Ingmar P. Brunken is an entrepreneur, author and in his late fifties. He wanted to find out whether cutting-edge medicine could achieve real and verifiable rejuvenation with the bioAge test, even for ordinary people without special status, over and above a healthy lifestyle.
What’s really behind the anti-ageing hype?
Accompanied by sport and a healthy diet, he has achieved an epigenetically measured rejuvenation of around 8 years within a short period of time – almost 3 years of which was achieved through a new, regenerative treatment that helps to renew the thymus gland, which is degenerated in all people as they age. This makes him probably the first “thymonaut” in Germany, alongside several dozen study participants who were also treated as part of the US “TRIIM/X” study.
The treatment is considered epoch-making and is the harbinger of revolutionary medicine, as it was the first time that the effects of ageing in humans were not only slowed down, but measurably reversed. This was the starting signal for genuine “rejuvenation medicine”.
Ingmar P. Brunken, Germany’s leading anti-ageing physician and President of the German Society of Anti-Ageing Medicine (GSAAM) e.V., has co-authored the recently published book “Verjüngung! – Der Selbstversuch” ( Rejuvenation! The self-experiment), in which he shares his experiences and the current possibilities of anti-ageing treatments. In our interview, we ask Ingmar P. Brunken about his experiences and tips for other people who want a similar rejuvenation for themselves and are interested in the latest treatment options available to everyone.
A self-experiment in the world of anti-ageing
Ingmar, could you give us an overview of your journey into the world of anti-ageing? What originally inspired you to follow this path?
“There were three major experiences in my life that brought me to the topic of anti-ageing: Firstly, my father’s untimely death, which doctors said could have been avoided if he had changed his lifestyle early to combat his obesity and high blood pressure. A few years later, I was also overweight and had high blood pressure. The parallels were a shock to me. I gave myself a jolt and have been paying attention to my diet and exercising a lot ever since.
Secondly, my wife and I had twins when I was already over 50. I want to be able to experience and accompany my children for a long time to come. That’s why I read health guides and realized that, in addition to sport and nutrition, many serious study results prove that certain treatments can have measurable health and life-extending effects.
However, the third experience was the report on the new possibilities of biological (or “epigenetic”) age measurement. I suddenly realized that it was possible to replace belief in the benefits of treatment with knowledge. I wanted to do the same for myself and then decided to look specifically for effective and medically sound anti-ageing treatments.”
Methods and successes: How Ingmar became 8 years younger biologically
What were your main goals when you decided to focus on rejuvenation? Were there specific aspects of your health or lifestyle that you wanted to improve?
“When I started, my goal was to lose the excess weight and lower my blood pressure. That was around 2017, the year in which my best and oldest friend died – at the age of 54. After just a few months, I had an important sense of achievement: I was back to a normal weight and had regained normal blood pressure – completely without medication. A great success! But when the reports on epigenetic age tests and the success of the TRIIM study were published, I was electrified. I now wanted to know how old I was biologically and wanted to improve this even further if possible.
My main goal is to live life to the full for as long as possible. Heaven is a kind of cloud cuckoo land for me. I am happy on our earth and I want to hold on to that for as long as possible!”
What different methods and approaches have you tried in the course of your rejuvenation experiments? Which have proven to be the most effective?
“As I said, I started with a healthy diet and exercise. I would always recommend the same. By the way, there’s no need for dogmatism. I also eat meat, drink alcohol moderately and go jogging for 45 minutes every other day. So by no means asceticism! But the effect was enormous! That’s what all the experts and studies say: You don’t have to become a competitive athlete or vegan to effectively become healthier. I have learned that there are also many false myths. For example, vegetarians or vegans don’t live longer than meat eaters. They are less likely to have certain diseases, but meat eaters are less likely to have other diseases. In the life balance, this is proven to cancel each other out: Life expectancy is the same in the groups in question.
The WHO’s BMI corridor has also been medically refuted, as it propagates much too low weights as “healthy”. Incidentally, I think it’s a scandal that the World Health Organization sometimes recommends body weights that are demonstrably unhealthy and that many people unknowingly adhere to them. The good news is that the healthy weight corridor is higher than recommended by the WHO, so people who are supposedly overweight are often of normal weight. Unfortunately, we can no longer change our body size.
And only then did I specifically look for effective rejuvenation treatments that are also scientifically proven. And I found some amazing results. It would go beyond the scope of this interview to list them all, but I have written them all down in detail together with my co-author Prof. Dr. med. Bernd Kleine-Gunk in our book “Rejuvenation – the self-experiment“ for anyone interested.
However, the aforementioned TRIIM study, which was able to demonstrate an effect logic for epigenetically measured rejuvenation and is thus one of the first regenerative anti-ageing treatments, should perhaps be emphasized.”
How important was it to you that the treatments and tests you chose were scientifically sound? How did you find out about the latest research findings?
“That was essential for me. I’m not a medical doctor, I’m an economist, but I’m also a scientist. For example, I have massive problems with the idea that preparations work beyond the placebo effect, which no longer contain any active ingredients at all, as some naturopaths do with the highly potent globules. As I don’t believe in this, I unfortunately don’t even experience a placebo effect, which studies have shown can bring about an improvement of around 10%. Scientists like me are at a disadvantage compared to those who believe in this type of naturopathy.
