00:01There are lots of things being done in this industry which have very little evidence for
00:06benefit and some worrying evidence for harm.
00:10So for example, there are IV drip bars.
00:13You can walk in in Australia to an IV drip bar, get IV vitamins, get IV NAD plus or NAD
00:19plus boosters.
00:20NAD plus is supposed to get involved in the anti-aging pathway.
00:23IV vitamin C in high doses is not an antioxidant, it's a pro-oxidant and possibly can damage
00:29tissues.
00:30NAD plus has been shown to be involved in the cancer pathway.
00:33I'm not saying it causes cancer, but it's involved in the cancer pathway.
00:36We don't know its safety benefits.
00:38And then there are peptides sold on the black market and being prescribed by registered doctors.
00:45So what have you found in this investigation in terms of profits over patients here when
00:50we talk about safety, when we talk about the effectiveness of these products?
00:54Well, in the United States, I asked a payment provider who services payments for this industry
01:02how much money goes through the system.
01:04He said $2 billion a year in the United States, got no way of verifying that number.
01:09Over 100 longevity operators have opened up in Australia, some with very significant investments
01:14from venture capitalists, from family offices and so on.
01:17So there is a lot of money.
01:18It's hard to quantify how much.
01:21And then there's money going into legitimate research.
01:24And we went to the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles looking at some of the legitimate
01:28research in this area.
01:29And this is going to be, you know, the analysts say some of these companies could be the next
01:34Googles.
01:35So is this an area that regulators should be looking at more closely?
01:41We spoke to one of the regulators, the TGA.
01:44It looks as if a truck has been driven through the gap between the two regulators, the TGA and
01:51the APRA, the Health Practitioners Regulation Agency.
01:54And they're more worried about the black market at the moment and peptides, but there's lots
01:59of other things going on as well.
02:01And it looks as though that gap is not necessarily being closed at the moment.
02:05So, I mean, you mentioned there, Norman, that there are some positive developments in this
02:09space.
02:09But, you know, what is the advice for us if we want to live a long and healthy life?
02:13If you want to live a long and healthy life, you actually got to attack the anti-aging
02:18pathways broadly, not just with one drug.
02:22And you know this already, Gemma.
02:25The way to do this is a high micronutrient diet, like the Mediterranean diet, where you're
02:30cooking with extra virgin olive oil, lots of different colours to your vegetables.
02:34And in particular, weight training and muscle training, as well as general exercise.
02:40These are not just nice to haves, they affect the anti-aging pathway along the way and prevent
02:45multiple diseases at the same time.
02:47Maybe one day, soon, there'll be a drug that can do that instead of exercise or in addition
02:53to exercise.
02:53But at the moment, I wouldn't abandon that for the red light therapy.
02:57Super Mario...
02:58Mr.
02:59Super Mario...
02:59I'm a professional...
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