Can We Reverse Aging?

The longer answer

Human studies have now recorded biological age going down, telomeres growing back, and worn-out immune cells shifting to a younger profile. Other studies show aging slowing down while the placebo group kept aging. Eight of the compounds in TimeWarp Protocol 01 have human data on reversing or slowing aging, and nine more have supporting or early evidence. This article walks through each one, with the doses and results, so you can see the evidence for yourself.

First, a distinction that makes the rest of this make sense.

You have two ages. Your calendar age counts birthdays. Your biological age measures how your body is actually holding up, cell by cell. Two people born the same year can be a decade apart biologically. And unlike your birthday, biological age can move in both directions.

That is what “reversing aging” means in science today. Not turning 60 into 30. Moving your biological age below your calendar age, and keeping it there. Slowing aging means the same thing from the other side: adding fewer biological years than calendar years. Over time, both widen the gap between the age on your ID and the age of your cells.

How scientists measure biological age

A decade ago, none of this was testable in people. Now it is. Researchers use a few main tools, and every study below uses at least one.

Epigenetic clocks. As you age, chemical tags called methyl groups build up on your DNA in predictable patterns. First-generation clocks such as Horvath and Hannum read those patterns and return a biological age in years. Second-generation clocks such as PhenoAge and GrimAge go further: they were trained to predict disease and lifespan, so a lower score means lower risk, not just a younger number.

Pace of aging. DunedinPACE measures how fast you are aging right now. A pace of 1.0 means one biological year per calendar year. Below 1.0 means you are aging slower than the calendar.

Telomeres. These are the protective caps on the ends of your chromosomes. They shorten as you age. Longer telomeres, or slower shortening, is one of the oldest markers of slower aging.

Blood-marker clocks. These estimate biological age from standard lab values like glucose, cholesterol and red blood cell counts.

Hallmark markers. Some trials measure one of the twelve Hallmarks of Aging directly, such as how well your mitochondria renew themselves or how young your immune cells look.

Part 1: Compounds that reversed aging markers

These studies recorded a marker of aging moving backward: biological age falling, telomeres lengthening, or aged cells taking on a younger profile.

Calcium alpha-ketoglutarate: biological age down 8 years

Eight years younger on the clock. AKG is a molecule your cells use to make energy and to regulate the enzymes that write and erase the chemical tags on your DNA. Your levels decline with age. In a 2021 study published in Aging, 42 adults took a Ca-AKG formulation for an average of 7 months. Their DNA methylation age fell by an average of 8 years. A 120-person placebo-controlled trial at 1 gram a day is now running in Singapore to build on that result. Protocol 01 delivers 1,000 mg of Ca-AKG every day.

Vitamin D3: epigenetic age down almost 2 years in 16 weeks

Almost two years, in sixteen weeks. In a randomized trial of 51 adults with low vitamin D, participants took 600, 2,000 or 4,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily, or a placebo, for 16 weeks. At 2,000 IU, epigenetic age on the Hannum clock fell 1.9 years compared with placebo. At 4,000 IU, the Horvath clock fell 1.85 years. Protocol 01 delivers 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily, the same amount that moved the Hannum clock.

Cycloastragenol: telomeres that grew

Telomeres that grew back. Cycloastragenol, from the astragalus root, activates telomerase, the enzyme that rebuilds telomeres. In a one-year randomized trial, 117 adults aged 53 to 87 took a cycloastragenol-based supplement or a placebo. The low-dose group gained about 530 base pairs of telomere length. The placebo group lost about 290. Protocol 01 delivers 10 mg of cycloastragenol daily.

Urolithin A: a younger immune system and stronger muscles

A younger immune profile in 28 days. Urolithin A, the compound behind Mitopure, helps your cells clear out worn mitochondria and replace them with new ones. In a 2025 randomized trial in Nature Aging, 50 adults aged 45 to 70 took 1,000 mg daily or a placebo for 28 days. The urolithin A group gained more naive CD8+ T cells, the fresh immune cells that fade with age, and showed fewer signs of immune exhaustion. The research team described it as reversing key signs of immune aging. In an earlier four-month trial of 88 middle-aged adults, 500 mg a day raised leg muscle strength by about 12%, the largest gain of any dose tested. Protocol 01 delivers 500 mg of urolithin A daily, the same amount.

Spermidine: fewer signs of aging in immune cells

Aging markers down in adults over 65. Spermidine switches on autophagy, the cell’s recycling system, which slows with age. In a 2026 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial from the University of Oxford, 40 adults over 65 took 6 mg of spermidine daily or a placebo. Spermidine switched on autophagy in B cells and reduced markers of immune cell senescence, including p16, p21 and DNA damage. The effect was strongest in the people whose immune cells showed the most signs of aging. Protocol 01 delivers 10 mg of spermidine daily.

