Anti-aging fanatic obsessed with looking young uses teen son as ‘blood boy’

The dad's goal is to have all of his major organs functioning as they were in his late teens - and he spends $2 million a year to achieve it.

Shannen Thaler

2 min read

May 23, 2023 - 9:02AM

Bryan Johnson (right) tapped his 17-year-old son Talmage (left) to be his plasma donor. It’s part of Johnson’s ultra-strict scheme to age backwards, called Project Blueprint.Bryan Johnson/Instagram

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An anti-aging zealot who spends $2 million a year in a quest to turn back time has dragged his teenage son into being his personal “blood boy.”

Bryan Johnson, the 45-year-old software developer who wants to keep his internal organs, including his penis and rectum, functioning youthfully — enlisted 17-year-old Talmage to provide blood transfusions, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

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"Tri generational blood-swapping treatment"

At a clinic near Dallas last month, Johnson, his 70-year-old dad, Richard, and Talmage showed up for an hours-long, tri-generational blood-swapping treatment, the outlet reported.

Johnson usually receives plasma from an anonymous donor, but this time Talmage provided a liter of his blood, which was converted into batches of piece parts — a batch of liquid plasma and another of red and white blood cells and platelets.

The fitness nut then undergoes the same procedure, but there’s one key addition — after having his own blood drained, Talmage’s plasma is then fed into Johnson’s veins, according to Bloomberg.

As the oldest, Richard goes last and receives the same treatment as his son.

Johnson uses screened "blood boys"

Johnson told Bloomberg that he has a team of 30 doctors and regenerative health experts overseeing his regimen, which has come to include making trips to the Dallas-area clinic for a plasma exchange.

He reportedly screened anonymous donors as “blood boys” to ensure he was receiving blood from a person with an ideal body mass index who lived a healthy lifestyle and was free of disease.

Using plasma as an anti-aging technique caught the attention of wellness junkies when scientists literally stitched young and old mice together so they shared a circulatory system, Bloomberg reported.

The older rodents showed improvements in their cognitive function, metabolism and bone structure, while the younger subjects showed that frequent blood donation could have positive effects.

However, there is little human-based data, leaving many researchers to view plasma-swapping longevity techniques as inconclusive, according to Bloomberg.

“We have not learned enough to suggest this is a viable human treatment for anything,” Charles Brenner, a biochemist at City of Hope National Medical Center in Los Angeles, told Bloomberg. “To me, it’s gross, evidence-free and relatively dangerous.”

Blood plasmas are traditionally given to patients experiencing trauma, burn, shock, severe liver disease and clotting deficiencies, among other conditions, according to Red Cross.

Johnson, who made his fortune by selling his payment processing company Braintree Payment Solutions to EBay for $800 million in cash in his early 30s, gained notoriety earlier this year for his battle against Father Time.

While awake, Johnson follows an ultra-strict routine that begins each morning at 5 a.m. with two dozen supplements.

He then strategically exercises for one hour, eats a low-calorie vegan diet and even brushes his teeth in a calculated manner, with a tea-tree oil and antioxidant gel rinse.

Then while sleeping, Johnson is hooked up to a machine that counts how many erections he has throughout the night.

At bedtime, Johnson wears blue light-blocking glasses for two hours.

The goal for Johnson: to have all of his major organs — including his brain, liver, kidneys, teeth, skin, hair, penis and rectum — functioning as they were in his late teens.

He claims these pricey treatments have already brought him closer to the fountain of youth, with the heart of a 37-year-old and skin of a 28-year-old.

This story was originally in The New York Post and has been republished here with permission.