Video Blog: Discussing Recent Criticisms of Biological Age Clocks

In this short video blog (6 minutes, 24 seconds), Dr. Fitzgerald asks Ryan Smith, founder of TruDiagnostic, a lab that researches and specializes in understanding and reporting insights derived from epigenetic methylation data, to discuss some of the recent criticisms surrounding biological clocks.

Watch the video and discover:

What some of the recent criticisms are regarding these clocks.
Which biological clocks are more prone to these “age gaps.”
Which biological clock is the most predictive of death, with 92% accuracy within a period of 10 years (better than any other biomarker or actuarial calculation for lifespan prediction currently available).
Why context is important to consider when using biological clocks as biomarkers of health and what this means.
Why biological age tests seem to be held to a different standard than other biological measurements.
What we make of the day-to-day or week-to-week differences we see in the biological clocks.

Learn more about biological clocks with these resources:

Blog: What is biological aging and what does it have to do with methylation?
Blog: New and notable studies using epigenetic clocks
Blog: Past, present and future of biological aging
Podcast: Discussion on the topic of utility of epigenetic clocks with Dr. Matt Kaeberlin (coming September 2024!)

Ryan Smith Bio:

Ryan Smith is founder of TruDiagnostic. Ryan received a BA in biochemistry from Transylvania University before heading to medical school in 2013. After passing USMLE Step 1, he decided to leave and open up a pharmacy in the United States that focused on peptide synthesis and formulations for pharmaceutical preparations. That pharmacy, Tailor Made Compounding, became the 4th fastest growing company in healthcare in the US and grew to 80 million in revenue within 3 years. Through this pharmacy work, Ryan saw the value of preventative medicine. Many of the physicians Tailor Made served were treating age as a disease and a primary outcome but needed better tools to measure this process. As a result, Ryan exited Tailor Made in 2020 to create TruDiagnostic. ‍

Author: Kara Fitzgerald, ND

https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/

Kara Fitzgerald, ND, received her doctor of naturopathic medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first Counsel on Naturopathic Medicine-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, PhD. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Fitzgerald is the lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine and is a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)’s Textbook for Functional Medicine. With the Helfgott Research Institute, Dr. Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on the DNA methylome using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her practice. The first publication from the study focuses on reversal of biological aging and was published 04-12-2021 in the journal Aging. She has published a consumer book titled Younger You as well as a companion cookbook, Better Broths and Healing Tonics and has an application-based Younger You Program, based on the study. Dr. Fitzgerald is on the faculty at IFM, is an IFM Certified Practitioner and lectures globally on functional medicine. She runs a Functional Nutrition Residency program, and maintains a podcast series, New Frontiers in Functional Medicine and an active blog on her website, www.drkarafitzgerald.com. Her clinical practice is in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Additional publications

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Video Blog: Discussing Recent Criticisms of Biological Age Clocks

Author: Kara Fitzgerald, ND

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