5 Best Life Extension Blood Tests and Companies in 2021

This is the second article in a two-part series on the best aging biomarkers to track for longevity. While the first article on aging biomarkers discussed 20 specific biomarkers to track, in this post we compare different life extension blood tests and testing companies on the market.

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“Easier said than done.”

That’s such a cliché truism isn’t it?

But man is it so true.

It’s one thing to say that spanners who want to safely implement longevity interventions need to measure and track 20 different aging biomarkers to make sure they’re not doing themselves any harm (and to see if those interventions are actually working).

But it’s a whole different thing to actually do all that work yourself; diligently sticking to a testing schedule, manually updating all your numbers in a tracking spreadsheet, and periodically calculating your biological age.

That’s a lot of time, energy, and effort that most people with jobs, families, or even new puppies (we just got a Swissy named Kipling; he’s a lot of work but also the sweetest) simply don’t have to spare.

But what if someone else could do all that work for you?

Just like you don’t have to physically make all the items in your house that you use, you also don’t have to do all this longevity testing and tracking yourself.

There are, in fact, quite a few blood testing companies and blood analytics services out there targeted at the longevity market.

And lucky for you I’ve got nothing better to do than take the puppy outside to pee research all of them and narrow down the best ones for spanners to track and measure their own health.

The Best Life Extension Blood Tests and Companies

Because there are literally hundreds of different blood testing companies, labs, and wellness reporting services, I used a few simple criteria to weed out all the basic stuff for normies from the cool, useful stuff relevant to life extension. The below top longevity blood testing companies were included in this list based on the following criteria:

• Tests specifically for longevity biomarkers that are correlated to aging and are useful for tracking anti-aging interventions.
• Tests at least 10 different biomarkers.
• $50 or under per biomarker tested.
• Available to order in the United States without a separate doctor’s order, or with a doctor’s order included in the price.
• Pricing visible on the website.
• Testing doesn’t require having to travel to a different city for most people.
• After-test analysis and recommendations are provided.

The list is ordered alphabetically by company name.

1. InsideTracker

• Cost: $49-$589
• Number of aging biomarkers tracked: 7-43
• Sample/test type: Any Labcorp location, option for an at-home blood draw for an additional $96 
• Privacy and data security: https://www.insidetracker.com/policy-privacy/, https://www.insidetracker.com/product-consent/, https://www.insidetracker.com/research-consent/

If you’ve been following the life-extension space for a while you’ve probably heard of InsideTracker. That’s likely because famous Harvard researcher and longevity expert Dr. David Sinclair is a small-time investor and advisor in the company and uses them for his own personal blood work. In fact, I think he even mentions the company in Lifespan, his best-selling longevity book.

Founded in 2009, InsideTracker (incorporated as Segterra, Inc.) focuses on blood biomarkers and has a robust reporting and analysis dashboard for customers to track their numbers and compare them against optimal ranges. Recommendations around nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle round out the platform and include things like “take a psyllium supplement” and “add HIT workouts to your routine.” They even include 8,000 different recipes to help implement their diet suggestions.

Recommendations are also rigorously and transparently backed by peer-reviewed science, with links to research papers and explanations of the science behind each recommendation provided in the platform. And InsideTracker does its own science, with a 2018 paper published in Scientific Reports, a Nature imprint, that “shows the statistically significant improvements in biomarkers from initial (baseline) measurement to follow-up measurement, after recommended nutrition interventions were followed by participants.”

InsideTracker’s life extension blood tests are bundled into packages ranging from a DIY home kit measuring just seven biomarkers, to the “Ultimate” plan covering 43 biomarkers. Biomarkers for the Ultimate plan include at least 11 of the 20 mentioned in our best longevity biomarkers piece, plus markers for other minerals and vitamins, and a full blood panel. The “Essentials” package is a little more stingy, covering only 4-5 (depending on how you count them) of the biomarkers we discussed, but with a few additional ones like magnesium levels.

Other than the home kit (which is available internationally), InsideTracker plans include a blood test at any Labcorp location in the U.S. and Canada, with the option to pay an additional $96 for a mobile blood draw that comes straight to your home. And if you already have blood results from your doctor or another source, and just want the tailored recommendations, InsideTracker has a $49 option where you can upload your data and be able to track and get recommendations within their dashboard.

