Hydrogen therapy, longevity + beauty initiative, Livelong Summit

Welcome to the latest issue of The Longevity Newsletter, the only longevity newsletter that’s fun to read. I’m your host, the Longevity Hound.

Since it’s the holiday season, there seems to be a lull in breakthrough science papers about longevity. But that doesn’t mean we are short of exciting longevity news.

Today, we have news about molecular hydrogen therapy, a big new longevity + beauty initiative, and the first world-class longevity event for the general public. Let’s dig in.

GOOD FOR THE MICE DEPT.

Molecular hydrogen heals fractures in old mice

What's the news: A new way to deliver molecular hydrogen reduces age-related inflammation and promotes bone healing in mice.

Why should we believe it: This news is based on a new study published a few weeks ago by scientists in China. The scientists designed a new, surgically inserted "scaffold" to release molecular hydrogen inside the body over the course of a week.

They tested this approach in aged mice with bone fractures. Results:

• A decrease in the "senescence environment," the stew of inflammatory chemicals that prevent healing and regeneration as we age

• Faster and more thorough bone healing

• Greater growth of new bone.

Why this is a big deal: It's been known for a while that molecular hydrogen is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. However, the main ways of getting molecular hydrogen into the body (inhaling hydrogen gas or drinking hydrogen-rich water) disperse quickly and cannot target a specific area of the body. This new way of delivering molecular hydrogen is both more powerful and more precise.

And this intervention has promise beyond bone fractures. As one of the authors of the above study put it, "We believe that continuous hydrogen supply will be a universal anti-aging technology that can treat various aging-related diseases, including preventing and treating diseases like Alzheimer’s."

So what's next: More research, of course, specifically to create a new scaffold that would release molecular hydrogen in the body for an even longer period of time. While we wait for that research, if you'd like to learn more about the promise of hydrogen therapy, this recent article gives a good overview.

IRREVOCABLY PERSONAL DEPT.

Justin Boxford, longevity initiator at Estée Lauder

Who we're talking about: Justin Boxford, global brand president at makeup and skincare giant Estée Lauder. Boxford is the go-to guy at Estée Lauder for innovation, product development, and consumer marketing.

And the news is: Last week, Boxford announced a new longevity collective at Estée Lauder and explained the new move: “Longevity is one of the fastest-growing movements in the beauty and wellness industries, with multi-generational consumer interest in biohacking and age-reversal practices at an all-time high.”

What's included? As part of this new longevity initiative, Estée Lauder will:

1. Create a panel of industry experts, including longevity researchers from the Buck Institute of Aging and UC Berkeley, to both guide the company and advise consumers on matters of longevity

2. Fund longevity research at the Stanford Center For Longevity

3. Launch new skincare products using insights from longevity research (more on this below)

Why this is a big deal: Back in April, another beauty giant, Dior, started a similar longevity initiative. The fact that Estée Lauder is now in on the game shows that this is not a flash in the pan.

Beyond the corporate jockeying, this new announcement might in time produce genuinely useful new products. Of course, maintaining a youthful appearance is a part of longevity. But as I've written in an earlier issue of The Longevity Newsletter, skin aging (and its reversal) can have bodywide effects, beyond aesthetics.

So what's next: January 2024 will see the launch of a new Estée Lauder product, Re-Nutriv Ultimate Diamond Transformative Brilliance Soft Crème. The company says this product produces visible age reversal starting in just 14 days. It includes Sirtivity-LP, a skincare tech based on sirtuins, the longevity-promoting enzymes that are aa research topic of celebrity longevity researcher David Sinclair.

LONGEVITY OFFER

Livelong Summit, the first world-class longevity event for the general public

What is it: Livelong Summit, a live, in-person, 2-day longevity event, happening in West Palm Beach, FL, on March 15-16, 2024.

Why you might want to go: To my knowledge, this is the first truly world-class longevity event that’s designed for the general public rather than as a networking opportunity for industry insiders.

Livelong Summit is for you if want to find out what longevity therapies are available today, what lifestyle choices actually push back the clock and hold off disease, and what breakthroughs we can hope for in the next year or two.

Who will be there: The event already features some of the best-known names in the longevity field as confirmed speakers:

• Harvard's celebrity longevity researcher, Dr. David Sinclair

• Aubrey de Grey, founder of SENS Research Foundation and the Longevity Escape Velocity Foundation

• Bryan Johnson, the Silicon Valley multimillionaire who has become the face of longevity self-experimentation

Why else might you want to go? Along with celebrity speakers, this event will feature breakout sessions on fertility, health testing, and ending menopause. Dozens of table topics will cover everything from senolytic drugs, personalized stem cell therapies, and rapamycin.

There will also be a VIP reception, a bike ride around Palm Beach Island, yoga at sunrise, and even a pickleball match. Plus, there are rumors that your humble editor, the Longevity Hound, will also be present somewhere in the room.

What specifically you can do now: Get your early-bird ticket to Livelong Summit. Yes, I know that March is a long way away. But if you are interested in this event, the current early-bird price will probably be half of the final ticket price, and it might disappear soon. In other words, it makes sense to get it sooner rather than later. Here's where to go:

Click here to buy tickets to Livelong Summit

AROUND THE WEB

Two guys try Bryan Johnson's Blueprint Program for a month

#1 antidote to aging (Big Think video)

Is biological age testing accurate or useful?

Silicon Valley’s Quest to Live Forever Has Many Warring Factions

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Millennials aging faster than boomers and Gen X

An article last week in The Korea Times reports that millennials are aging faster than previous generations, specifically, Gen X and boomers.

This is a trend that was first noted in 2020 in the U.S. via a large study by insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield. But in the years since, the same trend has become obvious in major Asian societies, including Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Aging in this case is not the kind that's measured by biological aging clocks that I talk about often. Rather, it's more familiar age-related conditions such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Such conditions are now increasingly common in people in their 30s and 40s, while in previous generations they started appearing only after age 50 or 60.

What's going on? According to the article, behavioral factors are largely to blame:

"A number of factors contribute to this phenomenon, such as consuming large amounts of ubiquitous processed foods, including sugary snacks; physical inactivity; stress; poor work-life balance; and financial difficulties."

If you are a millennial, born between 1981 and 1996, then consider this a warning to eat healthier, move more, and go see some friends, rather than stressing about work, alone in front of the computer. You’ve probably heard this advice many times before. But at least on an aggregate level, it doesn’t seem to have sunk in yet.

On the other hand, if you were born before 1981 (the cutoff for not being a millennial), you can take this as encouragement that age really is just a number, and that being in your 20s or 30s, at least as it is today, is not all you remember it being.

I’ll leave you with that thought this week. As always, thanks for reading. Enjoy the holidays, and I'll be back in your inbox next Thursday, with more practical, inspiring, and fun news based on the latest in longevity science.

- The Longevity Hound