Human Longevity’s Full Body Testing

Human Longevity’s Full Body Testing. Is it something you should consider?

Do you think you are healthy? How do you measure this? Today, it is possible to receive full body testing, also known as a comprehensive physical examination, as part of Setting Your Health Baseline. You can see if you are healthy and then use this baseline to track how your lifestyle changes improve or degrade your health.

Twenty years ago, full body testing was not recommended. The dangers of the tests and risks of false-positives outweighed medical sciences ability to cure what was found or prescribe preventative measures. That concern still exists today within mainstream medical practice. However, technological advancements have reduced the dangers of radiation exposure to safe levels and the detail which modern equipment can see the body has dramatically reduced the risk of false positives.

The biggest remaining modern issue is whether you want to know if you have a serious, undiagnosed medical or genetic condition, that may or may not be treatable. If you want to know or are curious about the experience, read on as we review the Human Longevity 100+ full body testing service.

Craig Venter is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century, in particular for his work in sequencing the human genome. In pursuing his passion for human life extension, he co-founded Human Longevity Inc. (HLI) and now is their Chief Scientific Officer. HLI provides proactive healthcare through comprehensive advanced full body screening and genetic analysis which they’ve branded as their 100+ program to assist you to live to over 100 years old.

Since 2015, full body testing has been performed for over 10,000 clients. They have discovered clinically significant results in 40% of those with 14.4% requiring near-term or immediate follow-up. Study results included many other actionable findings.

100+ goes way beyond your mainstream annual physical testing. Full body testing covers:

• Full body cancer and tumor radiation-free MRI screening
• Neurologic diseases and brain disorders
• Aneurysm detection
• Proper organ structure and function (thyroid, kidney, liver, pancreas, prostate, uterus, ovaries, bladder)
• Colon cancer screening with Cologuard every 3 years.
• Proper cardiac structure and function along with heart monitoring using Apple Watch or Zio iRhythm
• Coronary calcium CT scan (every 5 years)
• DEXA bone density testing (every 3 years)
• Advanced blood (40+ biomarkers) and urine analysis via Quest Diagnostics
• HLI staff painlessly draw 14-16 vials of blood, which from the research of the Conboy Laboratory, provides unexpected additional health benefits
• Insulin sensitivity testing with FreeStyle Libre
• Body composition analysis with InBody 770 determining your percentages of body fat, muscle and water
• Genetic issues from whole genome sequencing analyzed along with your personal and family medical history

100+ full body testing currently does not cover:

• GRAIL’s Galleri multi-cancer blood test (offered for $950 as a recommended add-on)
• Cleerly coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) to evaluate presence and type of plaque in a patient’s heart arteries, along with stenosis and ischemia. (offered at a nearby medical center for $1600 as an additional diagnostic when coronary calcium levels are elevated.)
• Skin cancer detection
• Microbiome analysis
• Cognitive testing

Human Longevity Full Body Test Equipment

HLI partners with GE and Siemens to develop and deliver advanced diagnostic technology such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). MRI uses a powerful magnetic field, radio frequency pulses and a computer to produce detailed pictures of brains, organs, soft tissues, bone and virtually all other internal body structures. MRI does not use ionizing radiation (x-rays).

For body MRI scans, HLI uses the three Tesla Siemens Magnetom Vida. The accuracy level greatly reduces the risk of false positives on lesser quality imaging machines. Plus, you get to listen to Pandora and watch scenic nature videos while the machine beeps and whirs. Select your music wisely so the machine sounds blend in harmoniously. This takes about 1 hour including some controlled breathing during the last 15 minutes for additional accuracy.

For brain scans, HLI uses the GE Signa Premier 3 Tesla neuro solution. This takes about 20 minutes. The experience is similar to the body scan, but without the controlled breathing.

The Computed Tomography (CT) test using GE Revolution CT equipment is a diagnostic imaging test used to create detailed images of internal organs, bones, soft tissue and blood vessels. The cross-sectional images generated during a CT scan can be reformatted in multiple planes, and can even generate three-dimensional images. CT scanning is often the best method for detecting many different cancers since the images allow your doctor to confirm the presence of a tumor and determine its size and location. CT is fast, painless, noninvasive and accurate. Radiation exposure is the equivalent of what you receive on a round-trip cross-country flight.

A cardiac 4D ultrasound using the GE Vivid E95 Ultra Edition and electrocardiogram with the GE MAC2000. You can see your heart beating and your valves opening and closing rapidly. It is a very cool experience. From talking with the ultrasound technician, it is rare that they find issues, but when they do, they can save your life.

Human Longevity Full Body Testing Cost

Human Longevity’s 100+ program originally provided one-time full body testing for $25,000. They have since lowered that price point and added more services. Insurance providers do not provide reimbursement for HLI services. The information gathered is kept private and you own it, but they use your depersonalized data for their research with your permission. You can choose to share selective data with your primary care physician as you like.

There are three options:

100+ Concierge Care ($19K, available only for California Residents)

100+ Concierge Care provides the full assessment of testing plus a primary care physician supported by the HLI clinical team for routine and chronic care that relates to achieving personalized health and wellness goals while enrolled in Program. This includes cardiology, radiology, women’s health including gynecology, genomics, integrative medicine, nutrition and functional medicine. If you also have an existing primary care physician, your HLI physician can coordinate communication and interpretation of your results.

