r/blueprint_

Biohacker Bryan Johnson reveals he has incurable disease: ‘My stomach is eating itself’.
🔥 Hot ▲ 12.3k r/blueprint_+9 crossposts

Biohacker Bryan Johnson reveals he has incurable disease: ‘My stomach is eating itself’.

news.com.au
u/Benja455 — 2 hours ago
▲ 15 r/blueprint_+1 crossposts

My Top 5 Natural High-Flavanol Cacao ranking (July 2026 Update)

About a year ago I published my Top 5 High-Flavanol Cacao Products, alongside my Top 5 Extra Virgin Olive Oils.

Since then I've continued comparing products, reviewing laboratory reports, contacting manufacturers and testing many of these cacao powders myself. After another year of research, it was time for an updated ranking.

Some products climbed, others dropped, and several new contenders entered the list.


The Ranking

# Grade Product Flavanol Content €/100 mg Lab Region Shipping
🥇 S- Mindkore 126 mg/g €0.14 🇪🇺 EU 🌍 Worldwide
🥈 A Blueprint Cocoa 70.8 mg/g €0.19 🟢 🇺🇸 US 🌍 Worldwide
🥉 A- Vital Purple ~90 mg/g €0.11 ⚠️ 🇺🇸 US 🇺🇸 US only
4️⃣ B+ FlavaMix 67.7 mg/g €0.13 🇺🇸 US 🇺🇸 US only
5️⃣ B Aduna Cacao >10 mg/g €0.55 🟢 🇬🇧 UK 🌍 Worldwide

How the ranking works

> This ranking focuses exclusively on 100% natural, non-alkalized high-flavanol cocoa powders. Products fortified with cocoa flavanol extracts or sold primarily as supplements have intentionally been excluded.

The goal is to compare natural cocoa powders as fairly as possible.

Rather than looking only at flavanol content, I evaluate how well each product delivers naturally occurring cocoa flavanols in terms of quality, transparency, value and practicality.


Evaluation criteria

Category Description
Flavanols Flavanol density (mg/g), epicatechin (DP1)
Quality Processing method, heavy metal profile
Transparency Certificates of Analysis, laboratory documentation, testing methods
Value Cost per 100 mg cocoa flavanols
Practicality Daily serving efficiency, nutritional profile, accessibility and shipping

Because manufacturers use different serving sizes, all flavanol claims have been converted to milligrams per gram (mg/g) wherever possible. This allows products to be compared directly.


Transparency

Transparency means more than simply making marketing claims.

I consider whether manufacturers:

  • Publish independent Certificates of Analysis (CoAs)
  • Identify the testing laboratory
  • Publish actual laboratory results
  • Report heavy metal levels
  • Explain flavanol testing methods
  • Provide batch-specific documentation
  • Support health claims with scientific evidence
Rating -
Complete — Comprehensive batch-specific laboratory documentation with independent verification.
🟢 Sufficient — Good laboratory documentation, although some analytical information is missing.
⚠️ Partial — Some laboratory evidence is available, but it is incomplete or difficult to independently verify.
Limited — Little or no meaningful laboratory documentation is publicly available.

Overall Grade

The overall grade reflects my assessment of each product as a natural source of cocoa flavanols.

Grade Meaning
S+ Absolute Reference Grade
S Magnificent
S- Exceptional
A+ Outstanding
A Very Good
A- Quite Good
B+ Good
B Above Average
C+ Average
C Acceptable with notable compromises
D+ Below Average
D Poor
E Not recommended for this ranking

> Note: This ranking focuses on products that are realistically available to consumers. Wholesale suppliers and products with very limited retail availability have generally been excluded unless they offer something sufficiently unique to justify inclusion.


1. 🥇 Mindkore - URL -> Mindkore.eu

> Overall Grade: S-
> Country: 🇳🇱 Netherlands
> Product: High-Flavanol Cacao Powder
> Retail Price: €24.99 / 125 g pouch | €47.99 / 250 g pouch | €89.99 / 500 g pouch
> Flavanol Density: 92.2–126 mg/g
> Epicatechin (DP1): 16.8 mg/g
> Cost per 100 mg cocoa flavanols: €0.14
> Calculation: €89.99 ÷ 63,000 mg cocoa flavanols × 100 = €0.14 per 100 mg cocoa flavanols
> Transparency: ✅ Complete
> Shipping: 🌍 Worldwide
> Overall: Mindkore combines exceptionally high naturally occurring cocoa flavanol concentrations with comprehensive laboratory transparency. Multiple published Eurofins analyses, competitive pricing and worldwide shipping make it one of the strongest natural cocoa powders currently available.

About the brand

Mindkore is a European company focused almost exclusively on high-flavanol cacao rather than a broad portfolio of health products. The cacao is non-alkalized, unsweetened and specifically produced to maximize naturally occurring cocoa flavanols while maintaining a clean nutritional profile.

One of the company's strongest characteristics is its commitment to transparency. Mindkore publishes comprehensive batch-specific Certificates of Analysis performed by Eurofins, including cocoa flavanol content, epicatechin (DP1), heavy metals, microbiological testing and full batch identification.

Two independently published retail batches have so far reported cocoa flavanol concentrations of 92.2 mg/g and 126 mg/g, illustrating the natural variation expected between harvests while consistently remaining among the most flavanol-rich cocoa powders currently available. Customers can therefore verify the analytical profile of the current batch before purchasing, which remains surprisingly uncommon within this market.

Pros

  • Exceptionally high flavanol density (92.2–126 mg/g across published retail batches)
  • High published epicatechin (DP1) concentration (16.8 mg/g)
  • Excellent value (€0.14 per 100 mg cocoa flavanols)
  • Comprehensive batch-specific Eurofins Certificates of Analysis
  • Published heavy metal, microbiological and flavanol profiles
  • Excellent batch traceability
  • Pure, non-alkalized cacao powder
  • Worldwide shipping

Cons

  • Relatively young company compared with long-established competitors
  • Long-term consistency across many future production batches remains to be demonstrated
  • Limited long-term consumer track record
  • Occasional stock shortages due to limited production

Verdict

Mindkore stands out primarily because of its analytical transparency. Every published retail batch is accompanied by a detailed Eurofins Certificate of Analysis containing flavanol content, epicatechin (DP1), heavy metal analysis, microbiological testing and full batch identification. Few natural cocoa powders currently make this level of documentation publicly available.