Their offerings are rounded out with a blood biomarker-based “InnerAge” biological age test that purports to measure your biological (as opposed to chronological) age similar to Morgan Levine’s phenotypic age calculator (though more expensive and with a proprietary algorithm they haven’t released yet).

2. Jinfiniti

• Cost: $598
• Number of aging biomarkers tracked: 13
• Sample/test type: Home blood collection test kit
• Privacy and data security: https://www.jinfiniti.com/documents/PP/

Founded in 2018, Jinfiniti, which recently raised $5 million to expand their longevity blood test with new biomarkers, offers only one blood test package currently. But, as opposed to other blood test companies that are more aimed at general health and wellness, Jinfiniti is laser-focused on longevity which makes their panel of high interest to spanners.

The Jinfiniti test, called “AgingSOS,” covers only 13 biomarkers—including five from our life-extension biomarkers list—but the additional ones they do cover are both, a) rarely covered by other blood tests and b) highly relevant to cutting-edge theories of aging.

For instance, they’re the only test I could find that measures NAD+ and NADH levels in your blood. While there’s some disagreement on the utility of this for life extension (cellular and tissue levels of NAD are ideally what you want to measure, not just blood levels) it’s nevertheless an interesting start at measuring some of the things the newest anti-aging research is telling us are important.

Other interesting biomarkers they test for include senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal)—an enzyme that catalyzes certain sugars only in senescent cells. SA-β-gal can thus serve as a biomarker for these types of “zombie” cells—and reactive oxygen metabolites (ROM) which are basically the damaging “oxidants” that “antioxidants” remove. They also plan to add new biomarkers specifically for aging and longevity including measures for AMPK, SIRT1, and mTOR.

The blood test itself is a home collection kit requiring two vials of blood which is then shipped back to Jinfiniti for analysis. Rather than using a third-party lab like Labcorp, Jinfiniti processes their tests in-house.

Jinfiniti also partners with third-party sellers like BioViva (whose product page for the test is a little more informative than Jinfiniti’s own).

3. Lab Test Analyzer by SelfDecode

• Cost: $97 annually or $297 lifetime (plus the cost of any third-party blood tests)
• Number of aging biomarkers tracked: 800+
• Sample/test type: Any other third party test
• Privacy and data security: https://www.labtestanalyzer.com/privacy

We’ve covered biohacker-founded SelfDecode’s offerings before, specifically their DNA genotyping test aimed at spanners and their 3rd party genetic analysis service as well. 

SelfDecode’s Lab Test Analyzer is a little different than the other blood analytics services on this list in that they don’t actually offer blood tests themselves. Instead, you can take the results of your blood tests from any other provider (including just your annual physical at your doctor’s) and upload them to the Lab Test Analyzer website to get more analysis and recommendations.

Rather than per-test pricing, Lab Test Analyzer charges an annual fee of $97 for unlimited access to their back-end and recommendations (or a one-time, lifetime fee of $297). This also gets you free access to SelfDecode’s DNA analysis dashboard, in case you’ve taken a DNA test like 23andMe and want to upload the raw data for even more genetic insight.

The biomarkers they analyze number more than 800, and include just about everything from our list of top aging biomarkers (and do cover everything if you include the free added SelfDecode DNA analysis).

Similar to InsideTracker’s research-backed recommendations, Lab Test Analyzer will give you suggestions for diet, lifestyle, and exercise changes based on your inputted lab data. The fact that Lab Test Analyzer doesn’t offer blood tests themselves also means, unlike most of the other blood test companies listed here, you don’t need to be in the United States to use them making them a nice option for our international readers.

4. Life Extension

• Cost: $35-$575
• Number of aging biomarkers tracked: 250+
• Sample/test type: Any Labcorp location
• Privacy and data security: https://www.lifeextension.com/legal/privacy-notice

Life Extension has been in the longevity space for almost as long as there’s been a longevity space, and they sell everything from vitamins and supplements, to food, skin creams, and blood tests.