• Design and ongoing assessment of personalized action and intervention plans
• Evaluations and personalized health action plans with functional medicine, nutrition, supplement, prescription medicals, performance and systems biology experts
• Coordination of care with specialists and coordination of hospital care as medically indicated.
• Specialty referrals and consultations with the world renown physicians at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as other top academic and clinical programs (One complementary expert virtual consultation is included with a top academic hospital such as Harvard Medical School and its affiliated hospital network. Additional expert virtual consultation would be charged separately.)

100+ Care ($12K)

100+ Care provides the full set of tests and results plus consultations with longevity precision medicine physicians towards health and wellness goals during five one-hour touchpoints:  Member initial medical intake, preliminary return of results, comprehensive return of results, mid-year follow up, and end of year follow up. If you have an existing primary care physician, your HLI physician can coordinate communication and interpretation of your results.

• Personalized health and wellness presentations of longevity assessment data.
• Personalized action and intervention plans based on 100+ test results.
• Longevity and performance-related exercise, nutrition, supplement and prescription analysis and recommendations.
• Access to HLI network of specialists (separate fees) including for referrals and consultations with the world renown physicians at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as other top academic and clinical programs.

Executive Health ($8K)

You receive the full set of tests and results. They are shared with your external (non-HLI) primary care or concierge physician for recommendations. You do not receive the benefits of HLI’s expert staff and network in reviewing, assessing and providing health recommendations.

A few hours before your visit, it is normal to feel nervous, in part from the ten hour pre-visit fast, plus any time change from traveling to their San Diego, San Francisco or Beijing locations. Your stomach may be jittery from hunger.

It is likely you will be wondering what flaws will be found. Given the comprehensive nature of the test, it would be surprising if nothing is uncovered. If issues are found, you hope there are modern treatments that are safe and worth doing. Although it might be upsetting to think about, if there are genetic issues, you wonder whether you will share those with family and relatives.

Writing notes on the experience is helpful to calm your thoughts and you will be very much looking forward to your next meal.

The visit requires advance scheduling and lasts about five hours. Once there, the Human Longevity building and staff make you feel comfortable. The building and the rooms are reminiscent of a luxury hotel. The HLI staff appear healthy and take good care of themselves.

Each patient gets their own private room with healthy snacks and new-age beverages.  A tasty, fresh local food breakfast or lunch is provided after your blood draw is completed.

You go through a cycle of the various tests, each with a different medical specialist. Their stories on why they work there are fascinating. One would not likely be alive otherwise.

At the end of your visit, you meet with a staff physician to review some of your full body testing results. For example, you get to see your brain, heart, liver, kidneys and other internal organs and find our if there are any major concerns. If you see things you don’t like such as cardiac calcium in your heart or a high body fat percentile, you have strong motivators to change your diet. You receive your body composition report as well.

If there are immediately dangerous health issues, they let you know ASAP. Otherwise, after a couple weeks, your blood and urine labs, body tests and imaging results are provided within a secure portal and covered in detail during a video call.  The summary report covers vitals, cancer screening, organ and detailed cardiac system health, body composition, bone density, metabolic health including pre-diabetic \ diabetic testing, vascular system / aneurysm risk and neurodegenerative risk using NeuroQuant scoring. A few specific results include heart ejection fraction, liver fat percentage, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level and vitamin B-12 level. If you are in either of the 100+ offerings, your HLI physician provides follow-up healthcare recommendations.

After 6-7 weeks, genetic results are provided, combined with another friendly video conference call. The ~100 page genetic results report covers ancestral history, medically significant findings and a review of genes which respond to medications. For example, there can be a genetic risk to taking Warfarin (Coumadin) for those with the VKORC1 gene. There is an appropriate amount of explanation and detail. Not too much. Not too little. It is not surprising to have medically significant findings given ~20,000 protein-coding genes and ~1,600 known possible genetic diseases. There are only fifty genetic defects which are considered medically actionable. There are 4.0 to 4.3 million genetics variants per person.

Included in your genetic results is a section which focuses on health traits and risks. It turns out that lifestyle is much more a risk than genetics. More people need to know this. In discussions about lifespan and healthspan, the refrain is, “I’m relying on my genetics.” Unfortunately, life usually doesn’t work that way.

The 100+ exam exceeded expectations and is highly recommended. The pleasantly surprising result is knowing what conditions you do not have. Finding out things like you don’t have cancer and you didn’t seriously damage your liver in college (or at least it has fully repaired itself) are reassuring. There is tremendous comfort in peace of mind.

Seeing conditions you do have, like cardiac calcium, makes your personal health science real. It gives strong motivation to make changes such as following the American Heart Association’s dietary and lifestyle recommendations for preventing heart disease, the cause of 1 out of 3 deaths in the United States. It can provide the evidence to justify taking prescription cholesterol management medications such as statins and Zetia.

Also, knowing your genetic interaction with common medicines is important. They are useful to share with your primary care physician.

In Keep Health’s opinion, the likelihood of benefiting from extended healthspan and lifespan is worth more than the time and cost.

If you decide to go for 100+ at the San Diego location, reward yourself with day trips to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park to see the hippos, pandas, kangaroos and other amazing creatures.