Published retail batches have reported cocoa flavanol concentrations ranging from 92.2 mg/g to 126 mg/g, placing the product among the most flavanol-rich natural cocoa powders currently available while also offering excellent value.

The company's main limitation is not the analytical data, but its age. Unlike some longer-established brands, Mindkore has yet to demonstrate that these exceptionally high standards can be maintained consistently over many years and across a larger number of production batches. Building that long-term track record will ultimately determine whether it can establish itself among the most trusted names in this category.

Based on the currently available laboratory evidence, transparency and overall value, Mindkore earns an S- and ranks as one of the strongest natural high-flavanol cocoa powders currently available.


2. 🥈 Blueprint Cocoa - URL -> Blueprint Cocoa

> Overall Grade: A
> Country: 🇺🇸 United States
> Product: Blueprint Cocoa Powder
> Retail Price: Approximately €45.95 / 60-day supply (third-party retail)
> Flavanol Density: >70.8 mg/g (based on >400 mg cocoa flavanols per serving)
> Epicatechin (DP1): Not published
> Cost per 100 mg cocoa flavanols: Approximately €0.19
> Calculation: €45.95 ÷ 60 servings = €0.766 per serving. €0.766 ÷ 400 mg cocoa flavanols × 100 = ≈ €0.19 per 100 mg cocoa flavanols
> Transparency: 🟢 Sufficient
> Shipping: 🌍 International availability through third-party retailers
> Overall: Blueprint Cocoa played a pivotal role in bringing high-flavanol cocoa into the mainstream health and longevity community through Bryan Johnson's Blueprint Protocol. It combines respectable flavanol levels with good nutritional efficiency and above-average laboratory transparency. While some important analytical data remains unavailable, Blueprint provides considerably more verifiable information than many competing products.

About the brand

Few products have influenced today's high-flavanol cocoa movement as much as Blueprint Cocoa. Through Bryan Johnson's Blueprint Protocol, millions of people were introduced to the idea of consuming cocoa as a functional health product rather than simply a food ingredient.

Blueprint Cocoa is a 100% pure, undutched, unsweetened cocoa powder formulated around cocoa flavanol intakes commonly investigated in human clinical research. The current formulation provides more than 400 mg cocoa flavanols per serving while remaining low in calories, naturally low in fat and completely free from added sugar.

Although the standalone cocoa powder is no longer prominently featured within Blueprint's current online storefront, it remains readily available through numerous international retailers and online marketplaces.

Blueprint has consistently emphasized laboratory testing, flavanol preservation and heavy metal screening as part of its sourcing philosophy. Bryan Johnson has openly discussed these topics for several years, and Certificates of Analysis have historically been published for the product. While these reports are currently less prominent and not as easily accessible as they once were, Blueprint still provides substantially more verifiable laboratory information than many competing high-flavanol cocoa products.

Pros

  • One of the products that helped popularize high-flavanol cocoa worldwide
  • Developed by Bryan Johnson as part of the Blueprint Protocol
  • 100% pure, undutched cocoa powder
  • Good flavanol density (>70 mg/g)
  • Low calorie, sugar-free formulation
  • Competitive value at approximately €0.19 per 100 mg cocoa flavanols
  • Above-average laboratory transparency for this product category
  • Strong consumer reputation with hundreds of positive reviews
  • Internationally available through numerous third-party retailers

Cons

  • No published epicatechin (DP1) profile
  • Flavanol claims have changed over time, from 800+ mg to 537 mg and currently 400+ mg per serving
  • Public laboratory documentation is less comprehensive than the strongest performers in this ranking
  • Batch-specific reporting remains relatively limited

Heavy metals

Blueprint Cocoa received considerable attention after independent testing by Lead Safe Mama reported approximately:

  • Cadmium: 0.691 ppm
  • Lead: 0.049 ppm
  • Arsenic: 0.024 ppm

At first glance these concentrations may appear concerning. However, concentration (ppm) does not directly reflect the amount a consumer actually ingests. Blueprint's recommended serving size is only 6 g, corresponding to approximately:

  • Cadmium: 4.15 µg per serving
  • Lead: 0.29 µg per serving
  • Arsenic: 0.14 µg per serving

For context, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has established a tolerable weekly intake (TWI) for cadmium of 2.5 µg per kilogram of body weight per week. For a 70 kg adult, this corresponds to approximately 175 µg per week, or roughly 25 µg per day on average.

A single serving of Blueprint Cocoa therefore contributes approximately 4.15 µg of cadmium, or around 17% of that daily equivalent. Since cadmium exposure comes from many foods, including cereals, vegetables, potatoes, nuts and cocoa products, overall dietary intake is generally more informative than concentration (ppm) alone.

The Lead Safe Mama findings should therefore be interpreted within the context of serving size and total dietary exposure. While the reported concentrations deserve consideration, the actual cadmium intake from a recommended serving remains relatively modest and comparable to several other high-flavanol cocoa products intended for daily use.

Independent analysis (Lead Safe Mama):
https://tamararubin.com/2025/04/blueprint-cocoa-powder-by-bryan-johnson/

Verdict

Blueprint Cocoa deserves considerable recognition for helping transform high-flavanol cocoa from a niche product into a mainstream topic within the health and longevity community. Bryan Johnson has arguably done more than any other individual to increase public awareness of cocoa flavanols and their potential health benefits.

Nutritionally, the product performs well. It delivers a respectable flavanol concentration in a pure, low-calorie cocoa powder at a competitive price while remaining widely available through international retailers. Consumer feedback has also been consistently positive, suggesting a mature and well-established product.

Blueprint also distinguishes itself through a greater commitment to laboratory transparency than many competing brands. The company has historically published Certificates of Analysis, openly discussed laboratory testing and encouraged public scrutiny of its products. Although the available documentation is not as comprehensive as the strongest performers in this ranking and important analytical data such as epicatechin (DP1) remains unpublished, consumers are still able to verify substantially more information than is typical within this product category.

Overall, Blueprint Cocoa remains one of the defining products in the modern high-flavanol cocoa market. Its historical influence, solid nutritional profile, above-average laboratory transparency and continued accessibility justify an overall grade of A.


