Longevity Clinics: What They Are, Services & More

Longevity clinics are becoming increasingly popular as people strive to stay healthy and vital for as long as possible. These clinics focus on the early detection and treatment of diseases that are age-dependent, and the prolongation of the active phase of a person’s life, in which mental, physical, and social activities are preserved.

There are several hundred longevity clinics worldwide, with over 40 in Switzerland and 25 in the United Kingdom. These clinics represent a new and emerging direction in healthcare that aims to increase the average healthy life expectancy of patients.

This article examines the new services offered by the most cutting-edge longevity clinics, and technologies on the horizon.

What are longevity clinics?

Longevity clinics offer treatments at the tissue and the cellular level to assist patients in optimizing their health and reduce the risk of age-related diseases. While some of these clinics focus on early diagnosis of age-related diseases, hormone therapies, and stem cell therapies, others are beginning to offer innovative treatments such as ‘anti-aging’ supplements protocols.

Clinical staff

The staff of a longevity clinic may consist of a range of healthcare professionals, including general practitioners, and physicians with the following specialties: neurology, endocrinology, cardiology, geriatrics, orthopedics, urology, oncology, immunology, as well as biochemists, nutritionists, and physiotherapists. All specialists have a narrow specialization and a field of medical interests in longevity medicine, and the treatment of age-related diseases.

Clinical equipment

Longevity clinics may be equipped with a range of equipment, such as office equipment for consultations, diagnostic equipment, surgical procedure equipment, massage tables, physiotherapy equipment, and gym equipment. All of these components are essential for providing longevity and healthcare services.

Longevity medicine

Longevity clinics practice a new medical discipline known as ‘longevity medicine’. Longevity medicine supports the transition from the classical medical paradigm of diagnosing and treating diseases when they occur, to a prevention medicine paradigm in which activities and interventions are used for healthy individuals to assist them in staying healthy longer and prevent them from developing diseases in the first place.

What services do longevity clinics offer?

Longevity clinics offer a wide range of services to assist clients to improve their health and slow their aging. After an initial consultation, the clinical staff may offer clients services across three broad categories:

• Diagnostic tests for age-related diseases markers
• Measuring ‘biomarkers’ of aging
• Provision of dietary, exercise, medical, or other anti-aging interventions

Diagnostic services

Longevity clinics offer diagnostic services to identify age-related pathologies. These diagnostic tests are essential for effective medical treatment and prevention of potential health risks in the future.

Age-related pathologies may be accurately diagnosed through a standard medical consultation in addition to lab analysis of a patient’s biopsy. This process may include biochemical tests, genetic testing, and the identification of age-related pathologies. Diagnostic services offered by the longevity clinic may include:

• Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Electrocardiogram (ECG)
• BMI assessment
• Blood pressure measurement
• Cognitive abilities testing
• Grip strength testing

Biomarkers of aging

Longevity clinics may use a comprehensive set of aging biomarkers in order to track the rate of aging in clients and understand whether the client is experiencing “healthy” or “unhealthy” aging. These biomarkers allow the clinics to evaluate the effectiveness of lifestyle and other longevity interventions.

Some of the biomarkers and tests of aging performed by longevity clinics to measure the health status of patients include:

• Blood-based biomarkers: blood work, or blood tests, can inform longevity clinicians of relevant blood markers to provide insights that may be used to advise nutritional plans or supplement protocols.
• DNA methylation: The epigenetic DNA methylation signatures are increasingly used as a biomarker to assess aging disease susceptibility and mortality risk. This technology has been used to create ‘aging clocks’ such as the Horvath clock, which measures biological age.
• Cognitive markers: The use of neurological biomarkers to track the progression of a disease and to predict disease status can be achieved through non-invasive behavioral performance on objective cognitive tasks.
• Physical and physiological biomarkers: A person’s ability to perform the physical activities of everyday living is an important indicator of their current and future health. Tests such as grip strength and push-up tests have been associated with predicting aging trajectories.

The client’s biomarkers are evaluated within a reference range for the optimal age of the patient (typically that of a 20-30-year-old), and the goal of the interventions is to close the gap between current parameters and the optimal biomarkers for the ideal age. Some of the interventions offered by the clinic are discussed below:

Diet and nutrition consulting

Longevity clinics offer personalized nutrition plans to help clients improve their biomarkers of aging. Diet and nutrition play a fundamental role in healthy longevity, with research associating diets with longevity. Nutrition plans may encompass the following aspects:

• Macronutrient and micronutrient dietary composition: Dietitians will select an optimal diet of healthy foods that meet the macronutrient and micronutrient needs of the patient to improve their biomarkers of aging. These diets may include a range of vegetables, healthy protein sources, nuts, seeds, and legumes.
• Caloric intake: caloric restriction has been associated with reduced aging biomarkers and increased anti-aging biomarkers. Longevity clinics may advise daily caloric intake targets for clients based on their individual metabolic needs.
• Fasting periods: intermittent fasting has been linked to longevity due to its various health benefits, such as improved cardiovascular health, decreased cancer risks and increased autophagy. Longevity clinics may incorporate intermittent fasting protocols into their diet plan.

Exercise regimes

Many longevity clinics offer personalized fitness programs, fitness trainers, and personal coaches for clients to work with on- or off-site. Fitness programs are designed based on the client’s body composition, mobility, and current fitness level. Fitness trainers and personal coaches may be present to ensure that the client’s form is correct throughout their workouts to minimize injury and maximize bone and muscle health.

