I had a chance to attend the 7th Biohacking Conference organized by Dave Asprey and Upgrade Labs.
It was held on Sep 17-19 in Orlando, Florida, and it was the first in-person conference after COVID started in March 2020.
Here are my several takeaways out of this conference
1. The primary focus of the conference is to help people learn more about current trends and technologies to live a healthy and productive life. Basically, how to help healthy people to become healthier and/or live longer
2. The audience is health enthusiasts across the US including health coaches, medical professionals, and others
3. It's definitely Dave Asprey’s show - he was the host of the conference and the moderator of all keynote discussions, and his pictures are on posters of many products in Tech Hall and Tech Play area
· By the way, Dave Asprey is not with "Bulletproof" anymore. He said that "he was locked out from the office"
· Now Dave focuses on Upgrade Labs and works with many other companies
· So, we drank "Upgrade Coffee" at the conference, not "Bulletproof Coffee"
4. I would not say that the discussions at the conference were super new to me. They were more like good summaries of different known topics, see some pictures from the agenda. And the assumption was that we all follow a healthy lifestyle and this conference is to talk about something more advanced
5. The most interesting discussion for me was on the current state of stem cell therapy area, also known as regenerative medicine, from Dr. Harry Adelson. Here are key points on the stem therapy practices in the US
· The therapy by stem cells from another person (allogeneic stem cell transplant) is completely shut down in the US
· The therapy by stem cells from your own placenta (if you have it saved) is allowed only in special situations, the storage banks will release your material only under special conditions
· And the only stem cell therapy that is not banned, but it goes through multiple rounds of court hearings is from your own bone marrow and adipose tissue
· Its price is around $60K and it takes about a week for proper preparation, the therapy itself, and then recovery
· The effect of such stem cell therapy kicks in after about 2 months
· The recommended frequency of such therapy is about every 5 years
· On the main question on how the stem cell therapy impacts growth cancer cells, the answer was quite simple and straightforward - "we don't know yet"
6. The most memorable presenter is Cat Hoke, she is a social entrepreneur and helps former prisoners adapt to their post-prison life
· Here is depressing statistics - 69% of people who left prison get back to prison within 3 years (and 84% within 9 years)
· Cat's programs improve the situation fundamentally - only 15% of people in Cat’s programs end up in prison after 3 years
· And Covid had a hugely detrimental impact on the lives of people in prison in terms of services and security
7. I spent quite some time in the Tech Hall and Tech Play area to see what different companies offer in the area of health improvements. This is the list of companies I remember (I might miss some interesting companies)
1. Supplements - this is the biggest category by far that includes several subcategories
- Minerals and vitamins - TruKava, Beam Minerals, and many others
- Detox - CytoDetox, Biocharged, Homebiotic, Nubocha
- Performance - Nootopia, Hydrotab, Global Healing, Tru Niagen, Mitopure
- CBD products - Joy Organics
- Honey with various additives
2. EMF radiation blocking (this topic got a good share of time at the conference) - DefenderShield
3. Frequency modulation - Hapbee, BrainTap, Pulse Centers, Inspired Performance Institute, WaviMed, Neuvana
4. Oxygen and hyperbaric therapy - Live O2, OxyHealth, Eng3, International Hyperbarics Association
5. Infrared light therapy and sauna company - Clearlight, Biocharger
6. Cryotherapy - CRYO-Science
7. Home gym or recovery companies - Kayezen, Arxfit, Perfomance Health Systems, Carol, Vasper, Rapid Release Tech
8. Mattress companies - Chilisleep, Essentia
9. Lymphatic system cleansing products - Balancer
10. Testing - The DNA Company, Cellular Health Spectrum, Ebien, Keto-Mojo, Inbody
11. Intravenous therapy - HealthGains
12. Shoes - Xero shoes
13. Hair restoration/ improvement - Bauman Medical, Hair Science System
14. Meditation/ brain optimization retreat - 40 years of Zen
15. Others (I couldn't figure out what they are doing) - ARK, Comosystems, Leela Quantum Tech
8. Each company claims great health benefits from their products, though additional evidence will help get convinced in the value of their products
- For example, let's take EMF (electromagnetic field). The argument is following: the level of EMF is growing -> it might have a negative effect on your body -> so it might be a good idea to protect yourself from EMF -> buy our product to get that protection
- The logic is clear, but I don't see enough evidence to be fully convinced. Though we have a ton of situations in history when it took a lo-o-ong time to prove that some things are really detrimental to our health
9. In general, the monetization of a healthy lifestyle is tough - it's tough to monetize recommendations to follow a healthy diet, exercise, have solid sleep, stay positive, and have a purpose in life. Actually, it's a good thing that we don't really need money to live a healthy life!
I hope it helps! If you attended this conference, please add your thoughts. Stay strong, stay healthy, my friends!
