How are we dropping years from Jeff's biological age with the Fountain of Youth Project?

Three of the primary goals of the Fountain of Youth Project (FOYP) are to:

1. Improve Jeff's overall health - we do this by controlling and reversing his disease state and eliminating most, if not all, of his prescription medications through diet, exercise, and lifestyle modifications.
2. Improve Jeff's functional capacity - increase his physical fitness including improving his aerobic capacity, muscular strength, flexibility, and body composition.
3. Reduce Jeff's biological age - in doing one and two we automatically achieve the third goal.

We have already seen huge improvements in Jeff's disease markers, and goal one. Jeff is off three of four prescription medications - Glyburide for type II diabetes, Avapro for hypertension, and Lipitor for heart disease. He has reversed and has control over his diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease through diet, exercise, and the FOYP. In addition, with his physician's approval he has lowered his daily aspirin and weekly Methotrexate doses from 325 mg to 81 mg and 20 mg to 15 mg, respectively.

Jeff's functional capacity is improving due to his daily bike rides on his new spin bike, his weekly yoga practice, additional steps taken due to constant monitoring with his latest pedometer, modifications and improvements in his already healthy diet...

Early in the project we measured Jeff's functional capacity and came up with these results:

His overall biological age of 59.4 years is only slightly older than his chronological age of 57.7 years. But he didn't feel very good after four plus years of inactivity and added years of medication (both properly and improperly prescribed) and neglect. Being a former athlete some of his measures were still quite impressive. It would have been interesting to get his baseline values while competing collegiately in gymnastics.

Some interesting values included his amazingly high test scores and low biomarkers for:

• His body weight adjusted basal metabolic rate -- a measure of 39.883 kcals/m²/hr giving him a value equivalent to 19-20 year-olds.
• The vertical jump and power measure -- a height of 14.7 inches and a value equivalent to 18-34 year olds.
• His body weight adjusted leg press -- a weight of 1.78 lb/lb body weight and a value of 30-39 year olds.

Along with his disappointing low scores and high biomarkers for his aerobic capacity:

• The Post-50 Step test -- a value of 63 steps and a value equivalent to an 85 year old.
• The 400-meter walk test -- a time of 4:09 minutes and a value equivalent to a 65 year old.
• The Cooper 12-minute run/walk test -- a distance of 1100 meters and a value equivalent to an 85 year old.
• And the VO₂max test -- a measure of 24.4 ml/kg/min and a value equivalent of 60-69 year olds.

Most of his other test results were in the range expected for his age and current condition. The values reported are compared to norms collected on sedentary individuals across a wide span of ages. His low scores give us areas to focus on, and great room for improvement. His high scores give him hope and a reminder of what he is capable of when healthy and fit.

In time, Jeff's biological age and functional capacity, will creep downward while inevitably his chronological age will rise upward. Our goal is to make those added years MORE- more productive, more healthful, more active, more enjoyable... and just more.