3. 🥉 Vital Purple - URL -> Vital Purple

> Overall Grade: A-
> Country: 🇺🇸 United States
> Product: Vital Purple High-Flavanol Cocoa Powder
> Retail Price: Approximately $49.99 (€43) / 454 g pouch
> Flavanol Density: Approximately 90 mg/g > Epicatechin (DP1): Not independently verifiable
> Cost per 100 mg cocoa flavanols: Approximately €0.11
> Calculation: €43 ÷ 40,860 mg cocoa flavanols × 100 = ≈ €0.11 per 100 mg cocoa flavanols
> Transparency: ⚠️ Partial
> Shipping: 🇺🇸 United States only
> Overall: Vital Purple is one of the most ambitious high-flavanol cocoa powders currently available. The company emphasizes laboratory testing, purple cacao genetics and minimally processed production methods. However, despite providing considerably more documentation than many competitors, I was ultimately unable to confidently verify how all laboratory reports relate to the current retail product.

About the brand

Vital Purple produces a minimally processed purple cacao powder sourced from Ecuadorian Nacional cacao. The company focuses on preserving naturally occurring flavanols and other polyphenols through gentle processing while maintaining much of the cocoa butter naturally present in the bean.

Unlike many companies, Vital Purple was willing to provide additional laboratory documentation upon request and answered several technical questions during this review. I appreciate that openness and willingness to engage.

Nutritional profile

According to the company's current product specification and CoA from Laboratorio LASA, each 10 g serving provides approximately:

  • 900 mg cocoa flavanols
  • Approximately 25% cocoa butter
  • Naturally occurring theobromine and caffeine
  • Naturally rich in dietary fiber
  • No added sugar

This represents one of the highest marketed flavanol concentrations among natural cocoa powders.

Pros

  • Very high claimed flavanol content
  • Purple Nacional cacao
  • Multiple laboratory reports available upon request
  • Low reported heavy metal values
  • Strong consumer reputation
  • Interesting focus on preserving naturally occurring polyphenols

Cons

  • Laboratory documentation is fragmented across multiple reports
  • Different documents appear to describe different products or stages of production
  • No single batch-specific Certificate of Analysis links flavanols, epicatechin and heavy metals to one retail batch
  • Exceptionally high analytical claims warrant stronger supporting evidence
  • Higher cocoa butter content than many competing high-flavanol cocoa powders
  • Several questions required clarification through private correspondence

Transparency

Vital Purple clearly invests in laboratory testing and deserves credit for sharing considerably more documentation than many competing brands.

However, after reviewing the material provided, I found it difficult to establish a clear chain of evidence linking every analytical result to the product currently sold. The documentation consists of multiple reports originating from different laboratories, referring to different materials and different stages of production. While each document may be valid individually, together they do not provide the level of consistency I would expect from a comprehensive batch-specific Certificate of Analysis.

During our correspondence, additional explanations were needed to understand which analyses applied to finished cocoa powder and which referred to earlier production stages. Because of this, I chose to base this review on the company's current published product specification rather than the highest analytical values found in the supplied laboratory reports.

This should not be interpreted as evidence that the company's claims are incorrect. Rather, I do not believe the currently available documentation allows an independent consumer to verify those claims with sufficient confidence.

Verdict

Vital Purple left me with mixed impressions.

On one hand, the company appears genuinely interested in analytical testing, responds to technical questions and provides substantially more documentation than many brands in this market. The product itself also appears promising, with ambitious flavanol claims, low reported heavy metal values and an interesting focus on purple cacao genetics.

On the other hand, transparency is not only about providing laboratory reports, it is also about making those reports easy to understand and independently verify. In this case, the documentation felt fragmented and required considerable interpretation before it could be placed into context. For that reason, I cannot confidently use the highest analytical values supplied by the company as the basis for this review.

I also noticed that Vital Purple contains approximately 25% cocoa butter. While this may contribute to a richer taste and preserve more of the bean's natural composition, it also means consumers are ingesting considerably more cocoa butter than with many fat-reduced high-flavanol cocoa powders. Whether that is desirable ultimately depends on personal preference and nutritional goals, but it is worth considering when comparing products intended primarily as a source of cocoa flavanols.

Overall, Vital Purple remains one of the more interesting natural cocoa powders currently available and earns an overall grade of A-. A single, comprehensive batch-specific Certificate of Analysis clearly linking flavanol content, epicatechin, heavy metals and batch identification to the retail product would significantly strengthen confidence and could justify a higher ranking in future editions of this comparison.


4. FlavaMix - URL -> FlavaMix

> Overall Grade: B+
> Country: 🇺🇸 United States
> Product: FlavaMix Performance Cocoa Powder
> Retail Price: $49.99 / 31-serving canister (14.5 oz / 412 g) | $42.49/month (FlavaClub subscription)
> Flavanol Density: 67.7 mg/g
> Epicatechin (DP1): Not published
> Cost per 100 mg cocoa flavanols: $0.15 (€0.13) (subscription)
> Calculation: $42.49 ÷ 31 servings = $1.37 per serving. $1.37 ÷ 900 mg cocoa flavanols × 100 = $0.15 (≈ €0.13) per 100 mg cocoa flavanols
> Transparency: ❌ Limited
> Shipping: 🇺🇸 United States only (48 contiguous states)
> Overall: FlavaMix delivers a very high daily flavanol dose in a convenient, low-calorie formulation with excellent value. While the nutritional profile is impressive, the lack of publicly available laboratory documentation prevents independent verification of the company's analytical claims.

About the brand

FlavaNaturals is a US-based company specializing in high-flavanol cocoa products. FlavaMix is positioned as a functional nutrition product rather than a traditional drinking chocolate, delivering 900 mg cocoa flavanols per serving with just 35 kcal, 0 g sugar and very little fat.

The company states that every batch is tested to verify flavanol content and uses proprietary processing designed to preserve naturally occurring flavanols. However, no batch-specific Certificates of Analysis or supporting laboratory reports are currently published.

Pros

  • High flavanol intake (900 mg per serving)
  • Excellent nutritional profile (35 kcal, 0 g sugar, minimal fat)
  • Competitive value ($0.15 / €0.13 per 100 mg cocoa flavanols)
  • Convenient powder format
  • Non-GMO
  • Strong consumer reputation with many positive reviews

Cons

  • No publicly available Certificate of Analysis
  • No published epicatechin (DP1) profile
  • No heavy metal results
  • No identified independent testing laboratory
  • Consumers cannot independently verify the flavanol claims
  • Shipping limited to the contiguous United States

Verdict

FlavaMix offers one of the highest flavanol servings in this comparison while remaining affordable, convenient and nutritionally efficient. The product is backed by a well-established brand and enjoys a strong reputation among consumers.

Its primary weakness is transparency. Despite extensive quality claims, the company does not currently publish the laboratory documentation needed to independently verify flavanol content, heavy metals or batch-specific analyses. This does not imply the claims are inaccurate, but it does limit consumer confidence compared with more transparent competitors.

