Could plasma exchange therapy help you live longer?
UC expert offers insight on trendy anti-aging treatment
A person's blood can accumulate potentially damaging particles that may be flushed out. Some anti-aging influencers, along with a handful of scientists, believe exchanging the plasma in a person's blood can help slow biological aging.
One of the first trials examining plasma exchange for anti-aging in humans was published recently in the journal Aging Cell, offering early evidence that it may be able to slow the biological breakdown that comes with age, even in otherwise healthy people. Caroline Alquist, MD, PhD, interim co-director of the Hoxworth Blood Center at the University of Cincinnati, offered her take on the study to The New York Times.
Plasma exchange is a well-established treatment for certain blood disorders, autoimmune diseases and neurological conditions, and it’s typically covered by insurance when deemed medically necessary. It is not covered for anti-aging purposes.
The small study of 42 participants, with an average age of 65, found those who had plasma exchange therapy during the course of a few months had lower concentrations in their blood of the biological compounds that accumulate with age, compared with a control group. The trial was sponsored by Circulate Health, a plasma exchange startup.
Still, many other scientists who study plasma exchange are skeptical. Its anti-aging benefits for healthy people have not been proven in large clinical trials, and drawing blood and replacing plasma with added fluids could put patients at risk for unnecessary medical complications without a clear payoff.
Most of the research into the anti-aging benefits of plasma exchange has been done on animals, so the findings don’t necessarily carry over to humans, said UC's Alquist. Also, until now, the research in humans has focused on patients who already have an age-related disease.
Read the open questions from this latest study as reported in The New York Times.
Featured image at top: iStock/Bet_Noire.
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.