Drinking young people’s blood could help you live longer and prevent age-related diseases, a study has found.
Blood factors taken from younger animals have been found to improve the later-life health of older creatures.
The study, published in Nature, was conducted by researchers from University College London (UCL), who said it could reduce the chances of developing age-related disorders.
Geneticist Dame Linda Partridge said these included cancer and heart disease.
She told The Times: “I would say aging is the emperor of all diseases.”
“A lot of people regard aging as ‘natural’ and that therefore you shouldn’t interfere with nature. But we’ve always considered it an ethical imperative to cure illness where we find it.”
The research is part of a wave of studies and trials backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel at a San Francisco start-up called Ambrosia.
Separate trials by Ambrosia involved 70 participants, all 35 or older.
After being given plasma — the main component of blood — from volunteers ages 16 to 25, researchers noted improvements in biomarkers for various diseases.
Ambrosia currently offers teenage blood plasma to customers at a cost of $8,000 for 2½ liters.
The UCL trials showed older mice did not develop age-related diseases after being given young blood.
The mice also maintained sharp cognitive function.
The opposite was true for younger mice injected with old blood.
The study did not: “Research in animals is needed to establish the long-term consequences and possible side effects.”