Overall, FlavaMix remains an attractive product for consumers prioritizing convenience and high flavanol intake, but its limited laboratory transparency keeps it below the top performers in this ranking.


5. Aduna Super-Cacao Powder - URL -> Aduna Cacao

> Overall Grade: B
> Country: 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (Ghanaian cacao)
> Product: Aduna Super-Cacao Powder
> Retail Price: Approximately £12.99 (€15) / 275 g pouch
> Flavanol Density: >10 mg/g (approximately 200 mg per 20 g serving)
> Epicatechin (DP1): Not published
> Cost per 100 mg cocoa flavanols: Approximately £0.65 (€0.75)
> Calculation: £12.99 ÷ 2,750 mg cocoa flavanols × 100 = ≈ £0.47 (≈ €0.55) per 100 mg cocoa flavanols
> Transparency: 🟢 Sufficient
> Shipping: 🌍 Worldwide
> Overall: Aduna takes a very different approach from most products in this comparison. Rather than maximizing flavanol concentration, it focuses on producing a minimally processed, ethically sourced cacao powder with independently verified flavanol content, low heavy metal levels and strong scientific substantiation. While its flavanol density is modest, it remains one of the more transparent and trustworthy traditional cacao powders currently available.

About the brand

Aduna is a UK-based company working closely with farming communities in Ghana to produce ethically sourced superfoods. Its Super-Cacao Powder is made from non-alkalized West African cacao and is processed to preserve naturally occurring cocoa flavanols while maintaining the characteristics of traditional cacao.

Unlike many brands that rely primarily on marketing claims, Aduna emphasizes independent laboratory verification of flavanol content and heavy metal safety. The product has also been referenced in published medical research and incorporates EFSA-approved health claim guidance regarding cocoa flavanols and normal blood flow.

Nutritional profile

Each recommended serving (20 g) provides approximately:

  • 200 mg cocoa flavanols
  • Approximately 100 kcal
  • Naturally occurring fiber, minerals, theobromine and caffeine
  • No added sugar
  • 100% natural, minimally processed cacao

Although considerably less concentrated than the leading products in this comparison, Aduna preserves the complete natural cacao matrix and can simply be consumed in larger servings by those who prefer a traditional cocoa powder.

Pros

  • Independently verified flavanol content
  • Published heavy metal values
  • Very low reported cadmium (0.149 mg/kg)
  • Non-alkalized cacao
  • Ethical sourcing with Ghanaian farming partnerships
  • Used in published medical research
  • Widely available throughout Europe and internationally

Cons

  • Much lower flavanol density than other products in this comparison
  • Requires relatively large servings for higher flavanol intake
  • No published epicatechin (DP1) profile
  • Public batch-specific Certificates of Analysis are less comprehensive than the strongest performers

Transparency

Aduna performs well in terms of transparency. The company states that every batch undergoes independent laboratory testing for flavanol content and heavy metals, and it openly publishes specific cadmium values together with information supporting its flavanol claims and EFSA health claim eligibility.

Although complete batch-specific Certificates of Analysis are not as readily available as companies who publish them on request like Mindkore and Vital Purple, Aduna provides substantially more analytical information than many mainstream cacao brands and demonstrates a clear commitment to independent verification.

Verdict

Aduna is not designed to compete with ultra-high-flavanol cacao powders or concentrated extracts. Instead, it offers a high-quality, minimally processed cacao powder with independently verified flavanol content, excellent sourcing practices and one of the lowest published cadmium concentrations in this comparison.

Its relatively modest flavanol density means it ranks below the top performers when efficiency is the primary goal. However, consumers who value traditional cacao, ethical sourcing, low heavy metal exposure and strong scientific substantiation will find Aduna to be an excellent everyday option.

Overall, Aduna earns a well-deserved B. While it cannot match the flavanol efficiency of the leading products, it distinguishes itself through transparency, safety, ethical sourcing and a balanced approach to natural cacao.


Final thoughts

If I've missed a product that deserves a place in this ranking, I'd genuinely love to hear about it. I'm always interested in discovering new high-flavanol cacao products, and who knows, maybe it'll earn a place in next year's update.

u/Nexigen — 2 days ago
▲ 53 r/blueprint_+1 crossposts

Potential risk with Red light therapy devices

If anyone with knowledge or experience regarding red light therapy devices, would share their opinion on this discussion from an interview on Instagram, that would be my appreciated.

instagram.com
u/Checkitout301 — 3 days ago

Why does the essential capsules contain so much Vitamin E?

I was looking at some of Bryan's supplements and the essential capsules contain around 440% of the vitamin e RDA. Considering high dose vitamin e has been associated with cancer why does he do this?

reddit.com
u/RationalSage — 2 days ago

Bryan has chronic atrophic gastritis, an autoimmune disease that elevates stomach cancer risk

You can find the total write up on his socials. It’s a very involved, scientific-based post on how they discovered it and their innovative method for treating it.

I’m mostly posting it for news sake, but in terms of discussion, I think it’s interesting how something like chronic atrophic gastritis typically goes undiagnosed and is often treated as something you just have to live with. Even with Bryan’s years of intense testing and rigid protocol, it took until now for them to figure out what’s going on with his iron issues and his symptoms.

I think it has to be a bit of a wake up call for him, right? Not necessarily in the “I’m going to die” sense but at least in the reality that the modern methods available to us now cannot account for the myriad issues that may arise in our health. This news comes at the same time I found out my dad is needing triple bypass surgery. His health at 67 was stellar but atherosclerosis crept up on him without him having any idea. Granted, he could have gone through more extensive testing, but based on the measurements he felt were sufficient, he was in the dark to the reality of what was brewing underneath. We’re all in the similar boats in the current scheme of things.

Another interesting aspect is Bryan’s treatment of his condition. Being an autoimmune disease, the doctors typically leave it alone. They can address some basic symptoms but not cure the underlying cause(s). Bryan’s team with the help of AI is going to take on his autoimmune disease to see if he can be “cured,” which would be a monumental achievement of the Blueprint protocol. On an opposite end of the medical and scientific conversation are the carnivorists suggesting Bryan give up Veganism. Mikhaila Peterson was the only (somewhat) prominent name suggesting it. While I don’t believe carnivore is ever an answer, I have wondered if Bryan would ever give up Veganism if the literature or even immediate anecdotal evidence suggested adding meat would help with his specific measurables and issues.