And boy do they offer a ton of blood tests; over 250 by my count. You can choose individual tests a la carte for anywhere from $35 to $144 a test (with most looking like they’re in the $50 range), or go with one of their test packages, like the $299 Male Panel blood test (or the $575 “Elite” version) which includes at least 16 of the 20 aging biomarkers we covered two weeks ago (plus many additional markers like magnesium levels).

Life Extension, in fact, uses several of their aging panels to provide the blood tests for the Vitality in Aging Longitudinal Study.

The test process is similar to other online testing companies and requires a visit to your nearest Labcorp location where your blood is drawn and analyzed.

While Life Extension doesn’t have the extensive dashboard or back-end algorithmic recommendations that, say, InsideTracker does, they offer free consultations with their wellness specialists after the purchase of any blood test. So if you prefer speaking to a human being over trying to interpret graphs and charts yourself, this may be a good option.

5. WellnessFX

• Cost: $78-$925
• Number of aging biomarkers tracked: 25-87 depending on package
• Sample/test type: Any Quest Diagnostics location
• Privacy and data security: https://www.wellnessfx.com/privacy_policy

WellnessFX, a San Francisco-based affiliate of sports supplement company Thorne, has a similar setup to InsideTracker. Like InsideTracker, WellnessFX offers several defined packages of life extension blood tests, including ones for heart health, womens’ health, and a “performance” panel for athletes.

All-told their most comprehensive package—the $925 “Premium” panel—tests for 87 different biomarkers, including at least 15 of the markers from our top aging biomarkers list. They also partner with biohacker and podcaster Ben Greenfield to offer some longevity-tailored (though, at up-to $1,236, significantly more expensive) anti-aging panels and men’s and women’s longevity panels.

A partnership with lab giant Quest Diagnostics means you can find a nearby lab to get your blood drawn in most U.S. cities, and each of their eight test packages can have a phone consultation with a wellness specialist added on to it for $75.

A slick dashboard to track your results over time rounds out the WellnessFX offerings, as well as an iPhone app with reminders and habit-tracking. Additionally, if you already have blood test data from, say, your primary care physician, you can create a WellnessFX account and upload your data to their dashboard to track it for free.

Honorable mentions

A couple longevity blood testing companies didn’t quite meet all our criteria (usually because they don’t offer after-test analysis/recommendations, are too expensive, or only offer blood draws in one or two locations) but may still be of interest to you, so I’ve included them here.

• Thriva (looks like a solid option for UK-based spanners, but not available in the U.S.)
• QBio (requires the testing be performed at their San Francisco location)
• NEXT|HEALTH (requires testing be performed only at their NYC or LA locations)
• Health Nucleus (a little pricey at just under $20,000, and requires testing be done at their San Diego location)
• Grossman Wellness Center (requires testing be done at their Denver location)

Still want to DIY your own longevity blood tests?

If you’re not really interested in the analysis and recommendation value-adds from these companies (and let’s be honest, a lot of them boil down to: eat better, exercise more, sleep better) you can still DIY most of the life-extension blood tests they offer.

Savvy readers will have noted most of the longevity blood testing companies and services covered above send their samples to one of the two major lab companies for processing (LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics) and, guess what? You can get blood samples from your doctor sent to the exact same labs!

So a relatively basic “hack” to emulate the tests given by these companies is to look over their lists of what biomarkers they track, and simply order the same ones from your doctor or from a cheap DIY testing site like Walk-In-Lab, LetsGetChecked, EveryWell, Personalabs, or Lab Me.

This does mean you’ll miss out on their cool tracking dashboards (if they have them) and will have to build or find your own spreadsheet to track numbers over time but, depending on your health insurance, this could be a much cheaper option.

How are you currently tracking your health?

Got a cool longevity tracking spreadsheet or dashboard you recommend? Share it in the comments!

J.P.

I’m the co-founder of Longevity Advice and have been passionate about radical life extension ever since I was a teenager. Formerly I was a content marketing director in the B2B software space. I’m also a sci-fi novelist, wargame rules writer, and enthusiast for cooking things in bacon fat. My sister once called me “King of the Nerds” and it’s a title I’ve been trying to live up to ever since.