Some of the exercise programs for clients may incorporate:

• Strength training: studies suggest that strength training may be among the most effective exercises in improving healthy longevity. Research has shown that strength training once a week for 30-90 minutes can reduce risks of premature death from all causes by 10-20%. Longevity clinics offer personalized strength training programs to help clients improve their biomarkers of aging.
• HIIT training: high-intensity interval training, or HIIT workouts, involve cycles of short, intense, and explosive exercises alternating with brief recovery periods. HIIT has been shown to improve VO2 max, which is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise, and is a key predictor of longevity. Longevity clinics may use HIIT training protocols to help clients improve their VO2 max.

Sleep and circadian rhythm optimization

Longevity clinics may assist clients to improve their sleep patterns and circadian rhythm. Poor sleep is associated with development of various disorders, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and declined cognitive functions. The clinic may assist clients with optimizing their sleep through interventions such as:

• Blackout blinds: blackout blinds can greatly benefit clients by creating a darker environment that promotes deeper and more restful sleep.
• Supplements and natural sleep aids: supplements or natural sleep aids containing ingredients such as melatonin, lavender or valerian root may be prescribed to clients to take prior to bedtime to promote sleep.
• Sleep tracking devices: clients may benefit from tracking their sleep through wearable devices such as an Oura ring. These devices track the amount of time spent in each stage of sleep by measuring the beat-to-beat changes in your heartbeat, known as heart rate variability (HRV).
• Light therapy: during light therapy, clients are required to sit 1-2 feet away from a light therapy box that produces a bright light. Light therapy is used during the early morning to inhibit melatonin production in order to reset circadian rhythm and may be used for certain clients of longevity clinics.

Supplement and drug treatments

Longevity clinics may create personalized supplement and drug protocols which offer anti-aging or ‘geroprotective’ effects. While no FDA-approved longevity supplements and drugs, several companies have marketed their supplements as anti-aging or longevity supplements citing research to support their claims.

Longevity clinics may offer a range of supplement or prescription drugs, overseen by a medical doctor, such as:

• Metformin is a prescription drug that is a first-line medication for treatment of type 2 diabetes. Researchers have suggested that metformin may possess longevity benefits, with studies pointing to the drug as effective in reducing the risk of certain types of cancers and age-related pathologies in humans.
• Rapamycin is a prescription drug that is used as an immunosuppressant during organ transplant procedures. In low doses, Rapamycin has been shown to extend lifespan in mice, and is being tested in clinical trials for slowing aging in humans.
• Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) is a form of vitamin B3 and supplement which is thought to raise the level of NAD+ in the body cells. NAD+ is a vital biomolecule essential in housekeeping mechanisms such as DNA maintenance, energy metabolism, and maintenance of proper cell function, and declines with aging.

Innovative and promising treatments

In addition to the services listed previously, it is likely that longevity clinics will soon offer more innovative interventions to slow the aging process, such as:

• Gene therapies: are an experimental method of treating or preventing disease. Rather than using drugs or surgery to treat a disease, doctors may be able to use this technique to insert a gene into the patient’s cells in the future to enhance longevity.
• Cell therapy: human cells are transplanted to replace or repair damaged tissues or cells. New technologies may make it possible to use a variety of different types of cells to treat a wide range of diseases and conditions.
• Bioprinting: Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting involves combining cells, growth factors, and biomaterials to recreate biomedical parts in an attempt to emulate the characteristics of human tissues. Bioprinting could be used to create organs such as hearts or kidneys as replacements for damaged or aging organs. 

Popular Longevity Clinics

Several longevity clinics are gaining popularity in the U.S. as health-conscious individuals seek state-of-the-art clinical care to proactively monitor and optimize their health. These include:

• Human Longevity Inc. (HLI): is an innovative longevity clinic based in San Francisco, San Diego and Beijing focused on combining the latest technology and analytics to assist clients in extending their healthy lifespans beyond 100 years. HLI uses genotypic and phenotypic data, and diagnostic tools to generate insights that allow early detection of health risks and continuous monitoring, enabling proactive avoidance of preventable age-related diseases, and lower treatment costs.
• Fountain Life: is a company offering precision diagnostics for early detection of cancer, heart disease, and dementia and has clinics located in Dallas, Naples and White Plains in the U.S. The clinic offers a range of services, including non-invasive MRI and Computerized tomography (CT) scans, a comprehensive blood panel, biological age testing, whole genome sequencing, gut microbiome analysis, and DEXA bone density scans. Results are reviewed annually by a physician to monitor the client’s health.
• Prenuvo: is a longevity clinic in six locations, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, that offers preventative whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The clinic’s mission is to provide fast and easy access to clinically-significant insights, such as cancer detection so that clients can make more informed decisions about their health.
• Minicircle is a longevity clinic located in the charter city of Próspera on the island of Roatan in the Caribbean. The company is running clinical trials for innovative gene therapy technologies to assist with age-related diseases such as ALS and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Summary

Longevity clinics are becoming increasingly popular as people strive to stay healthy and biologically young for as long as possible. The most cutting-edge longevity clinics offer a range of services such as diagnostics, lifestyle interventions, medicines, supplements and coaching, which aim to extend the healthy period of life.

Diagnostic tests for age-related pathologies, biomarkers of aging, personalized nutrition plans and exercise regimes, sleep and circadian rhythm optimization, and supplement and drug treatments are all services that may be offered by these clinics. Furthermore, gene therapies, cell therapy, and 3D bioprinting are all promising treatments that may be available in the future. As longevity clinics continue to develop, they offer new and exciting possibilities for people to stay healthy and extend their lifespan.