Folate and B12: an early epigenetic signal

An early signal, in the active forms. In a two-year randomized trial, older adults took 400 mcg of folic acid and 500 mcg of vitamin B12 daily. A later analysis found their epigenetic age fell in women with the common MTHFR 677CC genotype. Protocol 01 includes both vitamins in their active methylated forms, 5-MTHF and methylcobalamin, which your body can use without the MTHFR conversion step. It also includes vitamin B6, the third vitamin in the same methylation system.

Part 2: Compounds that slowed aging

These studies recorded aging moving slower than it did for people on a placebo. Slowing aging is just as valuable as reversing it. Every year your cells age less than the calendar is a year of healthspan you keep.

NMN: biological age held while placebo aged

Held steady while placebo aged. NMN is the direct building block of NAD, a molecule every cell needs to make energy and repair DNA. NAD declines with age. In a 2023 randomized trial in GeroScience, 80 healthy adults aged 40 to 65 took 300, 600 or 900 mg of NMN or a placebo for 60 days. Blood biological age rose significantly in the placebo group and held steady in every NMN group. The NMN groups also walked farther in a six-minute walking test. Protocol 01 delivers 350 mg of NMN daily.

Vitamin D3: three years of telomere protection

Three years of telomere protection. The VITAL telomere study, published in 2025, followed 1,031 adults over 50 for four years. Those taking 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily lost 140 fewer base pairs of telomere length than the placebo group. The researchers equate that to about three years of typical aging. A separate seven-year study of 1,036 older adults in Berlin points the same way: those who were low in vitamin D and started supplementing had an epigenetic age 2.6 years lower than those who stayed low. That makes vitamin D the only compound on this list with reversal and slowdown data from randomized trials, plus long-term population data.

Vitamin D3 and exercise: aging slowed on a next-generation clock

Compounds and habits stack. In the DO-HEALTH trial, 777 adults over 70 took 2,000 IU of vitamin D, omega-3, a simple home exercise program, or combinations of the three for three years. Together, they slowed the PhenoAge clock more than any one alone. Compounds and habits stack.

Amounts in Protocol 01 are based on clinical and research-level dosing.

Part 3: Where the research is heading

Four more ingredients in Protocol 01 are among the most studied compounds in longevity science. Their strongest aging results so far come from lab and animal research, with human trials underway.

Fisetin and isoquercetin: the senolytic pair. Senolytics clear senescent cells, the “zombie cells” that stop dividing but keep releasing inflammation. Quercetin was one of the first senolytics ever identified, and it is still used in the leading human senolytic trials. When researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Scripps then screened 10 plant compounds, fisetin was the most potent. Given to old mice late in life, it extended both average and maximum lifespan. The two target senescent cells in different ways, so Protocol 01’s monthly Senolytic Cleanse pairs 300 mg of liposomal fisetin with 150 mg of isoquercetin, a form of quercetin your body absorbs more easily. The Cleanse runs two days a month, the same short “hit-and-run” pattern researchers use, because senescent cells take weeks to build back up.

Sulforaphane (from glucoraphanin and myrosinase). The compound that makes broccoli sprouts famous switches on Nrf2, your cells’ master defense against oxidative stress. In a 2025 study, it extended lifespan by more than 50% in roundworms and slowed their biological aging clock by about 20%. Protocol 01 pairs glucoraphanin with myrosinase, the enzyme your body needs to turn it into active sulforaphane.

Pterostilbene. Pterostilbene is the close cousin of resveratrol, the most famous longevity compound of the last 20 years. It works on the same longevity pathways, with a small structural change that helps it stay in the body longer. In our screen of 240 compounds, it took resveratrol’s place. Protocol 01 delivers 50 mg daily.

Part 4: Programs and stacks measured with the clocks

Single-compound trials are the cleanest evidence. But the most striking results with epigenetic clocks have come from programs that combine several of the ingredients in Protocol 01 at once. These studies cannot tell you which ingredient did the work. They can tell you that stacking works.

The Methylation Diet and Lifestyle trial. In a 2021 randomized trial, 43 men aged 50 to 72 followed an eight-week program built around foods rich in “methylation adaptogens,” including turmeric (curcumin), green tea (EGCG), rosemary and garlic, plus sleep, exercise and stress guidance. Their Horvath epigenetic age fell 3.23 years compared with the control group. Their blood levels of 5-MTHF, the active folate in Protocol 01, rose 15%. Protocol 01 delivers liposomal curcumin and liposomal EGCG daily, in forms built for absorption.

A vitamin C and vitamin D stack in faster agers. In a 2024 study of 80 adults with an average age of 72, a seven-ingredient supplement including vitamin C and vitamin D lowered epigenetic age after 12 weeks in the people who needed it most: those whose epigenetic age was already two or more years ahead of their calendar age.

