I signed up to the program yesterday afternoon and had my blood test at 9.30am this morning, at a clinic that’s very close to my house. I obviously can’t comment fully on the programme yet having not got my results, but I’m really impressed so far with the app and service - in particular how intuitive the chat support feature is and how quickly it adapts to your specific situation.
I actually follow the Instagram account that others are highlighting as evidence that this is a scam, and whilst I appreciate what she’s trying to do it’s not the first time that I’ve disagreed with her opinion on something and often find that her videos lack nuance. (I’m a clinical biomedical science with 20 years of experience so I’m capable of assessing the literature and coming to my own conclusions, based on my individual priorities). What annoyed me most about her post was that she’s suggesting that this is £250 for just one blood test, which is not accurate as in addition to the baseline measurements there’s re-testing at 4 and 8 months to see whether the lifestyle factors that you’ve implemented have had an affect. I can understand that the biological age number itself shouldn’t be something that you focus on exclusively, but there is evidence that this is a useful clinical indicator if you’re looking to monitor changes over time - rather than just focusing on one snapshot, or getting too focused on anything younger/older than your chronological age being objectively good/bad as an overall marker of health. And this isn’t pushed as the main factor in the Do Health information, it’s just an additional metric they offer.
They are measuring a range of biomarkers that give an indication of specific aspects of your health, and which research has shown that you can improve with lifestyle interventions. Anyone saying you could get these tests from the GP has more luck that me as mine won’t test for anything unless they have a very specific reason to. So for me this offers great value compared to getting the testing done by Thriva etc, and allows me to take a preventive approach to assessing my current health before things potentially escalate.
And to those who say that you could just research the lifestyle interventions and implement them yourself regardless of the blood results, I agree that this is true. The programme doesn’t hide the fact that the advice and app are build on what Rangan has learnt through researching and compiling his books. But this doesn’t take into account the intention/action gap and the reality that many of us (myself included) really struggle to consistently implement good habits without support. So this is about more than just the knowledge itself, it’s about helping people make real lasting changes.
I appreciate that it’s not the right choice for everyone, and certainly wouldn’t try to convince anyone that they should sign up if they don’t think they would benefit. But I don’t think it’s fair to brand this as a scam and suggest it’s of no benefit to anyone, or to assume that his intentions in setting up the company were purely financial - as a well known doctor in the public eye there are many ways he could have more easily made money than this!