TeloYears is a “genetic age test’ that promises to give you the real age of your body by measuring your telomeres. Find out if it’s worth the price today in our TeloYears review.
What is TeloYears?
TeloYears is a genetic test you perform at home using your own blood. The test measures your telomere length, then gives you an actionable report that explains your cellular age.
TeloYears may sound like some kooky new age, online scam, but it’s a legitimate testing service. The company was created by the co-winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine. That company has developed a patented system for measuring telomeres. By measuring telomeres, you can discover what your DNA says about how well you’re aging.
With TeloYears, you order a kit, pick it up at your doorstep, then collect one drop of blood from your finger and mail it back to the company. The blood gets tested in a CLIA-certified lab, and then you get a report within weeks.
One of the most valuable parts of the report is the comparison of telomere length with people your own age. You can see how men and women in similar age groups are really aging compared to you.
Just like your “brain age”, your genetic age could be older or younger than your actual age. Some people have genuinely good genes that keep the cells in their body youthful as they age. Others have led damaging lifestyles that impact their age.
The goal of TeloYears isn’t to shame you by calling you older than you are: it’s to encourage you to make positive lifestyle changes. After your first TeloYears test, the company encourages you to re-measure yourself in 6 to 12 months to check your progress.
How Does TeloYears Work?
How can your genes give you information about your age? What do your genes really know about you? What are telomeres anyway?
Essentially, telomeres are the protective coating around our chromosomes, which are just bundles of DNA. Over time, these telomeres can degrade and shorten. This reduces the protective coating, which can make it more and more difficult for your cells to replicate.
When telomeres are doing their job, they keep the DNA in your chromosomes from coming apart during cellular division. This allows your genetic data to be accurately transcribed to the new cell. Cellular division is a crucial biological function, and there are billions of cellular divisions taking place in your body every day.
When telomeres become too short, they prevent the cells from replicating. At this point, the cell enters a state called “senescence”, which is basically just a fancy word for deterioration or aging.
What Makes Telomeres Age?
Telomeres degrade naturally over time with age. Whether you like it or not, your body is constantly getting older, and that means your telomeres are constantly shrinking.
However, certain activities can also increase telomere damage. Oxidative stress, inflammation, toxins, radiation, lifestyle choices, and environmental issues can all cause your telomeres to age and reach a senescent state more quickly.
How Does TeloYears Measure your Telomeres?
The TeloYears test is available to adults between ages 20 and 80 in the United States, except for the states of Maryland and New York.
How exactly does the TeloYears test work? The test specifically measures telomere shortening. The company claims you can use that information to indicate disease, infection, or environmental exposure. In general, it’s a measurement of the lifetime of your cell. It’s a way to track the “battery life” remaining in the cells in your body.
TeloYears measures telomere length using its “proprietary quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay”, a technology that uses DNA extracted from the white blood cells in your blood sample. The technology takes an average measurement of the telomere length across all of these cells, then gives you a report based on that information.
Your telomere length is listed as “ATL” on your report (which stands for average telomere length).
The use of white blood cells is important. White blood cells are more susceptible to stress, which means they provide a more accurate representation of your overall health.
After TeloYears has collected your ATL, it compares your ATL to the typical physical age of men and women who also have that ATL. Ideally, your ATL will be similar to the ATL of a younger person.
If you’ve undergone more than one test, then TeloYears will also display your progress over time. You’ll be able to see how you improved.
Ultimately, your test might say something like this:
“Based on your date of birth, you are 50 years old. Based on your telomere length, you are 35 TeloYears old”. The report also puts you in a percentile group. If you’re in the lowest percentile group, that means your telomeres are shorter than most in your age group. If you’re in the highest percentile group, it means your telomeres are longer than most in your age group.
Finally, after your report has been delivered, you’ll receive something called the Blueprint for Aging Well. This is a series of actionable steps you can take based on the results of your report.
Who Created the TeloYears Test?
TeloYears is a product created by Telomere Diagnostics, a Menlo Park, California-based company co-founded by Elizabeth Blackburn in 2010. Prior to founding the company, Blackburn was known for winning the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009 along with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak.
Although the company was founded in 2010, the TeloYears test wasn’t launched to the public until October 2016. That’s why only a small number of customer reviews can be found online so far.
TeloYears Pricing
TeloYears is cheaper than most genetic tests available online today. Of course, it’s also a different type of genetic test than others on the market.
TeloYears is priced at $89 USD.
You pay the fee, then receive the At-Home Sample Collection Kit in the mail. That kit includes a lancet (for drawing blood) as well as a blood collection strip, a yellow top transport tube, an alcohol wipe, a gauze pad, an adhesive bandage, and a prepaid mailing envelope. You get the kit, test your blood, then send a sample back to TeloYears.
TeloYears also offers a refund policy. If you haven’t shipped your TeloYears kit back to the company, then you’ll receive a full refund (minus $20 for shipping). To request a refund, contact the TeloYears customer support team at (844) 457-9944 or at [email protected].
Should You Take a TeloYears Test?
The technology behind TeloYears is certainly interesting. The technology measures the length of your telomeres, which are essentially the protective coatings that bundle up DNA in your cells. Longer telomeres mean lower physical age, and shorter telomeres mean older physical age.
The company behind TeloYears, Telomere Diagnostics, was co-founded by a Nobel Prize in Medicine-winning scientist. However, there’s some controversy over how effectively the company’s technology can be used to measure your age. The company also specifically warns that the test is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent diseases or medical conditions. Furthermore, the test has not been approved or cleared by the FDA.
Nevertheless, at $89, the TeloYears test can give you unique insight into your physical health. You can see how you stack up against others in your age group, and then get actionable information you can use to “lengthen” your telomeres over time.
After you’ve implemented certain lifestyle changes, the company behind TeloYears encourages you to check back in 6 or 12 months to re-measure yourself.
Ultimately, the TeloYears test is new (it just launched in October 2016), so there’s limited information online about the test so far – like customer reviews. Stay tuned for more information about the TeloYears test as we move forward.
The TeloYears test was interesting… I had positive results but I will try to be as objective as possible. The results said I had the telomeres of a 20 year old — and I am 33 yo. I definitely don’t look 20 (probably more around 30), so even if the results are accurate, clearly telomere length alone does not capture everything that goes into “aging”. I attribute my results to the fact I had already been taking all the steps they suggest in their excellent anti-aging guide (very informative and comprehensive resource btw) which they send along with the results. I would recommend this test if you are a health nerd, but it’s not going to change your life unless you are totally clueless about health and nutrition. If you are worried about your telomeres, it seems the simplest advice is to make sure you are eating your vegetables and getting plenty of deep sleep. If you want more suggestions than this, get the test so you can get their guidebook.
I tried to post my review to their site after I got my test results and the company refused to post it because it wasn’t “positive” enough. Here’s the actual review:
I was really looking forward to this test. Sent in my blood sample and the first issue was the major delay in getting the results back. It was probably closer to two months which is unacceptable. The company claims it’s because of all the orders they’ve gotten. Let me just state first that I’ve never done drugs… I’ve never smoked… I drink maybe 3x a year… take supplements daily… work out 3-4 times a week… and eat pretty well. I can trace my ancestors back to the 1200’s where a majority of them lived into their 70’s which was a very long life back then! I get my results and it says I have the DNA of a man 18 years older than I am. What a crock of s*$!#. I had a physical a week later and told my doctor about it and he said not to put much weight into it. This test proved NOTHING. Save your money.