How much would you pay to live an extra ten years?
I pondered this while visiting Extension Health, a longevity clinic that opened recently in New York’s West Village.
What is a longevity clinic? Think of it as a high-tech health spa. These clinics offer everything from genetic testing and cellular rejuvenation to IV drips and hormone therapy—all in the name of living longer, healthier lives.
Longevity clinics like Extension Health target multiple audiences: From advanced biohackers who want access to all the cutting-edge tools, to normal people who want to boost physical and mental performance. Their core customers are aged 30 to 50 and include high-net worth individuals, athletes, CEOs and celebrities.
I wondered: What’s driving the rise in high-end longevity clinics? Are they actually helping people live longer, healthier lives? Or are they just finding new ways to get rich people to part with their money?
The Promise of Early Detection
At the Extension Health launch party, I met physician influencers with large followings, as well as fashion and beauty influencers. I met Extension Health founder Dr. Jonathann Kuo, a double board-certified pain management specialist and anesthesiologist.
“Advances in longevity science allow for early detection of potential health issues and personalized treatment plans that cater to individual needs,” said Dr. Kuo. “This proactive approach not only extends lifespan but also improves healthspan—the period during which a person is healthy and active.”
Extension Health offers a variety of membership options, spanning categories geared towards healing, fitness and recovery, longevity and performance. Membership runs from $10-20k a month.
The clinic’s marketing language sounds as if Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia were run through ChatGPT, with the prompt being “Write copy for a wellness clinic targeted at celebrities and executives who fly private.”
Extension’s menu of diagnostic services and therapies include DEXA scans, $250 to $300, which measure body fat, bone density and overall body composition; Prenuvo scans, $2,500, a full-body MRI; vitamin IVs, $99; 3D postural alignment scans, $150; and weight management drugs ($500 to $1,250) with the pharmaceutical ingredients in branded medications Ozempic and Mounjaro.
Extension Health also offers peptide therapies, which they believe will become more commonplace in the future to support muscle mass, libido, and brain health.
The clinic offers something called Neuro Reset, $1,500, a treatment unique to Extension Health developed by Kuo that aims to target anxiety via growth factor injections into fluids surrounding the vagus nerve.
People have asked me, do you think it’s worth it?
The short answer: It depends on who you are and what you’re looking for.
For serious athletes, I can see the benefits of advanced diagnostics for maintaining high performance and avoiding injury. For the general population, I’d say there are better ways to spend your money.
I’ve spoken to physicians who would be happy to refer their patients to these clinics, and others who are skeptical of treatments that aren’t supported by robust clinical evidence, like EBOO ozone dialysis.
In my mind, the rise of longevity clinics brings up a few questions:
How much does this stuff really help? The most important things we can do for our health, like a healthy diet, are free or low-cost. Do any of these fancy diagnostic tools and treatments really make an impact?
How much data is too much data? Do we really need more ways to measure our body’s physiological data and track it in real time? Or are regular blood tests and wearables like Whoop and Oura enough?
Could these clinics actually be harmful? If someone pours money into these high-end services, might they lose focus on the more important (but less glamorous) drivers of health: Sleep, diet, and exercise?
DEXA Scan for Body Composition
I tried two of Extension Health’s most popular diagnostic services: a DEXA scan and a 3D postural alignment scan.
DEXA (Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) is considered the gold standard for measuring body composition. Also known as a bone density scan, it’s a non-invasive medical imaging test primarily used to measure bone mineral density and diagnose conditions like osteoporosis.
An attendant had me lie down on the table and strap my feet into foot rests. I lied still while a narrow, L-shaped robotic arm scanned my torso, arms and legs. The procedure took 10 minutes.
After the scan, I met with a specialist to review my results. She said my bone mineral density was ok but “could be better.” People tend to lose bone as they age. Low bone density is associated with risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis.
The DEXA scan said my body fat percentage was 15%. Higher than I’d like, but still in the top 5 percentile for my age group. The number was slightly higher than the 13% measurement I’d recently gotten at my gym (but most tests of body fat aren’t very accurate).
