Among my admired individuals are renowned biohackers such as Ben Greenfield and Bryan Johnson, who are now investing in clinics to have their blood altered.

The promise of these procedures is enticing: a rejuvenation at the cellular level, a biological enhancement, offering the potential for a longer, healthier life.

These are intelligent, thoughtful individuals who are well aware of the risks, carefully select top-notch facilities, and are willing to take chances in their quest for what many of us desire: extended lifespan and improved wellness.

To be honest, I found myself intrigued.

Extracorporeal blood therapies (EBTs) involve the extraction of blood from the body, processing it externally, and then reinfusing it back into the patient. Once the preserve of intensive care units, these treatments have now found their way into wellness centers.

Currently, there are three types of these therapies available to the public. Plasmapheresis involves the removal and replacement of blood plasma. EBOO, or Extracorporeal Blood Oxygenation and Ozonation, purifies and introduces ozone into the blood. Meanwhile, ‘young blood’ transfusions replace older plasma with that from much younger donors.

I called my dear friend Dr Drew Pinsky, a board certified internal medicine physician, and asked whether I should try it. He didn’t hedge.

‘For what reason?’ he demanded. ‘Why would you consider this? Show me the molecule for the toxin you’re supposedly removing!’

These are smart, serious men who understand the risks, presumably have private medical reasons to pursue these therapies, seek out the best facilities (Pictured: Bryan Johnson showing result of his ‘total plasma exchange’

I felt thoroughly eviscerated and, frankly, confused. I decided to take the fast-follower approach: Let the wellness scouts venture into uncharted territory first and see how it plays out.

Then a close friend in Los Angeles was rushed to the emergency room in excruciating pain, urinating blood, after an EBOO treatment at a medical spa. My curiosity curdled into alarm.

What exactly are these treatments? And what could possibly have gone so wrong?

First: Plasmapheresis. It was developed to treat severe autoimmune disorders. In conditions like CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy), the immune system activates without stimulus, producing toxic antibodies that strip away the protective myelin sheath surrounding the nerves.

Plasmapheresis removes the patient’s blood, strips out the plasma carrying those antibodies and returns the blood with replacement fluids. For someone whose body is actively destroying its own nervous system, it can make the difference between manageable disease and permanent disability.

The longevity pitch is simpler and vaguer: Drain the plasma, replace it with saline and albumin and flush out the ‘pro-inflammatory junk’ that accumulates with age. It is a phrase that gestures at biochemistry without constituting it. There is no identified toxin. There is no documented mechanism. Just a sales pitch.

What actually happens when a healthy person undergoes plasmapheresis is the opposite of an upgrade. Your plasma is not just carrying junk.

‘For what reason?’ Dr Drew demanded. ‘Why would you consider this? Show me the molecule for the toxin you’re supposedly removing!’

Bryan Johnson, 47, took blood from his 19-year-old son (pictured)

Jillian Michaels is host of the Keeping It Real Podcast

It’s carrying the proteins your immune system depends on and the immunoglobulins and antibodies your body has spent a lifetime building.

It’s carrying your clotting factors and fibrinogen, the architecture that stops you from bleeding.

Your body begins rebuilding within hours, but full synthesis does not resume for two days. In that window, you may be more vulnerable to bleeding, infection and immune failure than you were before you paid for the privilege.

EBOO draws from dialysis-derived technology. The underlying concept is that running blood through a filtration circuit while exposing it to ozone might kill pathogens, reduce inflammatory load and improve cellular function.

Might is the operative word.

In clinical settings, modified ozone therapies have been studied for chronic infections, circulatory conditions and wound healing.

For genuinely compromised immune systems or treatment-resistant infections, there is a theoretical case worth investigating, though if you have a deep-seated infection you probably need an infectious disease doctor, not a wellness spa.

The dramatic selling point for this procedure in healthy participants is watching your blood turn bright cherry-red mid-treatment. Proof, many clinics insist, that something miraculous is happening. It isn’t.

Venous blood is dark precisely because it has already delivered its oxygen to your tissues. Re-expose it to oxygen and it turns red again. That is basic physiology. It’s the same thing your blood does every time your heart beats.

The risks are not cosmetic. Too high an ozone concentration and red blood cells rupture, a condition called hemolysis, flooding the bloodstream with hemoglobin and potentially triggering acute kidney injury.

Separately, any error in the extracorporeal circuit can introduce air directly into the bloodstream. Air embolism causes strokes and heart attacks.

Documented cases include neurological crises, ischemic infarctions and altered mental status following intravenous ozone procedures. And yes, it can cause you to urinate blood.

‘Young blood’ research has legitimate scientific roots. Studies in mice, most prominently from Stanford labs, showed that transfusing young blood into older mice reversed some markers of aging in muscle, brain and organ tissue. The hypothesis: Young plasma contains circulating proteins and growth signals that decline with age and drive deterioration.

The market did not wait for human evidence. Some clinics have charged upwards of $8,000 per liter to infuse older clients with the plasma of teenagers and twenty-somethings. The Food and Drug Administration issued a blistering warning in 2019: There is no proven clinical benefit. The Stanford researchers whose mouse studies started the conversation have publicly distanced themselves from many commercial blood transfusion clinics. The science did not sanction what the market built on top of it.

Studies in mice, most prominently from Stanford labs, showed that transfusing young blood into older mice reversed some markers of aging in muscle, brain, and organ tissue

Dr Drew had a sharp response to the underlying logic of these treatment: If the goal is to replenish biologically active signaling proteins, why collect them in unclear amounts from an unregulated source when you could simply take them directly, under medical supervision in precisely specified doses?

Then there are the risks. Transfusing donor plasma carries the risk of TRALI (Transfusion-Related Acute Lung Injury), a potentially fatal condition in which the lungs suddenly fail. The ‘Herxheimer reaction,’ the headaches and fatigue many clinics cheerfully dismiss as proof the treatment is working, could be your body in systemic shock.

Each of these therapies was designed around a specific pathology. A body under attack. A system in measurable failure. A disease state with a documented mechanism. That said, there is not a shred of long-term safety data for healthy people undergoing any of this.

We are witnessing the commodification of the human circulatory system, sold to people who may have everything to lose and no medical reason to take the risk.

When a clinic tells you that bright red blood is the secret to living to 150, remember: They are not selling you longevity. They are selling you a high-stakes gamble.