Anyways, thoughts (and prayers if you’re the praying type) to Bryan.

reddit.com
u/NoPatNoDontSitonThat — 5 days ago

I have an autoimmune disease. My stomach is eating itself.

Bad news #1:

I have an autoimmune disease. My stomach is eating itself.

Bad news #2:

2–5% of people have this, too. Likely more, because it hides.

Good news:

I'm going to try and solve it. Will share all.

As a kid, I ate sugar cereal, drank sugary soda, and gobbled down fast food. I had a few healthy years in my early 20s but then became a young father of three and began building a business.

Juggling that stress and grind, I let my health slip and gained 40 lbs. Within a few years I’d fallen into a deep, chronic depression.

Somewhere in that timeline, my body began developing an autoimmune process affecting my thyroid and then my stomach lining.

It’s called Autoimmune Gastritis (AIG).

My hypothyroidism got diagnosed when I was 21 years old with a routine blood draw. That enabled me to begin proactive management, supplementing levothyroxine and Armour Thyroid. They are the hormones my body should be producing on its own but wasn’t.

By taking these pills daily, my body was able to operate as though my thyroid was functioning properly. What I didn’t know was that something else was going on inside my body: my stomach had begun attacking itself. But there was no routine test to find out and I didn’t have any symptoms.

I just discovered it in May. I'm unsure how long I've had it. AIG causes irreversible damage: nutritional deficiency, anemia, and over a long horizon, elevated cancer risk. When AIG is discovered today, standard medical care concedes defeat, stating that nothing can be done except managing the condition, no matter how awful or lethal the effects.

Looking back over the past few years, I can now see the early signals we were picking up in measurement but hadn’t connected the dots. For 11 years, I’ve had low ferritin, without anemia. We continually tried to raise my iron levels with food and supplementation but nothing would work.

We chased the obvious solutions first. A plant-based diet means all my iron is the hard-to-absorb, non-heme kind. Hard training, sauna, and hyperbaric oxygen all raise the body's demand for iron. But none of them explained the core failure: despite me taking iron orally, trialing every formulation, and using every timing trick, none of the iron would stick.

What I didn’t fully appreciate until recently is how many stones my previous providers had left unturned. The low ferritin kept getting explained away but not fixed.

I overhauled my medical team earlier this year. It was the rebuild to lay the groundwork for Immortals Care, our $1M a year protocol. With greater capacity, we revisited everything.

On the surface, my low ferritin was easy to dismiss by most standards of care. My hemoglobin and hematocrit were normal. Ferritin measures stored iron, while hemoglobin measures circulating iron, and because the body drains its reserves first to keep hemoglobin normal, you can be fully iron deficient with a perfectly normal hemoglobin and hematocrit.

This is why my low ferritin kept getting dismissed: the numbers that define anemia looked fine, so no one asked why my iron reserves wouldn't refill.

My team pressed on that question. They first turned to a colonoscopy. I was 48 years old and overdue. It was good health hygiene to have while also serving a specific purpose of searching for a hidden source of blood loss such as a polyp or even cancer in my bowels. Either one of those would be an explanation of why the iron kept disappearing.

At the same time, they began connecting the dots. Iron absorption depends on stomach acid, so one theory was that my stomach acid was disrupted. They also knew that thyroid and stomach autoimmunity often travel together, so often that the pairing has a name: thyrogastric syndrome.

Put against my 27+ year history of autoimmune thyroid disease, the pieces pointed to a single hypothesis: my own immune system was attacking my stomach.

To our surprise, my colonoscopy came back clean. A perfectly healthy colon, better than 95% of colonoscopies of men, according to the gastroenterologist. That ruled out the first concern and worst possible outcome: slow continuous bleeding from colon cancer, or pre-cancerous polyp.

My team had exercised great foresight though, anticipating this possible outcome. In addition to a colonoscopy, they’d ordered an upper endoscopy to be performed at the same time. The combined procedure is a bi-directional endoscopy. Probes would look at my entire intestinal tract, up from below and down the throat.

Additionally, we had several blood biomarkers measured ahead of the procedure to try and pick up on any signals that would give the gastroenterologist guidance for what to look for while doing visual inspections.

Fifteen minutes before the procedure, my blood results returned, finding elevated levels of anti-parietal-cells-antibodies (APCA). They came back at roughly five times the upper limit of normal (103, against a ceiling of 20 Units/mL). It was a positive result confirming the suspicion of AIG being the culprit behind my low ferritin, the other type of gastritis, driven by a bacterial infection, was already ruled out, as we knew I am negative to H. pylori.

Even before this finding, my team had ordered five biopsies to be taken from three regions of my stomach.

The biopsies were the critical piece. Had they not been ordered, the bi-directional endoscopy would have been completed and AIG remained undiagnosed as there were no visual signatures of the condition in my intestines.

Two days later, the results of biopsies came in, showing clear signs of early autoimmune gastritis: early atrophy confined to the acid-producing lining, with the rest of the stomach still spared. My team had anticipated this, methodically tracing every line of evidence.

We now had a formal diagnosis. I have autoimmune gastritis AIG. My stomach is eating itself.

So this was never one problem. It was three, linked to one another: the iron deficiency, the autoimmune gastritis driving it, and the autoimmune thyroid disease alongside it. Iron and thyroid feed each other both ways, low iron impairs the conversion of thyroid hormone into its active form, and an under active thyroid impairs how the body uses iron. Each made the other harder to fix.

Autoimmune gastritis affects an estimated 2–5% of people, and likely more, because it hides and is challenging to diagnose. It's usually silent for years, surfacing only once the stomach has atrophied enough to do real damage: iron deficiency first, then B12 deficiency, then anemia from both, and over a long horizon, raised stomach-cancer risk. In one study of people with precancerous gastric lesions, roughly 18% carried the autoimmune antibodies, and only about 1% had ever been diagnosed.

And the earliest clue, low ferritin, is the one standard medicine waves through. Low iron stores get normalized and rarely investigated at all when anemia hasn't shown up yet. That blind spot is what hid mine for a decade.

The good news: the iron deficiency is now corrected. I received a 1,000 mg Monoferric iron infusion. This was chosen for two reasons after considering multiple formulations. First, it can safely deliver a full dose of iron in a single infusion (1,000 mg), while older options like Venofer require several separate appointments to reach the same total.

Second, certain other IV iron formulations can cause a drop in blood phosphate levels, an important mineral for bones and energy. Monoferric is much less likely to do this, which matters given how closely we track long-term metabolic and bone health parameters.

