From the Desk of John Mauldin

After Our First Year of Transformative Age, How Much Younger Are We?

“For the first time in history, we know how to tune our biological engine as we go. It’s not the age, it’s the mileage.” — John Mauldin

After our First Year of Transformative Age, How Much Younger are We?

“For the first time in history, we know how to tune our biological engine as we go. It’s not the age, it’s the mileage.” — John Mauldin

“One of a kind, an independent, interactive resource that cuts through the hype...”— Tom S.

“One of the best sources for in-depth longevity research, supplements…” — Jim C.

“I’m using IMT, creatine, red light therapy, hot immersion… I love these ideas!”— Charles C.

The establishment always resists the future. Until it can’t.

In 1753, British naval surgeon James Lind discovered citrus fruits prevented scurvy. It took the Royal Navy 42 more years and thousands of sailors’ deaths before issuing lemons and limes.

A century later, Ignaz Semmelweis, told physicians to wash their hands before delivering babies. He was ignored, ridiculed, and eventually committed to an asylum.

In the 1980s, Australian scientist Barry Marshall insisted ulcers weren’t caused by stress, but by bacteria. His colleagues laughed at him. So he drank a vial of Helicobacter pylori, gave himself an ulcer, and then cured it with antibiotics.

I’ve thought about these stories and many others like them a lot over the years. The pattern repeats: resistance first, acceptance later. In between, a lot of unnecessary suffering.

Today, we are in a similar period with biotech and longevity science. On the one hand, you still see the same resistance, the same bureaucratic drag, the same skepticism from the establishment. On the other, the science is moving too fast to be contained.

But the difference this time is the breakthroughs aren’t all locked away in a lab. They’re right here, available, and in many cases, simple enough to try at home.

When we launched Transformative Age a year ago, my hope was simple: create a space where we could explore the breakthroughs as they emerge, without waiting for the establishment to bless them decades too late.

At first, I didn’t know what to expect. Would readers put these ideas into practice? Try a red-light sauna or red grape powder? Were there enough of us who shared this same curiosity and deep interest in longevity itself?

After 12 incredible months, here’s what we learned…

Ordinary people, not billionaires or elite labs, are taking real steps to slow the aging process.

Before I begin, if you’re not open to the longevity side of this discussion, you may find what follows a little… far out. I get it. All hat and no cattle. But stick with me. There’s plenty of cattle.

It’s one thing to read a research paper that shows the odometer can run backwards. It’s another to pop the hood, grab the wrench, and actually tune the biological engine yourself.

Over the past year, that’s exactly what many of us have done. Not in some elite lab, but in our kitchens, gyms, and backyards. Remedies our grandparents would recognize.

Who would’ve thought an obscure amino acid in mushrooms protects the brain and extends healthspan? Or that deliberate heat stress, saunas, hot baths, the same rituals our ancestors used, would emerge as one of the most powerful tools for lowering inflammation? Or something as simple as creatine, long dismissed as a “gym rat supplement,” could protect the aging brain and preserve muscle into old age?

What’s changed, and what’s encouraged me most, is seeing readers actually put these ideas into practice.

Jeff M. told me he’d begun taking creatine and making sure to get daily sunlight. Chuck W. came for the investing guidance but ended up adding molecular hydrogen, Vinia red grape powder, and ergothioneine to his daily protocol. “A great way to improve your own health,” is how he put it.

Others are experimenting with light. One reader combined creatine with sunlight. Another paired red-light therapy with breathing protocols and probiotics. Glen Jeffery’s team at University College London has shown why: a few minutes of red light exposure improved eyesight and even lowered blood sugar by nearly 30%.[1]

Others are focused on something more basic: staying strong. One reader in his seventies told me, “I want to stay active.” Then there are guys like Charles C., who wrote that Transformative Age is “the best thing I’ve ever done for my health.” His routine? Hot water immersion every morning and inspiratory muscle training.

People’s lives are changing. New routines invented. As Jeff M. put it:

“I wasn’t sure how much of the science I’d follow, but now creatine and sunlight are non-negotiables in my day.”

What began as ten thousand curious hand-raisers has become a close-knit group of longevity sojourners.

59% say they joined primarily to learn the science, not just the companies Chris Wood writes about. 81% of readers are already putting the bio-enhancers we’ve discussed into practice.

Movements like this don’t form without steady hands at the helm. In our case, those hands belong to Chris Wood and Patrick Cox. Close, personal friends of mine, and two of the brightest minds in longevity today.