Incidentally, it is important for me to say that I consider naturopathy to be important and right in itself, for example in the field of medicinal herbs. The effect is also very well scientifically proven.
At first, my sources of information were popular science books, such as the famous book by David Sinclair. But then I increasingly researched the original studies, because the books often presented things too superficially or too euphemistically. I wanted to find out more about the side effects, or to check the statements in a book for myself. This has almost turned me into a kind of “study nerd”. Doctors often don’t have the time in their everyday lives to read through all this. I took the time because, after all, it was also about my own body.
And I have noticed: Once you have read the first 10 studies with great effort and understood them halfway with days of additional research, the following studies are much easier and quicker to read. The basic knowledge is then simply there. I also enjoyed learning and understanding, for example, what the citrate cycle is and how it is involved in ageing, that mitochondria have their own DNA – which is why there are now even children with three parents – and how many different reasons there are for us to age. Fortunately, all scientific publications are available on the internet these days, very often even free of charge.”
Challenges and insights: What Ingmar learned on his journey
What challenges have you encountered along the way? Were there certain hurdles that were more difficult to overcome than others?
“So I found the biggest challenge was finding an experienced doctor who suited me. I found that there are very big differences. I started with my GP at the time, who responded to my question about “anti-ageing treatments” with the offer that I should tell him what I wanted to “throw in”, if he could justify it, he would prescribe it for me. Other doctors were more on the globule trip, which was not my way, as I said before. Still other doctors wanted to talk me into creams or cosmetic treatments, but I wasn’t interested in appearance.
But after a few months, I found a doctor who was really empathetic, critical and yet constructive about my treatment wishes. Once I had overcome this hurdle, it became much easier and almost routine. Even friends and relatives were “infected” and started to take anti-ageing measures for their lives.
Another challenge is certainly the money. Unfortunately, anti-ageing treatments are still not covered by health insurance. You have to pay for it yourself. Depending on the treatment, it can be expensive and not everyone can afford it. In my opinion, something needs to change in the healthcare system because it is ultimately much cheaper to prevent illnesses than to treat them later. Vaccination is a good example of this, as it is usually paid for.
But the good news is that even if you don’t have a lot of money to spare, there are countless effective ways to take effective anti-ageing measures: Exercise and a healthy diet cost no more than an unhealthy diet – if anything, less – and many useful and effective supplements can be had for just a few euros.”
How have you adapted your lifestyle to support your rejuvenation goals? What role did diet, exercise and stress management play in your program?
“A very big role. I am convinced that you have to start with that. If you live an unhealthy lifestyle, e.g. you smoke, eat too much sweets, are overweight or don’t exercise, you don’t even need to start with other treatments. If you are sitting in the sauna and want to cool down, you should leave the sauna instead of eating an ice cream in the sauna.
In my case, for example, the lifestyle change has already led to me being biologically 5 years younger than my chronological age, measured epigenetically.
Stress management is certainly also useful if you are affected by stress. Speaking of saunas: I love going to the sauna with the sound of the sea, for example. It’s relaxing, and it’s also been proven that regular sauna sessions have an anti-ageing effect – sauna users have been shown to live longer than non-sauna users.
You just have to realize that lifestyle change doesn’t mean going on a diet, losing weight and then going back to the way you were before. Lifestyle change is for good. If you’re not ready for it, you don’t even need to start. And then there is no yo-yo effect. But the good news is that there is a pleasurable way!
Anyone who tries it for themselves will realize this: If you don’t eat anything for a while – for example during intermittent fasting – you will suddenly have a heightened sense of smell and taste and then really celebrate the pleasure. Anyone who has always drunk coffee with milk or sugar and then switches to black, healthier coffee will suddenly love the new taste after a transition week with sugar withdrawal symptoms – the coffee tastes subjectively too bitter for a while – and realize that he or she perceives the coffee aroma much better than before.
If you have drunk too much wine and switch to less, you can afford a more expensive bottle and realize what a leap in quality it can be. And if you do sport and then drink a homemade mint lemonade (mineral water with sprigs of mint in it), you suddenly realize how wonderful it tastes. So much so that I look forward to the mint lemonade afterwards even before I do sport. These are little islands of pleasure that I didn’t have before and that enrich my life in addition to improving my health. So: my anti-ageing lifestyle means even more pleasure for me than before, not less!”
How did you measure and monitor your progress? Which tools or technologies were particularly helpful?
“At the very beginning, you can use scoring tests to help you. You answer a series of questions, get a certain number of points for the answers and, in the evaluation, a rough corridor of what this means for your life expectancy in years. Such a free test is available, for example, in the book “15 Jahre länger leben” by my co-author Bernd Kleine-Gunk. Although these tests are imprecise, they offer a medically sound, initial orientation about your own lifestyle and also about the effects of a change.
If you want to know more precisely, I recommend an epigenetic age test, and in this case the blood test and not the saliva test, because the blood test has been proven to be more accurate.