As mentioned earlier, current medical standards treat AIG as something to be managed, not resolved.

It's worth noting that many of you give me a hard time, inviting me to "live life" and engage in self-destructive behaviors like a "normal person". I'm cool with the playful ribbing. Also, had I not taken care of my health during the past five years, my situation could potentially be very serious.

You too may have a lurking health issue that is undiagnosed and could increase in severity from unhealthy life choices, without your knowing. The absence of symptoms is not the presence of health.

A gentle nudge that minding your health, no matter your situation in life, is good decision making.

My team and I are going to try and solve my AIG. This is how we’re approaching it:

First, routine monitoring keeps the disease in view: ferritin and iron, B12, the pepsinogen I/II ratio, gastrin, and chromogranin A. Gastrin is the dial to watch. If it climbs, the disease is advancing, and the risk of gastric neuroendocrine tumors climbs with it.

Second, we’re doing advanced characterization of the disease. We’ll do a repeat biopsy to read the immune infiltrate, deep cytokine profiling, and T-cell subset analysis, to see which pathways are actually firing.

That testing drives the intervention plan, including the experimental approaches we intend to develop.

+ If gastrin and chromogranin rise: damp the gastrin drive (netazepide) and tighten endoscopic surveillance. If the profile is Th1 / interferon-driven: target JAK/STAT.

+ If it's Th17 / IL-17-driven: target IL-17 and STAT3.

+ If regulatory T cells are failing: rebuild them (low-dose IL-2, induced Tregs).

+ If it's antibody- and B-cell-driven and antigen-specific: engineered cell therapy (CAAR-T).

Which organizes into four tiers, from available today to frontier:

Tier 1, now: protect and support; zinc-L-carnosine, and acid replacement (betaine HCl with pepsin) under physician supervision. This is specific to my case and not something to self-prescribe, especially given the cancer-surveillance considerations above.

Tier 2, target the signaling , JAK/STAT, GSK-3, IL-17, and damp the gastrin drive (netazepide).

Tier 3, reset the cells, induced regulatory T cells (iTregs).

Tier 4, frontier: engineered T-cell therapy (CAR-T / CAAR-T), custom AI-designed antibodies, or synthetic proteins, that can specifically seek out inactivate or destroy the rogue immune cells attacking my stomach lining.

To be clear: there's no approved cure for autoimmune gastritis today. Medicine treats it as something to manage, not solve. Tiers 2 through 4 are investigational preclinical evidence at best, and in several cases therapies that still have to be built.

If you're working on autoimmune gastritis, antigen-specific tolerance, regulatory T cells, or CAAR-T for organ-specific autoimmunity, please reach out.

Modern medicine has normalized too many conditions that erode our health, function, and comfort, shrinking the goal to monitoring and management while a cure is rarely even attempted. Most of these verdicts were handed down decades ago, in an era that predates nearly all of our current tech and science, and they have gone largely unchallenged.

We want to change that. In the age of AI, multiomics, and custom-built DNA, proteins, and cells, no condition should be presumed incurable simply because no one has yet tried to cure it with today's stack.

I’ll end on a personal note.

We fill our days mostly on things that are trivial next to what we ultimately care about. We know, deep down, however, that in the noise of it all, health is easily forgotten until it’s the only thing that matters.

We spend a fraction of our lives truly sober to the preciousness of life. We feel it when someone we love dies, when a child is born, when we come close to death ourselves, or when a diagnosis marks our limit. In those moments, we are sobered, and the rarity of it all becomes self evident. Imagine the existence we’d build together if that clarity didn’t fade.

I wish all of you the very best. Care for yourself, care for others, care for the planet and care for our animal friends. Care for life as it’s the most precious gift there is.

https://preview.redd.it/m9p3lgjfynah1.jpg?width=1564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92630a3e516325fdc37eec0ad6fa09ae9a399f2c

reddit.com
u/bryan_johns0n — 5 days ago

Build your life around sleep

I promise you that if you build your life around sleep, everything you care about will get better.

High quality sleep is like a daily dose of the world’s best longevity drug.

Sleep is key for...

+ will power
+ self control
+ sex
+ mood
+ recovery
+ focus
+ appearance
+ work
+ life

My sleep data last night

+ 4+ hr restorative
+ 53% total sleep restorative
+ resting heart rate 42 (elite athlete)
+ no sleep stress
+ no wake events
+ asleep in 2 min

It feels incredible. Gives me the powers of stamina, focus, motivation, discipline and love.

For fun, I made a sleep facts nutrition panel.

https://preview.redd.it/lvmd6mpj4hah1.jpg?width=2429&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=50a7be87d78841a873ee85e04cf7ab15c68c40d7

The sleep crash course:

  1. Final food 4 hours before bed
  2. Screens off 60 min before bed
  3. Same bed time every single day
  4. Light in eyes in am
  5. Exercise daily, even if for 20 min

Here’s the key: make these habits non-negotiable in your life.

Build your life around sleep and I promise everything you care about will get better.

reddit.com
u/bryan_johns0n — 5 days ago

Falling off the wagon

I've been doing blueprint for almost 2 years now.

I've basically stopped all supplement use except the powders.

I am more health minded in general with better habits.

My bloodwork while taking reta and the 80 things bryan takes was fantastic. I am 38 years old and i'd estimate my markers as being top 10% for my demo. I've checked with both perplexity, claude, and manual research as my levine pheno age came in about 7 years younger than what i actually am.

However I find i just dont care about supplementing anymore. I've gotten lazy with it.

I basically just megadose a bunch of powders in the morning and at night and call it a day.

Morning drink is

Longevity mix + 15g creatine + 5g taurine + inositol

Night drink is

12g psyllium husk + 1g elemental mag + 10g glycine

Question for long term blueprinters. How has your practice changed over the years?

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Dare6445 — 7 days ago
▲ 31 r/blueprint_+2 crossposts

My 3-month microbiome experiment: Complete probiotic/prebiotic/postbiotic stack (healthy male, 40s) — baseline + September update planned

ps: i used ai to convert to readable format from my rough notes.

I’m a healthy male in my forties and have decided to run a structured 3-month experiment using what I believe is one of the most comprehensive commercially available microbiome stacks currently available.

This is not medical advice, and I’m not trying to treat any disease. This is simply a personal experiment to see whether a broad microbiome approach can measurably improve metabolic health, gut health, oral health and overall well-being.

