What longevity clinics offer
Longevity clinics are private practices that aim to help you stay healthy longer. Offers vary widely, but they often combine a detailed health history, extensive blood work, fitness and body testing, and coaching on exercise, food, sleep and stress. Many sell a yearly membership or a program package. Some add treatments such as IV drips, hormones, peptides or regenerative products.
The foundations of healthy aging are well known: eat well, stay active, keep a healthy weight, manage stress, stay social, don't smoke, and keep up with checkups and screenings. A good clinic helps you do these things better and measures whether it's working.
Typical tests, and how strong the evidence is
| Test | What it measures | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced lipid panel, blood sugar, kidney and liver panels | Heart, metabolic and organ health | These overlap with standard checkup tests. Will results go to your primary care clinician? |
| VO2 max and fitness testing | How well your body uses oxygen during exercise | How will the result change your training plan? |
| DEXA body composition | Muscle, fat and bone | How often is a repeat scan worth it? |
| Biological age tests | An estimated "age" from blood or DNA markers | What would you do differently based on the number? |
| Whole-body CT scan | Images of the whole body | The FDA knows of no evidence it does more good than harm for people without symptoms. Why this scan for you? |
The FDA says whole-body CT screening of people without symptoms has no scientific evidence that it does more good than harm. CT uses relatively high radiation, a normal result can miss problems, and false alarms can lead to more tests. See biomarker testing for how to read a wellness blood panel.
How to judge a longevity clinic
- Credentials. Learn who leads the clinic and who you will actually see. Check each clinician's license on your state board's site.
- Evidence. Ask what the evidence is for each test and treatment, and how strong it is. A good clinic separates what's proven from what's experimental.
- Price transparency. Get the full price in writing: membership, each test, each treatment and any follow-up. Ask what's included and how to cancel.
- Your other doctors. The clinic should share results and work with your primary care clinician.
- A clear plan. You should leave with specific goals, a way to measure them and a date to recheck.
Red flags
- Promises to stop or turn back aging, or to fix a serious disease.
- Stem cell, exosome or other regenerative products sold outside an FDA-overseen clinical trial. The FDA says people offered these outside a trial are likely being deceived.
- Young donor plasma infusions. The FDA has not approved plasma for normal aging or memory loss and knows of no evidence that it helps.
- A ClinicalTrials.gov listing or FDA registration offered as proof a treatment is approved. The FDA says neither means that.
- Large prepaid packages, pressure to buy today, or no itemized prices.
- Advice to stop prescribed medicines or skip standard screenings.
Don't let a longevity program delay care for new symptoms. See a clinician promptly for unexplained weight loss, a new lump, blood in your stool or urine, or a change in a mole. Call 911 for chest pain, trouble breathing or signs of a stroke.
How Gabriel helps
With a free Gabriel account you can upload any lab report and Gabriel explains it in plain words, including results from a longevity clinic. Gabriel also finds and books root-cause and holistic practitioners, such as functional medicine doctors and naturopaths.
Common questions
What is a longevity clinic?
A private practice that aims to help you stay healthy longer, usually with detailed testing, coaching on exercise, food and sleep, and sometimes extra treatments sold as add-ons.
Are longevity clinics worth it?
They can be if the plan is led by licensed clinicians, rests on well-proven basics and prices are clear. They are poor value if they mostly sell unproven scans, infusions or products.
What tests do longevity clinics do?
Often blood panels for heart and metabolic health, fitness tests such as VO2 max, body composition scans, and sometimes biological age tests or whole-body imaging. Ask what each one will change in your plan.
Is a full-body scan a good idea?
The FDA says there is no scientific evidence that whole-body CT screening of people without symptoms does more good than harm. Talk with your own clinician about the risks and benefits first.
Are stem cell treatments at longevity clinics safe?
The FDA warns that stem cell and exosome products offered outside an FDA-overseen clinical trial are not approved and can cause serious harm, including infections and blindness. The only FDA-approved stem cell products are cord blood cells for certain blood disorders.
Sources
- Full-Body CT Scans: What You Need to Know U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Important Patient and Consumer Information About Regenerative Medicine Therapies U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Update to Important Information about Young Donor Plasma Infusions Offered for Profit U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Healthy Aging MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine
- 6 Things To Know When Selecting a Complementary Health Practitioner National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, NIH
This guide is general information, not medical advice. It does not replace a visit with a licensed clinician. Gabriel membership is not health insurance.