#409 Reviewing Bryan Johnson Blueprint Supplements - Are They Evidence Based

Siim Land (0:00)

Bryan Johnson is taking over 100 supplements per day, or at least that's what he used to do. He now created his own supplement line that distills all those 100 supplements into just a handful of pills and some powders. Bryan says that all of those supplements have a clinically relevant dose, and they're selected for certain frontline interventions such as weight loss, anti-aging, muscle, sleep, antioxidant effects, et cetera. In this video, I'm going to review all of the ingredients in the Blueprint Supplement Stack. I'll go through all the research of each ingredient to see if they're really evidence-based and if the dosages are really clinically relevant. This is gonna be a pretty long video, so I'm putting all the timestamps of the ingredients into the description box below, so you can check out whatever specific ingredient that you're interested in. First off, I do like the idea that Bryan is listing out all the ingredients in his supplements and the exact dosages. A lot of companies might use proprietary blends, which means they're using their own patented dosage formula, which is why you don't know exactly how much of each ingredient there is. Let's start with the longevity mix.

It's this pink powder drink. The ingredients are Vitamin C as ascorbic acid, 250 mg, magnesium as magnesium citrate, 150 mg, creatine monohydrate, 2,500 mg, calcium alpha-ketoglutarate, 2 g, glucosamine sulfate, 1,500 mg, taurine, 1,500 mg, glycine, 1,200 mg, lysine, 1,200 mg, ashwagandha, 600 mg, reduced glutathione, 250 mg, theanine, 200 mg, and sodium hyaluronate, 120 mg. I wanna start with calcium alpha-ketoglutarate or AKG because this is the star of this blend. Blueprint says calcium AKG is for anti-aging, metabolism, energy, muscle, and cognition. Now this is quite interesting, and there are most studies showing that calcium AKG extends lifespan by up to 20% and healthspan by 40%. And the 2021 clinical trial on humans saw that taking 1,000 mg of calcium AKG for seven months reduced the DNA methylation age of 42 individuals by eight years. Now this sounds quite amazing to reduce your biological age in such a short time, but there's almost no practical takeaway to reducing your DNA methylation age, and we don't necessarily know what it actually means in the final outcomes of health. What's more, the study was done by a company on their patented formula called Rejuvant, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. There's currently another clinical trial called ABLE that seeks to replicate these findings. They're using 1,000 milligrams of calcium AKG for six months on 120 people between the ages of 40 and 60 And they'll also measure functional outcomes like grip strength, aerobic capacity, arterial stiffness, inflammation, et cetera. For me, the secondary outcomes, such as grip strength, VO2 max, et cetera, are much more important and much more interesting. We have a lot more data about the consequences of having high VO2 max and some of the other effects, but we don't have that data with these biological age tests. AKG is involved in the metabolism, specifically the Krebs cycle that generates energy. AKG levels decline with age by about 10-fold after the age of 40, which makes it plausible that supplementation could have health benefits. There are indeed several human clinical trials over the past few decades that have shown that AKG helps with wound healing, immunity and faster recovery from surgeries. A 2022 review on AKG stated that a few studies published in the 1980s and 1990s in humans suggested the potential benefits of AKG in muscle growth, wound healing and promoting faster recovery after surgery. So far, there are no recently published studies demonstrating the role of AKG in treating aging and age-related diseases. Hence, further clinical studies are required to better understand the role of AKG in humans. AKG is otherwise safe, but it is quite expensive. It's one of the most expensive ingredients in the longevity mix and potentially the entire blueprint stack. The problem is that it has one of the lowest amount of clinical trials when it comes to longevity.

So you're spending the most money, but you have the least certainty about its benefits. But this doesn't mean that I'm not excited about future trials on AKG, so we just have to wait for them. Vitamin C is the next ingredient in the longevity mix. The blueprint website says it's selected for antioxidant, immune, skin, hair, anti-aging and heart benefits. Usually vitamin C is used to prevent or treat the flu. A 2013 Cochrane review of 29 placebo controlled trials found that vitamin C at a dose of 200 milligrams or above had no effect on the incidence of common colds. However, regular supplementation was shown to reduce the duration of cold symptoms. Five studies also found that vitamin C reduced the risk of common cold by 50% in people engaged in a lot of physical stress like marathon running. Overall, the review concluded that vitamin C isn't justified for preventing the cold, but it might be useful for people who are experiencing higher amounts of physical stress. Regarding skin, hair and nails, then yes, vitamin C is essential for initiating collagen synthesis. However, the studies on this are done with topical vitamin C, not the oral form. There is one study that found that oral supplementation of vitamin C and vitamin E in 18 people increased the dose of UEV radiation from the sun needed to cause redness of the skin. The subjects also saw less skin lesions after getting sunburned when taking vitamin C and E. A 2007 epidemiological study found that people who ate more dietary vitamin C from fruits and vegetables had a lower likelihood of a wrinkled appearance and senile dryness. But that refers to dietary vitamin C, and these studies are observational, which means that the effects might have been caused by some other healthy lifestyle factors. And it certainly doesn't mean that supplementing vitamin C would have those benefits. What about chronic diseases like heart disease? A 2007 random control trial on over 8,000 women over the age of 40 with history of cardiovascular disease and with three or more risk factors found that there were no overall effects of vitamin C, E, or beta-carotene on cardiovascular events among women at high risk of cardiovascular disease. Another 2004 random control trial took over 13,000 middle-aged people and told them to take antioxidants, including ascorbic acid, for 7.5 years. They found that the antioxidants didn't reduce the risk of total cancer incidence, ischemic heart disease, or all-cause mortality in women, but men did see a reduction in the incidence of total cancer and all-cause mortality. This could be because men have a baseline lower antioxidant status and lower intake of foods that contain antioxidants, such as fruit and vegetables. And the 2017 Cochrane Review of Clinical Trials concluded that vitamin C supplementation doesn't reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. So supplementing with vitamin C or vitamin E doesn't provide any additional benefits that you wouldn't get from your diet. If you're eating fruits and vegetables, then you're getting all the vitamin C that your body needs. Next, let's look at creatine monohydrate, which is said to work for the brain, muscles, heart, energy, and anti-aging. Indeed, creatine is probably the most evidence-based supplement there is, and it has hundreds if not thousands of studies showing that it increases muscle strength, muscle mass, and sports performance. However, many people are still not aware that creatine has longevity benefits for the brain as well. It's been shown to improve cognition, better memory, reduce sleep demand, and improve glucose tolerance. When it comes to heart health, then here's what a 2021 review on the subject concluded. In otherwise healthy people with healthy hearts, creatine doesn't improve cardiac function. In people with heart failure, creatine improves muscle function, which could be beneficial to counteract fatigue and weakness. Overall, creatine is safe, except in people with kidney failure. So creatine is the best supplement for physical performance, and it also appears to have cognitive benefits. But the evidence for it having heart benefits is somewhat limited for people who have already healthy hearts. Regardless, a dose of 2.5 to 3 grams of creatine monohydrate is the gold standard, is the cheapest form of creatine, and it is a good dose. Next up, we have magnesium citrate for bone, muscle, mood, stress, heart, and energy. Magnesium is indeed one of those minerals that a lot of people aren't getting enough of, and magnesium deficiency does increase the risk of many chronic inflammatory conditions. Magnesium deficiency is also at the center of all the hallmarks of aging. What about the clinical trials? A 2023 meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials concluded that magnesium supplements can improve depression scores in people with depressive disorders. However, they typically use 250 milligrams, whereas Blueprint has 150 milligrams.