aging road because he found himself 27 kg overweight, depressed and suicidal, and unable to control his eating habits many years ago during the turmoil of divorce and the sale of the company. Later he realized the lifestyle was very unhealthy and decided to start over. He said: "We are addicted to junk food, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes. As human beings, we are really crazy. If we can't reconcile with our bodies, how can we be expected to save the planet and survive?"
Since then, Johnson has read obsessively about fighting aging and extending life, calling himself "a human lab rat". Two years later, during anti-aging experiments, Johnson claimed to have the heart of 37, the skin of 28, and the health of 18. "I have no intention of dying at this time," Johnson said. Specifically, in the process of pursuing "eternal youth", Johnson took more than 80 pills a day and ate more than 60 catties of vegetable puree a month. In addition, a team of more than 30 doctors regularly measures his blood, heart, liver, kidneys, brain, blood vessels, and sexual health; in order to monitor gastrointestinal health, he even took more than 30,000 internal intestinal pictures.
In the scientific community, plasma exchange has not been proven to prolong life. While some animal experiments suggest that plasma transfusion may have some positive effects on memory in aged mice, these experiments have not sufficiently demonstrated that plasma transfusion prolongs life. In addition, there are some health risks associated with plasma exchange transfusions, which may lead to infections or other illnesses.
Although the effect of plasma exchange is doubtful, scientists have discovered some more scientific ways to prolong life. For example, maintain a healthy diet, exercise appropriately, maintain good sleep quality, reduce stress, etc. In addition, scientists are also investigating new technologies such as stem cell therapy and gene editing, which may provide more possibilities for human life extension.
In short, plasma exchange has not been scientifically proven to prolong life, and more scientific methods of prolonging life include maintaining healthy eating habits, doing appropriate exercise, maintaining good sleep quality, and reducing stress. We should face health problems with a scientific attitude and not be confused by some unscientific health theories.