Before/After

Chris Wood has spent more than two decades as a researcher, analyst, and investor focused on health care and biotech. Among the first to see how artificial intelligence would transform drug discovery, he chose to stay independent rather than pursue a Wall Street career, using research and investing to help others while helping himself. After years of fighting weight and type 2 diabetes, he lost 85 pounds by embracing some of the same breakthroughs featured in Transformative Age.

Patrick Cox has been ahead of the curve on breakthrough technologies for more than 30 years. Going back to the early days of internet encryption and forward to today’s telomerase inducers and cellular reprogramming. Each month, Patrick distills the credible, research-backed protocols you can actually put to work to slow aging and extend healthspan.

Measuring (and Slowing) the Biological Clock

In the last decade, scientific journals have exploded with longevity research. The number of papers mentioning “anti-aging” or “longevity” has now surpassed 35,000 since 2016. Entire journals have sprung up, The Lancet Healthy Longevity, Nature Aging, both with massive readership. The global longevity industry topped $63 billion in 2023 and is growing over 21% annually.

Even so, relatively few interventions have shown clear clinical benefits. Caloric restriction and lifestyle modification remain the reliable levers, but they’re not pharmaceutical moonshots.

Entrepreneurs and VC-backed startups love to promote the bleeding edge, but it doesn’t always pan out. Bryan Johnson’s much-hyped rapamycin protocol was discontinued after dismal results and side effects.[2]

Intervention work can take decades and it’s a regulatory nightmare. I mean, I was just talking about this the other day. More than 15 agencies touch biotech regulation, with no single authority empowered to streamline the process.

Look at the current regulatory map. FDA, USDA, EPA, and a dozen others pull in different directions. It’s bananas.

Source: https://www.biotech.senate.gov/final-report/chapters/chapter-2/section-1/

Meanwhile, Japan is taking the opposite approach. Its new AI Promotion Act gives researchers access to medical data, speeds up model training, and cuts through bureaucratic gridlock. They’re creating the world’s first AI-native healthcare system. And the news we are getting out of China suggests they may even be further down the road. All very secretive, but these details get out. Like Japan, China is removing the regulatory barriers and each country and could very well be where we get our next major breakthrough.

Imagine that kind of regulatory agility paired with U.S. biotech firepower. We’d go from moonshots to moon landings overnight.

Despite the regulatory drag, breakthroughs still break through.

Researchers at Mass General Brigham and the Medical College of Georgia found that daily vitamin D3 slowed the loss of telomeres, the process that makes our cells, and us, grow older. Effectively preserving several years of biological youth.[3]

On the opposite coast, Stanford scientists recently restored strength to aging muscle tissue using a compound called Prostaglandin E2.[4] One dose, along with exercise reversed much of the age-related decline in mice, and may one day do the same for us.

At the Babraham Institute in the UK, scientists recently used partial cellular reprogramming, the Yamanaka factors, to rewind human skin cells by 30 years.[5] One researcher on X said, “Soon, all people will be rejuvenated and biologically 20–25.[6]

Then, just recently, Spanish scientists sequenced the DNA of Maria Branyas[7], who lived to 117.

Branyas, 1925

Here’s a picture of her in 1925.[8] In March, at 117 years old, she is clearly aged but is still active, aware and happy.

Like the difference in their ages, her cells also told two different stories.

On one side: shortened telomeres, mutations in blood cells, immune markers of extreme age. No surprise there. On the other: decades-younger biology. Low inflammation. A strong heart and metabolism. An immune system still firing. Even her gut bacteria looked middle-aged, not supercentenarian.

Chronologically, she was 117. Biologically, closer to 60.

The study was small, but the message was big. It showed how differently the body can age inside versus on the calendar.

In Branyas’s case, her immune system and metabolism were running at half speed.

Maybe the secret wasn’t luck at all, but how quietly her body kept inflammation in check and repaired the damage of time—the very outcomes we’re now studying and striving to replicate in Transformative Age.

They mapped her aging profile. Here it is.

We used to joke that you’re only as old as you feel. Now AI can measure it. Some tools use facial snapshots. FaceAge, developed at Mass General Brigham, estimates biological age from a single photo, and even helps oncologists tailor treatment.[9]

Others work like speedometers. A Korean team trained a model on 27 clinical biomarkers, bloodwork, kidney and lung function to track how fast you’re aging in real time.[10] Some of these “clocks” are in hospitals already. Others can be done at home with a finger-prick of blood, results back in weeks.

