On Saturday, hundreds of people swore off Manhattan’s bottomless brunch scene to attend an all-day longevity summit to learn the hacks of living longer.
Attendees of the $349 “Don’t Die Summit” at the west side’s Javits Center tried red light therapy, discovered their biological age, and learned from the self-proclaimed most measured man in history about how to, simply put, not die.
Tech millionaire turned biohacker Bryan Johnson, the star of the recent Netflix documentary, “Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever,” took center stage to deliver a sermon-like plea to an eager crowd about the power of health optimization to extend life. Many walking around the center’s “Longevity Amusement Park” outside the main stage—a conference area that housed over 20 booths, selling supplements, skin care, and high-tech aging hacks—donned a black t-shirt with “Don’t Die” written in bold. Someone dressed as the Grim Reaper paraded around, too. (It’s unclear if this was part of the programming or a guest).
Back on stage, Johnson was joined by his doctor Dr. Mike Mallin to review his biomarkers live. Johnson shared his protocol, which includes 4:30 a.m. wake-ups, an 18-hour fast, a diet of 130 grams of daily protein, no cheat days, and a strict calorie count with the motto that “every calorie fights for its life.” Johnson is famous for taking dozens of supplements daily, testing his body regularly, and taking extreme measures in pursuit of becoming as biologically young as possible.
At one point during the summit, an image of a silhouette of a middle-aged man appeared on the screen behind him, with the quote, “Never let your mind decide,” as Johnson spoke about the merits of resisting natural human desire.
“The broader picture here at ‘Don't Die’ is we are at war with death. We are trying to eliminate death from our environment,” Johnson said, getting extra enthusiastic at one point when sharing his plan to test the foods most commonly consumed in this country for processing, heavy metals, and other chemicals.
He most passionately decried Lay’s sour cream and onion chips as a symbol of the flaws of the modern food industry, and says he wants to elicit donations to test foods to see whether they qualify as “Don’t Die certified.” When announcing this, he got an immediate round of applause from the audience. How this will be done is unclear.
For lunch, attendees were offered one of Johnson’s staple meals, consisting of quinoa and vegetables. Guests could also receive a palate cleanser of Johnson's “Longevity Mix,” a bright pink bitter liquid concoction of “13 active ingredients to support energy, metabolism, recovery, & vitality,” per his website. (Johnson’s company Blueprint sells $49 Longevity Mix, $325 speed of aging tests, and other products, many of which were for sale at the event).
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Johnson, who has gone viral for undergoing a plasma transfusion from his teenage son and admits to loving being in the spotlight as the industry’s guinea pig, has many skeptics. For one, Johnson undergoes protocols that are not widely tested nor approved by the FDA.
Nonetheless, the event attracted both fans and doubters.
Robert Weiss, a New Yorker in his 50s, heard about the event through word-of-mouth and came curious about tech and products to optimize his health. People are often dissuaded from “woo woo” products that may have merit, he says. “I am trying to get myself to accept it more,” he said, referencing stem cell therapy as an age-rejuvenation technique. Johnson posted on YouTube in October about his trip to the Bahamas where he was injected with 300 million stem cells as part of a clinical trial with the company Cellcolabs, which is GMP certified. (Stem cell therapy is not approved in the U.S. for longevity and the National Institutes of Health have warned about clinics that haven’t had proper testing for efficacy).
Brystal Rosensweig, a fractional CMO for wellness and beauty brands who is based in New York City, attended the event for both business and pleasure. “The space is fascinating, and I also feel like it’s difficult for consumers to navigate what’s [real] and what’s snake oil,” she tells Fortune at the event, adding she is more trusting when companies can provide scientific studies that show their products’ efficacy.
Still, she knows that the booming longevity market is not going away. According to a report from Introspective Market Research, the anti-aging market is predicted to reach nearly $2.3 billion by 2032.
“I think people are moving further away from general wellness and more into trackable biohacking wellness as a general category, so people know and can see results and track their progress,” Rosensweig said.
Similarly, venture capitalist Pete Mathias says he attended because he’s looking for “cultural movements” worth his investments.
“There's a ton of breakthrough visions. So certainly, what's been surprising is the presence of hard science alongside beauty science,” he said. “There’s not many products on the planet that respond to things that every single person cares about, and death is one of those things that every single person cares about.”
And there’s no age limit for being interested in living longer.
Twenty-nine-year-old Anastasia Liakhina came because she loves Johnson’s energy on social media. “I am thinking about how to make my body healthy, how to eat healthy, and how to keep my body young and beautiful,” she tells Fortune.
The day wrapped up with a 3:30 p.m. dance party, which Johnson referred to as a “health rave.” After all, he hits the hay early.
