The U.S Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers about having their veins filled with the blood from young people to halt aging.
FDA Warns Against Blood Plasma Transfusions
In a statement released on Tuesday, the FDA warned that infusion of blood plasma from young donors into older individuals should not be assumed as effective or even safe.
Plasma is the liquid part of the blood that contains antibodies, clotting factors, and other important proteins. Plasma transfusion may be given to correct blood-clotting deficiencies in bleeding patients, but it is not green-lighted to treat other conditions.
Since the early 2000s, a growing number of startups charging thousands of dollars for the treatment has emerged. Many of these companies claim the transfusions can treat the effects of aging, memory loss, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis.
Amid the increasing popularity of this supposed anti-aging treatment, the FDA raised the red flag on the promotion and use of plasma from young donors for different health conditions because the treatment has not yet been scientifically proven effective.
The agency also said plasma infusions are also potentially dangerous because they are associated with allergic, infectious, respiratory and cardiovascular risks.
"Treatments using plasma from young donors have not gone through the rigorous testing that the FDA normally requires in order to confirm the therapeutic benefit of a product and to ensure its safety," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement..
"There is no proven clinical benefit of infusion of plasma from young donors to cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent these conditions, and there are risks associated with the use of any plasma product."
Young Blood Transfusion Company Ambrosia Halts Treatments
Ambrosia, the best known company providing infusions of blood plasma from younger donors, decided to stop treating patients following FDA's warning. The company has been charging between $8,000 and $12,000 to pump blood donated by 16- to 25-year-old donors into consumers age 35 and up.
Ambrosia's 34-year-old founder Jesse Karmazin said that recipients claimed feeling stronger and having improved memory following treatment.