Other findings:
My right arm was about 10 percent bigger than my left arm. The specialist said most people have a right-left imbalance because we use our dominant arm more often. She suggested I work on strengthening my left side to prevent injuries.
My visceral fat number was 68.4. The specialist said I should try to keep visceral fat under 100 to avoid metabolic disease. She suggested a goal for me of getting my visceral fat below 50 while maintaining the same level of muscle mass.
3D Postural Alignment Scan
For the 3D postural alignment scan (PAS), I stripped down to my underwear and stood on a small circular platform. A narrow vertical arm lined with cameras revolved around me in a 360 degree sweep, snapping photos of my body from every angle. It was over in less than a minute.
The scan looks at your entire body to identify imbalances in 10 zones: neck, upper / lower back, shoulders, hips, knees, feet. It calculates a score for each body zone and gives you an average score for overall risk vs. function for all 10 zones.
I was a bit alarmed when I saw the results. Multiple body parts were marked in red. The specialist explained that for each part of my body, green zones are optimized, yellow zones need focus, and areas marked in red need immediate attention.
The main issue the scan found was a forward-facing neck, with excessive curvature of the cervical spine. This is common among knowledge workers, the specialist said. People spend too much time hunched over their laptop screens and mobile devices, affecting their back and neck posture.
The report highlighted a few minor issues. My body weight was slightly shifted to the right. My left foot was pronating toward one side. Improving my arch support would help, the specialist said.
Why should someone consider doing a 3D postural assessment? For athletes or people who work out regularly, if this stuff is not addressed, it can lead to pain or injury. The specialist gave me a suggested exercise regimen to help improve my posture and correct the imbalances.
The Verdict
My overall experience at Extension Health was positive. I got some useful info from the scans. I did not do a Prenuvo scan; health experts have mixed opinions on the value of full-body MRI. I see value in diagnostics for body composition and posture, especially for athletes and people who are aging and are at higher risk of injury.
Overall, when it comes to longevity clinics, I’m a skeptic. Longevity medicine as a field has been criticized for over-testing and promoting interventions that are clinically dubious. There’s not much evidence these services actually make a difference when it comes to improving people’s health.
Longevity clinics thrive in cities like New York that have enough people willing to pay for them. People with money who like the idea that they can “buy more healthcare.” Membership in these clinics is a status symbol. It makes people feel like they’re investing in their health.
These clinics may be seen as part healthcare, part therapy. There’s value to having a good coach who holds you accountable and suggests healthy lifestyle changes. Accessing more healthcare — tests, dashboards, virtual coaches — doesn’t necessarily lead to better health outcomes, but it may lead to more health engagement.
Maybe someday longevity clinics will offer a peptide treatment or stem cell therapy that turns back the clock on our body’s cells, reverses the aging process and gives our skin a radiant youthful glow.
Until then, the biggest things to support our health are the ones that are free or low-cost: Diet, sleep, exercise; routine medical screenings from your primary care doctor; spending time in nature; nurturing friendships and relationships.
Thank you for reading this week’s edition of Vitamin Z.
Until next time,
By Daniel Zahler
Hi there and thanks for reading. I created Vitamin Z to share my research on health and wellness, longevity and healthy aging, and ways to optimize cognitive, physical and emotional health. I serve as an advisor to Noom, a leading digital health company, and work with the world’s top healthcare and life sciences companies to develop innovative new solutions to improve health globally. I was trained as a research scientist at Harvard, and I serve as a GLG council member, where I advise global business leaders on healthcare and technology innovation.
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Thanks for this post. Interesting that these clinics are popping up.. I would not surprised if there is enough demand for them to do well, particularly in big cities. The 3D postural alignment scan sounds interesting and something I would like to do myself one day.. But as you alluded to, I think you can optimize your life expectancy mostly almost for free, and then maybe get the last 10% or maybe 20% from additional resources like these clinics.. Anyways, thanks for the post, I have restacked it :)