The point isn’t which test you use. It’s for the first time, we can watch the odometer of aging change in real time.

We’ve gone from counting candles on the cake to measuring how fast the flame burns. Which brings us to the bigger question: what drives that flame: DNA, or the choices we make every day?

What if the Greatest Factor in Longevity… isn’t in our DNA?

The next time you’re at your doctor’s office, ask what it would take for you to live to 120. Would he (or she) look at you sideways?

I know the reaction I’d get. Though that’s not entirely fair, my doctor is Dr. Mike Roizen.

The point is, most physicians aren’t trained to extend health. They’re trained to treat sickness.

A close friend refers to them often as “wet mechanics.” It’s not meant as an insult, there are a lot of skilled, high-integrity doctors out there, and thank God for them. But extending health, adding good years before bad ones start, is a different discipline entirely.

Chris Wood often says what we call “healthcare” today is really “sick care.” He’s right. No wonder over 90%[11] of general practice is about managing disease that already exists, especially the age-related kind. Less than 10% is preventive.

For decades, we were told our health was largely out of our hands. If your parents had heart disease, diabetes, or Alzheimer’s, well, you probably would too.

But the data now say otherwise. Most of the evidence points the other way: how long and how well we live depends far more on our choices than on DNA.

Lifestyle and environment account for about 75% of lifespan variation; genetics just 25%.[12]

An Oxford study in Nature Medicine found environment explained 17% of the variation in risk of death. Genetics explained less than 2%.[13]

Data from the UK Biobank (half a million people) confirmed lifestyle choices predict aging and mortality far better than DNA.[14]

While the exact numbers vary (that’s research for you) the point is we all need skin in the game. Literally. Because the longer we hold the line—build muscle, reduce inflammation, strengthen our lungs, clear out sluggish cells, the better positioned we’ll be for what’s coming next.

Lifestyle can buy us some years. But I promise, soon, science may buy us decades.

Aging, as we know it, is about to enter its own crisis. First it hits a wall. Then it loses its monopoly on time.

How Soon Will Aging (Actually) Hit a Wall?

Sooner than we think.

Longevity experts say we’re closing in on the point where science outruns the calendar. When breakthroughs add back more healthy time than aging takes away.

They call it the “Longevity Escape Velocity.”

Harvard’s David Sinclair says when this happens, tissues will regenerate and function like they are new. Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei thinks “100 years of biological progress could happen in 5 to 10.” Ray Kurzweil calls it “the point where scientific breakthroughs extend your lifespan by more than a year for every year you remain alive.”

Source: Escape Velocity: Why the Prospect of Extreme Human Life Extension Matters Now

I’ve talked about cycles before, how every great system eventually reaches a breaking point, a moment when the old rules stop working and new ones take their place. Economies, empires, technologies… they all follow that pattern. Why should biology be any different? That’s the wall I mean. Where aging finally loses its grip on time.

Sounds straight out of science fiction. But is it?

After decades of research, smarter trials, and growing real-world data from people actually implementing these interventions (like many Transformative Age members)… a new engine is pushing us forward: artificial intelligence.

Unlike government or medicine-as-usual, AI doesn’t wait around. It accelerates. It learns. It’s changing everything.

A few examples:

Alzheimer’s in 90 Days: A University of Alabama team used generative AI to design, patent, and develop Alzheimer’s drugs in under three months. It used to take years.[15] Of course, these new perspective drugs have to go through human trials but even that is getting faster.

Redeeming “Failures”: At Cambridge, AI reanalyzed discarded clinical-trial data and found one drug that actually worked. Now, imagine running that test on every failed trial in history.[16]

Out-diagnosing Cardiologists: Columbia’s EchoNext AI scanned over a million ECGs and outperformed cardiologists at detecting hidden heart disease.[17]

Faster than the ER: An open-source AI trained on ECGs now beats emergency doctors at spotting blocked arteries faster, more accurately, with no fatigue.[18]

Diagnosing Everything: Microsoft’s AI “orchestrator” now identifies dozens of conditions with over 85% accuracy—better than the average physician. Not hospital-cleared yet, but it’s coming.[19]

AI Scientists at Work: At Stanford, a team of autonomous AI “research agents” designed and tested COVID-blocking nanobodies on their own. No human intervention required.

Now, I don’t want to overhype any of this. Some of it is early. Some might hit roadblocks. But we’re entering a new dispensation in longevity science and only beginning to feel the G-forces.

Of course, there’s a catch.

All these breakthroughs only matter if we’re healthy enough to reach them. That’s just math.

