How one Scientist Reversed Aging in Humans by Regenerating the Immune Gland

On this episode of Anti-Aging Hacks, we discuss all about reversing aging in humans! 

My guest in this podcast is Dr. Greg Fahy, and he is the first scientist to reverse aging in humans.

Here is what we discuss in this interview:

1. Why the Thymus is really important for Immune Function

2. How creating a combination of common compounds like Growth Hormone, Metformin and DHEA reversed biological aging by several years

3. What’s the next version of the trial and when can people expect this cocktail at their favorite neighborhood drugstore

Here are the show notes from this episode:

Dr. Fahy background and interests:

– He is a cryobiologist and biogerontologist

– Studies how doctors can bring new technologies

– Designs protocols and make sure the doctors can provide them

– Believes aging is orchestrated and biochemically driven series of events

– Thymus gland is critical because it recruits cells from the bone marrow and trains them to fight the intruders

– this protects us from cancers, viruses, bacteria, etc.

– After 12 years of age, thymus starts to wither and go away which leads to immune system

– He found a study from 1986 that was done decades done on animals which regrew the thymus through the use of growth hormone

The Three Compounds that Form the Anti-Aging Elixir

– Growth hormone is not approved for use to reverse aging. However, Growth hormone has side effects, increase insulin in the body, and kidneys retain water, causes your joints to grow

– Growth hormone raises insulin and has pro-aging effects

– However, the pro-insulin effects can be managed by other compounds such as metformin and DHEA

– DHEA also goes down with age along with Growth Hormone, so if you raise Growth Hormone it also makes sense to raise DHEA

– Dr. Fahy regrew his thymus in 1996 at age 46 by following this cocktail of the three drugs, but he had to wait a long time to find collaborators to create this study and get it approved by the FDA

– Eventually met his partner, and created the plan for the clinical trial

How Does the Immune System Work

– It’s like a deck of cards that can attack a predetermined number of pathogens

– You can rearrange bits of your DNA to attack lots of pathogens and invaders

– The immune system creates new cells to fight the invaders

– When the immune system starts slowing down and not creating new immune cells, then a new virus can cause havoc in your body

What Took so Long to Bring this Solution to Market

The Results of the Trial

– Their objective to regrow the thymus. As thymus deteriorates and you run out of T-cells, you lose ability to recognize antigens by 98% leading to a higher death rate in older ages

– Wanted to develop evidence that they could improve the immune system

– The initial results were that T-cells were growing again. They also realized that antigens that prevent the body to fight cancer went down 

– Signed up 10 caucasian men originally, one dropped out

– Got Stanford university to participate

– After 15 days, the men had 30% reduction in Prostrate Cancer Risk

– Insulin also went up due to growth hormone, but they were able to largely suppress it

– Inflammaging: Dr. Fahy was worried about higher inflammation because regenerating the thymus could make it more active. Dr. Fahy thought it actually might be because thymus lost its identity and starts attacking the body’s own tissues

– The result was that an improved thymus actually improved the inflammation, which was a relief 

– They also noticed improvement in lymphocyte to monocyte ratio, the higher this ratio (within reason) the better

– They were able to reverse aging in general. Dr. Fahy used Dr. Steve Horvath’s epigenetic clock.

– Based on epigenetic clock, the study reversed aging by 2.5 years

– Then Dr. Horvath used two other epigenetic clocks to double check, and sure enough all of them showed a reversal in biological aging

– The rate of aging accelerated after 9 months. If the trial had gone longer than 12 months they might have seen even more evidence of age reversal

The Next Trial TRIIMX

– Now want to look at older people, younger people, and women

– Also looking to enroll folks not in perfect health

– Will be giving Growth Hormone through the skin without needles

Where Does This Protocol Fit in Anti-Aging Protocol

–  Immune system aging is critical even with the other anti-aging interventions

– His recommendation is to regrow your thymus at age 45, then again at 50, then at 65

– Every time you regrow thymus, the T-cells may last a long time

How to Contact Dr. Fahy

– Dr. Greg Fahy can be found at gfahy@interveneimmune.com