Baseline
Healthy male in my forties
Weight: 68.5 kg (151 lb)
Fasting glucose: 97 mg/dL
Hemoglobin A1c: 5.6%
Fasting insulin: 10 µIU/mL

One interesting observation is that my fasting insulin has already improved from 15 µIU/mL to 10 µIU/mL over the past six months while taking my original microbiome stack consisting of Pendulum Glucose Control, Pendulum Gut Fuel, Pendulum Polyphenol Booster and EVOO. Ha1c didn't change, could be due to my sporadic sweet tooth.

Current Gut Probiotic Stack

Pendulum Glucose Control

Species:
Akkermansia muciniphila
Anaerobutyricum hallii
Bifidobacterium infantis
Clostridium beijerinckii
Clostridium butyricum

Seed DS-01 Daily Synbiotic

Species:
Bifidobacterium breve
Bifidobacterium infantis
Bifidobacterium lactis
Bifidobacterium longum
Lactiplantibacillus plantarum
Lacticaseibacillus paracasei
Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus
Lactobacillus crispatus
Lactobacillus fermentum
Lactobacillus gasseri
Lactococcus lactis
Pediococcus acidilactici
Acidipropionibacterium jensenii

SFI Health Klaire Labs Ther-Biotic Complete (100 Billion CFU)

Species:
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lacticaseibacillus casei
Lacticaseibacillus paracasei
Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus
Lactiplantibacillus plantarum
Limosilactobacillus salivarius
Bifidobacterium bifidum
Bifidobacterium breve
Bifidobacterium lactis
Bifidobacterium longum
Streptococcus thermophilus
Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus

Designs for Health Complete Commensal Probiotic

Species:
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus
Lactiplantibacillus plantarum
Lacticaseibacillus paracasei
Bifidobacterium bifidum
Bifidobacterium breve
Bifidobacterium lactis
Bifidobacterium longum
Streptococcus thermophilus

Blueprint Akkermansia (Bryan Johnson)

Contains:
Pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila
Butyric triglycerides

BioGaia Gastrus

Species:
Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938
Limosilactobacillus reuteri ATCC PTA 6475

Thorne Saccharomyces boulardii

Species:
Saccharomyces boulardii

Prebiotics

Pendulum Gut Fuel

Contains:
Resistant starch
Chicory root inulin
Acacia fiber
Arabinogalactan
Xylooligosaccharides

Pendulum Polyphenol Booster

Contains:
Pomegranate extract
Grape seed extract
Green tea extract

Postbiotics

(Bryan Johnson, same item as in probiotics) BluePrint Pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila
Butyric triglycerides
Tributyrin

Oral Probiotics

BioGaia Prodentis

Species:
Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938
Limosilactobacillus reuteri ATCC PTA 5289

Great Oral Health

Species:
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Limosilactobacillus reuteri
Lacticaseibacillus paracasei
Limosilactobacillus salivarius
Streptococcus thermophilus
Streptococcus salivarius BLIS K12
Streptococcus salivarius BLIS M18

Other:
Psycillium Husks
EVOO
Other vitamins, omega, coq10 etc.
Occasional fermented dill pickles, kefir, yoghurt, kimchi, sauerkrat etc. (once a week)

What I’ll be measuring

Fasting insulin
Hemoglobin A1c
Fasting glucose
Waist circumference
Weight
Overall well-being, 100+ biomarkers

I’ll repeat my blood work/test after approximately three months and will post the complete results—including both objective biomarkers and subjective observations—during the last week of September.

I’d also appreciate feedback from this community. If there are any important commercially available probiotics, next-generation organisms, prebiotics or postbiotics that you think I’m still missing, I’d genuinely like to know.

reddit.com
u/maddie1729 — 8 days ago

“Cool” sun protection clothing?

Hi, I am a Zillennial who came back to college in a new country (the U.S.) and who juggles in a Gen Z world daily.

It might sound silly, but between the new language, the cultural differences and the generational differences, I’m pretty much like an outcast and I’ve been trying to dress in a way that I can blend in a little more.

However, all the non-nano mineral sunscreen and/or SPF clothing + parasol gets in the way when I’m trying to “blend in.” Though I’m older than most students here and I shouldn’t care what they say or how they stare at me, I care. I’ve already been called weird for wearing my big sun protective hat lol.

So I was wondering if anybody has any recommendations of SPF clothing or any sun protection that can still be easily styled, if that makes sense. Thanks!!

reddit.com
u/Smart_Row9326 — 7 days ago

How does inclusion of eggs affect anti ageing?

I have been on vegan diet since a while and my general feeling is that conclusions of "You are what you eat: A twin experiment" on Netflix are right.

However I am considering including eggs in some amount. Wondering how it would affect the inflammation/anti oxidants presence

reddit.com
u/New_Cardiologist_539 — 7 days ago
▲ 101 r/blueprint_+10 crossposts

Did a DNA test change how you live or parent? Journalist looking to chat.

Hey everyone! I’m a journalist at The New York Times working on a story about DNA testing and screening, and how it impacts our lives, choices, and parenting. (My body of work is linked below.)

Whether you used a consumer kit like 23andMe or went on to upload raw data to a third-party app like GenePlaza, I’d love to hear your perspective.

I’m especially interested in chatting with:

  • Anyone who has tested themselves or their children for medical, behavioral, or cosmetic traits.
  • Parents (or future parents) who are using these genetic insights to guide parenting, lifestyle, or healthcare decisions.
  • People who haven't gone through with a test or screening yet, but are actively planning to.
  • Anyone else with an unexpected DNA testing experience that you would like to share.

I want to understand individual experiences: What is motivating you to pursue this? Did your results actually change your decisions or plans? Did they give you peace of mind, or introduce more questions and ethical dilemmas? If you're still considering a test for a child, do you and a partner have differing opinions?

If you're open to a brief chat about your experience, please drop a comment below or send me a DM. You can also email me (if you want to independently verify my identity) at emily.baumgaertner.nunn@nytimes.com. Thanks so much!

My work: https://www.nytimes.com/by/emily-baumgaertner-nunn

u/NewspaperEmily — 9 days ago

thought experiment on life post 100: would you pay $20/month for $10,000/month at 100?

so, if you could pay $20 a month, and making it to 100 will get you $10k a month for the rest of your life after that, would you do it?

reddit.com
u/hobbyistsings — 8 days ago

Some of us will live forever.

Some of us will live forever.

And if you’re reading this, that may or may not be you.

I am so bullish on this that I just renamed my company to Immortals.