It’s why the work Patrick Cox and Chris Wood are doing is mission critical. Transformative Age prepares us to board the rocket.

In order to do that, we have to make sure the basics are covered.

I’ve talked to Dr. Mike Roizen at length about this. He’s right. We need to more carefully examine what we eat and really figure out what’s healthy. Exercise a lot more, take our medicines as prescribed (more people don’t than you might imagine). Stop smoking/vaping, and reduce alcohol consumption (I say to myself!).

Many chronic diseases are caused by people not doing the basic things to take care of themselves. That’s harsh but true.

The most sophisticated therapies in the world won’t help us if:

Our ATP production has flatlined and our cells can’t repair mitochondrial damage

Our muscle mass has vanished, and we’re too frail for surgery
Our vascular system is inflamed, cutting off nutrient and oxygen delivery where it’s needed

Our sleep, blood pressure, and aerobic capacity disqualify us from clinical eligibility

Or cognitive decline locks us out before the treatments even unlock

By the way, these aren’t out-of-left field risks. They’re the very things Patrick and Chris write about regularly.

We need that now more than ever. We’re not powerless here. Quite the opposite.

For the first time in history, we not only know the risks, we have the resources to fight them.

It doesn’t stop there. Think of what happens when we, and society itself, live longer.

Add just one healthy year across a population and the ripple effect is enormous.

Oxford’s Andrew Scott and Harvard’s David Sinclair estimated in 2021 that adding just one healthy year to global life expectancy would create $38 trillion in value. A decade of health? More than $360 trillion. That’s not an “opportunity” in the Wall Street sense. Because that comes with a host of other risks…

Health care, pensions, entitlements, none of them were built for 120-year lives. They’ll have to be reimagined from the ground up. Sixty will be the new middle age. Retirement age pushed to 99.

Centenarians are already the fastest-growing demographic[20] on the planet, doubling roughly every decade since the 1970s. That will compound.

The thing about centenarians (a club I fully intend to join 24 short years from now) is how they’re getting there.

A recent 50-year Swedish study followed 170,000 people. They found that people who reach 100 don’t just survive disease, they tend to postpone or dramatically slow its onset.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But after a good many conferences, Transformative Age Council calls, conference calls, and more dinners with smart people than I can count, here’s what I’ve come to believe: Living well, really living well, takes more than green smoothies and good intentions.

It’s having the right information, the right people, the right habits… and less of the other stuff that drags us down.

What Comes Next, for All of Us…

I have friends younger than me who feel decades older. I know men and women in their eighties who could outpace most forty-year-olds. The difference, near as I can tell, isn’t luck or genetics.

It’s how they’ve managed the years that matter.

What matters as we move onward into year two, as good soldiers of longevity, is that we’re steady, hopeful, and ready for whatever comes next.

Politics will stay messy. Regulators will keep dragging their feet. But progress has a way of pushing through the cracks. It always does.

Breakthroughs will come faster as AI-driven medicine shifts into overdrive. Funny thing is, besides the billion-dollar labs, some of the most remarkable advances are coming from simple habits and homegrown protocols our readers have already begun to explore.

Patrick will keep helping us cut through the noise, translating complex research into plain English: what works, what doesn’t, and what’s worth keeping an eye on.

For example, he’s about to share new findings on how modern environmental stress, especially the kind of lighting most of us live under, may be quietly speeding up age-related vision loss. More importantly, what we can do about it.

Hardly anyone in longevity circles is talking about this, but it affects millions. Especially those of us in the second half of life.

Meanwhile, Chris Wood will continue tracking the front edge of this revolution, from epigenetic reprogramming and stem-cell repair to telomere renewal and the biological clocks that are giving us a real-time readout on aging itself.

We’re talking about researchers developing new cardiac cell sheets that could reverse heart failure.[21] Not manage it. Reverse it. Before long, lab-grown organs and 3D bioprinting might render transplant waitlists a thing of the past.

We’ll continue exploring Dr. Mike Roizen’s work, who reminds us that roughly 93% of our gene expression is under our control. The choices we make every day, managing stress, eating right, walking, strength training, flip the switches that determine how young or old our body behaves.

That, to me, is the real frontier of longevity: becoming the genetic engineer of you.

Hope to see you at our next Transformative Age Council call.

And with that, I’ll hit the send button. Call this our Year One wrap-up, part reflection, part field report. A look back at what we’ve learned, and a first step into what’s next.

Your still-training-for-100 analyst,