It is also advisable to have a blood count done at least twice a year and to monitor the development of the most important indicators. Zinc and selenium are particularly important, as are Q10 and omega-3 fatty acids. Anyone who is deficient here should take supplements. Without a blood test to check, it is impossible to know whether and where you have a deficiency or even an oversupply.
A tip on this: Very few people know that sunflower oil is extremely unhealthy due to its high omega-6 content, whereas the opposite is true of rapeseed oil, which has a very high proportion of healthy, anti-inflammatory omega-3. It is therefore easy to avoid sunflower oil and prefer rapeseed oil, regardless of price. It is well documented that an omega-6:omega-3 ratio of less than 5:1 promotes health in old age and a long life span. This can even be quantified by years in the relevant studies. And for the connoisseur, it should be added that there is a particularly aromatic and nutty-intensive tasting rapeseed oil, which for me was a new discovery for salads.”
How has this journey affected your mental and emotional health? Are there any mental or emotional changes you have noticed since starting your rejuvenation journey?
“I’ve always been a positive and happy person, but the signs of ageing and declining health in my then unhealthy lifestyle have already shaken that. Since I’ve not only got fit again, but have even become measurably younger, I feel much more energetic. Many friends have asked me how I was able to write a book “on the side” with 3 children in the house, some of them small, and as an entrepreneur with a hard working day. Of course, first and foremost I had my wife at my side, who supported me enormously. But my mental and physical strength from my rejuvenation treatment probably also contributed to the fact that I was able to manage this without too much stress. Incidentally, the next 2 books are already in the works.”
How do you see the social and ethical implications of anti-ageing medicine? Do you think there should be limits to how far we can go to reverse ageing?
“That’s a great question! I very often notice that anti-ageing issues are viewed and rejected in a very morally reprehensible way in terms of money or their significance for our pension system or the fear of overpopulation. This has nothing at all to do with whether humans are starting to play God and manipulate genes, for example, as is the intention of stem cell research.
Many opportunities are squandered due to misconceptions. First of all, it is legitimate to want to live a long and healthy life, isn’t it?
And then it is not only legitimate but also socially sensible for us to stay healthy longer than before and thus reduce the costs of treating illnesses.
The only consequence of this is that we will probably die later. This in turn increases costs, for example in the pension system. But these are solvable challenges. I am an economic expert and have seen models and calculated some scenarios myself that make this possible without increasing the burden on society – on the contrary! It may mean longer working lives, but if you are healthy and live longer, it’s fun! There are also many healthy older people who enjoy doing a lot of voluntary work and thus enrich our society. This could increase significantly if older people stay healthy for longer.
Then we come to the ethical questions of whether we are allowed to manipulate genetic material. Firstly, we have been doing this in plants and animals for a long time, and also in humans, for example when we cure a leukemia patient with stem cell therapy, or intervene in epigenetics with mRNA vaccination and reprogram cells so that they can form defense cells against new viruses. Nobody has anything against that either. This is also not against “God’s will”, because the shrewd philosopher will immediately object that a world-creating God would then logically have also created our brain, with which these treatments were invented, so it must therefore even be God’s will to use this organ called the brain, just as hands can be used to make fire.
In my view, it always becomes problematic when third parties are harmed as a result. Using other people as “spare parts stores”, for example, is by no means tolerable. This must remain absolutely forbidden, as otherwise suffering would arise and the bad reputation would also affect good and sensible, morally decent treatments.”
What are your future plans for your health and longevity? Are there any new technologies or treatments you would consider?
“There are some exciting new studies, but I’m waiting to see the results before I decide to start treatment again. After all, I’ve now gained a few years to wait and see…
In addition to the TRIIM follow-up study called TRIIM-X, the ongoing metformin studies – e.g. TAME – and an ongoing study led by heart researcher Thomas Thum from the MHH Hannover are also worth mentioning. Ongoing mRNA studies also offer great hope.
Everything is now moving in the direction of regenerative treatments, i.e. not just stopping the effects of ageing, but reversing them, keyword “reverse ageing”.
I am convinced that we will see great quantum leaps in the next 10 years in terms of life expectancy and health in old age.
Exciting times!”
A look into the future: anti-ageing potential and personal recommendations
What would you recommend to people who are also interested in extending their lifespan and improving their quality of life? Are there any specific resources or tips you would like to share?
“There are three main tips: Firstly, an enjoyable, healthy lifestyle comes before anti-ageing treatment, or is always the first part of it. Secondly, everyone should inform themselves well through books and guides, but also through an open-minded doctor who can provide medical support for any treatment. And thirdly: have epigenetic age measurement carried out to measure success, if it is feasible within the budget. After all, there is no better motivation than being able to see the results in black and white – in my case, it has resulted in 8 years of rejuvenation. Yesterday I turned 59 chronologically and celebrated my 51st biological birthday. That was fun!”
We would be delighted if you can gain valuable insights for your personal journey to longevity from this interview! Many thanks to Mr. Ingmar P. Brunken for the time he made available for this interview.
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