Below:
+ why I think this
+ early signs of success
+ how to increase your odds

Yes, I know this sounds crazy.

Immortality has been an ambition for humanity since the beginning of recorded history.

The immortality I’m referring to is specific: increases in life expectancy will outpace the rate of aging. Meaning, we will no longer, by default, expect to die of natural causes.

I believe this for three reasons.

#1: Immortality already exists

Biology can reverse some features of aging, and in a handful of organisms escape it almost entirely. For example, a sperm and an egg from two people in their 30s carry the legacy of bodies that have aged for decades (the egg in particular has been arrested inside the mother since before she herself was born), yet they combine to produce an embryo that resets the aging clock to zero.

The immortal jellyfish goes further and resets itself within one lifetime, reverting its adult cells to an earlier stage through transdifferentiation and starting its life cycle again. And in the lab, scientists have begun doing this deliberately, making induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from mature adult cells such as skin fibroblasts, and using partial cellular reprogramming to turn the clock back in the tissues of living animals.

#2: AI offers new potentials

Biology is a hard problem. For most of history that complexity was beyond native human capacity. AI was made for this complexity. The clearest demonstration so far is protein folding. Predicting the three-dimensional shape a protein folds was an unsolved problem for roughly fifty years, and it mattered because a protein's shape determines what it does in the body.

DeepMind's AlphaFold2 effectively solved it in 2020, reaching a median accuracy of 92.4 out of 100, a level long thought to require the slow, painstaking work of crystallizing a protein and solving its structure by X-ray crystallography. It then released predicted structures for over 200 million proteins, nearly the entire catalogued protein universe, in a fraction of the time anyone expected.

#3: Early signs are encouraging

These aspirations are not imaginative. With the current tools in biotech Sid Sijbrandij, the co-founder of GitLab, was diagnosed with an aggressive bone cancer, osteosarcoma in his vertebrae. He treated his own disease like an engineering problem, he used AI to help direct several experimental, personalized therapies in parallel and drove the cancer into remission after standard medicine had given up. Around the same time, an Australian named Paul Conyngham, with no medical or biology background, did something similar for his dog. He used AI to help design a personalized mRNA vaccine targeting the specific mutations in his dog's tumor, and after it was given alongside another immunotherapy and within a few months the main tumor had shrunk by roughly three-quarters.

How to increase your odds…

I. Don’t die in the meantime

We don’t know when these longevity therapies will become available. Your goal is to be around when they come out. Buy yourself as much time as possible by looking after your body to the best of our scientific knowledge. Good diet, sleep, exercise will get you 80% of the results.

II. Find your achilles

Longevity therapies will likely be outcome specific. Individual specific drugs/therapies that target specific things like…

> prevent and remove arterial plaque
> prevent and reverse neurodegeneration
> specifically target and eliminate cancers, or pre cancerous legions
> prevent frailty and muscle loss, and regain muscle mass, strength and, bone density
> reverse skin aging
> rejuvenate eye health
> restore lost hearing
> etc

We don’t know what therapies will be available first. Your goal is to find what your body is struggling with most and keep that problem at-bay until a therapy is available that can fully cure or reverse it.

For example, do you struggle with cholesterol? Blood glucose control? Cognitive decline? Find your achilles heel and reduce your risk systematically.

III. Invest in the future

There are three macro trends happening on planet earth right now, and the people who bet on these areas have the highest risk + reward.

> AI
> Immortality
> Energy

As we know, power comes in many forms: money, social, political, health, etc. Those that can collect power in these fields will have the greatest chance of positioning themselves in the Immortal future.

With time, Immortal therapies will become broadly available.

If you’re reading this: don’t waste your chances by burning down your life points on a yolo-like mentality. Grind culture, addiction, social media pollution, fast food, porn, alcohol, these are all corporations turning your life into their profit. This is the Die Economy.

My company Immortals has the sole objective of turning your time, attention, and life into more healthy, functional, and prosperous minutes, days, and years. The Don’t Die Economy.

Good luck.

reddit.com
u/bryan_johns0n — 10 days ago

Does Bryan Johnson ever order delivery or eat restaurant food?

I'm interested in following a Blueprint-inspired lifestyle, and one thing I've been wondering is whether Bryan Johnson ever orders delivery or eats restaurant food.

Has Bryan ever talked about this in interviews, podcasts, or social media? Does he completely avoid delivery, or does he make exceptions on occasion?

I'd especially appreciate answers based on things he's actually said rather than speculation.

reddit.com
u/UnfinishedSelf — 10 days ago

Inherited Cancer Risk Panel

Cancer runs in my family and about 5-10% of cancer is inherited. So I did a blood test that looked at 71 genes for inherited cancer risk.

All came back negative. I feel lucky.

You can sleep, exercise and eat right for decades, and one late cancer can do you in. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US, the first for anyone under 85. More than 1 in 3 of us will be diagnosed. A cancer death costs nearly 15 years of life, on average.

You want to catch cancer early. Breast cancer has a 5 year survival near 100% but caught late, survival drops to about 34%. Colon cancer: 91% versus 16%.

A genetic risk panel won't tell you if you have cancer. It tells you whether you were born holding a bad card, so you can watch the right things, sooner.

So I ran a combined DNA + RNA Panel covering 71 genes tied to inherited cancer risk, with RNA analysis on most. They cover the big hereditary pathways. DNA repair (BRCA1, BRCA2, ATM). Lynch syndrome (MLH1, MSH2). The classic tumor suppressors (TP53, APC, PTEN). The endocrine genes (RET, VHL, MEN1).

DNA shows the spelling of a gene. RNA shows what the cell actually builds from it. Up to 1 in 4 cancer-gene variants are predicted to disrupt splicing, the RNA edit that makes a working protein, and DNA alone often can't tell whether it matters, so it gets flagged "uncertain." Reading the RNA settles a lot of those, and catches broken variants DNA-only tests miss.

My result came back with no pathogenic variants in any of the tested genes, so it looks like I was born lucky.

This doesn't mean it clears cancer risk and it says nothing about the 90 to 95% of cancers that aren't inherited or influenced over a lifetime from age, environment, and luck.

Cancer surveillance is among the least glamorous parts of a longevity stack. It's also the most underrated.

The name of this test is Invitae Multi-Cancer Panel.

https://preview.redd.it/hjr11iutsp9h1.jpg?width=1199&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20ab55b80c2fda94549813c24cd253f82aa6e67a

reddit.com
u/bryan_johns0n — 9 days ago