You can switch your diet or pop a supplement in the hope of staying for a long time. But will you pay thousands of dollars to replace plasma in your blood?

This process that is known as Plasma exchange therapy has become a fashionable exercise In some circles, such as Silicon Valley officials and extreme biohakars. But does it really work?

A small, preliminary study published in Old age cell It is suggested that plasma exchange therapy may actually have anti-aging benefits. However, experts say, there are still many unanswered questions.

The new research helps to move forward “to promise Asha,” Said Neer Barzilai, MDDirector of Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who was not involved in new research. “How do we feel the promise? There are still a way. You do nothing in a study.”

Plasma exchange is a way of therapy “Wash” blood to remove unwanted substancesBarzilai told HealthThe process is often compared to an oil change for your car.

during Plasma exchangeDoctors pull blood, then separate and leave its plasma. The plasma is replaced with either donor plasma or an alternative solution – often made of saline and protein – blood is returned to the body.

This process has long been used to treat many diseases including blood, autoimmune and neurological disorders. But recently, it is also Received traction as a possible anti-aging tool,

“Longevity is quite different conversation,” Zbigniew Szczepiarkowski, MD, PhdA transfusion medicine specialist at Dartmouth Health, told HealthOn that front, plasma exchange therapy is a “complicated”, but eventually an unproven tool, he said.

As people age, protein and other substances accumulate in their blood. Theoretically, the plasma exchange can remove this gun, leaving people with “young,” healthy blood, which ideally, translated overall live long benefits.

This is not a new idea. In a famous 2005 study, researchers put the old and young mice together so that they shared blood flow. In doing so, “Older rats get smaller,” explained Irina Conboy, PhDA professor at Bio -Engineering at the University of California, who led the experiment with her husband, Michael Conboy.

Additional research on animals of conboys, as well as very small human experiments suggests that “you do not need young blood for rejuvenation.” Plasma exchange therapy can be sufficient in itself.

Limited number of small studies by other researchers point to similar conclusions. Some evidence also suggests that plasma exchange is beneficial for the treatment of age related diseases like Alzheimer’s,

Although small and initial, New study provides more support for plasma exchange as an anti-aging tool,

With an average age of 65 years, forty -two healthy adults had to go through the process several times in several months. Some received regular replacement fluid, while others found a infusion of immune antibodies. Ten people got Sham Therapy for comparison.

After treatment, the researchers used various methods to measure the biological ages of the participants, exploited in an emerging concept that suggests that a person can be physically older or young, less than the suggestions of their chronological age.

“The control group continued age at the normal rate, while we saw some opposite of aging in the plasma exchange group,” study co-writer Eric Wordin, MDCEO of Bak Institute for aging on aging, told Health Wordin is also a co-founder of a plasma exchange company.

Those who paired plasma exchange therapy with immune antibodies, saw the biggest impact, Bringing your organic watches back for a average of 2.6 yearsThose who had received a monthly plasma exchange, shaved about 1.3 years.

“I will not yet go as to say that these people have returned their age,” said Vardin. “We don’t know to ensure that they are long to live.” However, he said, the signs are indicating in the right direction.

Does plasma exchange therapy actually work for longevity?

There are some limitations of researchIt was small and relatively small, and has financial interests in the conclusions of Wordin and some of his colleagues.

Furthermore, the study used a metric-of the age-which is still something experimental, because there is no universally agreed way to measure it.

Depending on the measurement method used, “I am 20 years younger than my age and anywhere between my age,” said Barzilai. “It tells you immediately, we don’t know what the cat is [it means],

Researchers averaged many different measurements for this uncertainty, Wordin said.

Szczepiarkowski said that participants might have changed lifestyle during the study that slant the results. At this point, he said that it is “guess” to conclude that people will actually thank for a long time for plasma exchange therapy.

Bottom Line: “As exciting, can be as exciting [the study is] Possibly a very, very long journey, just a first step, “Szczepiarkowski said.

A lot of data suggests that plasma exchange therapy is safe and effective as the treatment of some diseases. But most experts say that it is very soon to recommend that healthy people extract thousands of dollars per session in search of longevity, because there is there. It does not have enough data to prove that it works,

Even Conboy and her husband, who have studied the plasma exchange over the years and have considered the technology “very promising”, have not tried it themselves.

“We are one of the inventors of the process,” Conboy said, “but I always tell [people] I do not recommend it for relatively healthy adults. ,