CAN A PILL CRUSH AGING?
Louis is a 27-year-old assembly-line worker in Three Rivers, Michigan. He has no health problems and rarely sees a doctor. Yet for a man in his prime, Louis thinks a lot about cheating death. He researches strategies online, and he even converted to a plant-based diet after hearing from a YouTube channel called Vegan Gains that veganism could extend his life. Louis thinks the diet will buy him a few extra years, but he feels the urge to keep seeking new life-extending methods. “I’d like to live as healthily as possible for as long as possible,” he says. “And if we have therapies and practices today that will prolong our healthy life span, I believe we need to follow these therapies and practices.”
Charles is your average 50-year-old middle-class family man. He lives in the suburbs of Atlanta, works a 9-5 in marketing, does Brazilian jujitsu and spends weekends watching his kid at wrestling tournaments. Except Charles has a hang-up: he worries about feeling like he’s withering, about those growing-old hallmarks like thinning hair, losing a step and forgetting his mate’s wife’s name. Charles is the kind of guy who’s active on antiaging Internet forums and takes fistfuls of supplements. “A few years back, when my granddad had cancer, I watched him die,” he says. Charles read up on alternative ways his granddad could attempt to extend his life, but his grandfather didn’t try them. Soon after, Charles (who asked not to use his real name) got some news that sent his hang-up into hyperdrive. “I took this 23andMe genetic test,” he says. “I found out I have a risk for Alzheimer’s.” It’s a risk that increases as your body ages.
Van is a 72-year-old who managed medical-device sales in