A 20-ingredient stack over one year. A 2025 study followed 51 adults aged 54 to 84 for a year on a three-part supplement that shares nine ingredients with Protocol 01: NMN, pterostilbene, fisetin, apigenin, EGCG, vitamin D, folate, B12 and vitamin C. It also used berberine and astragalus extract, the parent compounds of the dihydroberberine and cycloastragenol in Protocol 01. Biological age on the Horvath clock fell over the 12 months, grip strength and chair-stand scores improved, and the rate of stem cell division slowed. Results on other clocks were mixed, which is why we designed Protocol 01 around the compounds with the strongest individual evidence rather than the longest ingredient list.

Magnesium and telomeres. In a study of 4,039 American adults over 45, higher magnesium intake was linked to longer telomeres, with the top third of intake showing the longest. Protocol 01 delivers 200 mg of magnesium bisglycinate, a well-absorbed form that is gentle on the stomach.

Why one compound was never going to be enough

Each study above targets one piece of the aging process. That is by design. Trials work by isolating a single variable. But aging is not a single variable.

Scientists describe twelve Hallmarks of Aging: twelve processes that break down at once and feed each other. Shortening telomeres. Drifting epigenetic marks. Tired mitochondria. Senescent cells. Chronic inflammation. Damage in one hallmark speeds up damage in the next.

A compound that lengthens telomeres helps one hallmark. A compound that renews mitochondria helps another. Taking one of them is like fixing one leak in a house with twelve.

That is the problem Protocol 01 was built to solve. We screened 240 longevity compounds against the biology of aging, ranked each one on its human evidence, and kept 25. Together they reach all twelve hallmarks. Fourteen of the 25 have randomized human trials behind them, and every dose and evidence grade is published on our Protocol 01 page.

Engineered by scientists and engineers from MIT, Stanford, Harvard, UC Irvine, and the Buck Institute, the full system is six capsules a day in daily sachets, plus a two-day Senolytic Cleanse once a month.

Part 5: The lifestyle layer

Compounds are one half of the evidence. The other half is how you live, and the clocks have measured that too. In 2026, researchers at Harvard and Tally Health reviewed every human trial tested against the clocks built to predict lifespan. Lifestyle interventions made up the largest group of positive results.

Here are the five levers with the strongest human evidence, and how the TimeWarp app turns each one into a daily habit.

Exercise. Six months of endurance cycling lowered GrimAge by 0.62 years. Twelve weeks of walking and diet changes slowed the pace of aging by 2.2%. Exercise acts on more hallmarks of aging than any single compound. In the app: a daily movement target, a post-meal walk, and strength training tracked as its own habit.

Diet. Two years of a plant-rich diet lowered GrimAge by 0.66 years. Two years of caloric restriction slowed the pace of aging by 2 to 3% in the CALERIE trial. An eight-week diet and lifestyle program lowered epigenetic age by 3.23 years. In the app: a consistent eating rhythm, anchored by the post-meal walk.

Sleep. In 3,795 adults aged 56 to 100, sleeping under six hours added 1.3 years to GrimAge. Even in healthy college students, short, irregular sleep moved epigenetic age older within nine weeks. In the app: a steady sleep window, a wind-down mode and box breathing.

Connection. In 334,415 UK Biobank adults, loneliness and isolation raised the odds of faster biological aging. In a ten-year U.S. study, isolation added 0.79 years to GrimAge2. In the app: connection as a daily habit, and access for two adults in each household.

Stress. The least studied of the five on the clocks, but chronic stress drives inflammation, breaks up sleep and disrupts metabolism. In the app: guided breathwork, a daily focus block, and morning light.

The DO-HEALTH trial showed why this layer matters. Vitamin D, omega-3 and home exercise each helped on their own. Together, they slowed the PhenoAge clock more than any one alone. Compounds and habits stack. That is why the app ships free with every protocol.

The bottom line

Eight compounds in Protocol 01 have human data on reversing or slowing aging:

1. Ca-AKG: DNA methylation age fell 8 years on average over about 7 months.
2. Vitamin D3: epigenetic age fell 1.9 years in 16 weeks at 2,000 IU, and telomere loss slowed by about 3 years’ worth over 4 years.
3. Cycloastragenol: telomeres grew about 530 base pairs in a year while placebo shortened.
4. Urolithin A: aging immune cells shifted to a younger profile in 28 days, and leg strength rose about 12% at the same 500 mg dose in Protocol 01.
5. NMN: blood biological age held steady while the placebo group aged.
6. Spermidine: markers of immune cell senescence fell in a 2026 randomized trial of adults over 65.
7. Folate and B12 (two compounds): epigenetic age fell in women with a common MTHFR genotype.

Five more have supporting human evidence from programs and population studies: curcumin, EGCG, vitamin C and apigenin, which were part of programs or stacks that lowered epigenetic age, and magnesium, which is linked to longer telomeres. Four more lead the next wave of research: fisetin, isoquercetin, glucoraphanin (the source of sulforaphane) and pterostilbene.

That is 17 of Protocol 01’s 25 compounds with published aging evidence, in one daily system, at research-level amounts, alongside eight more that cover the rest of the twelve hallmarks or help the others absorb. The companion app adds the lifestyle layer with the strongest evidence of all. It is the most complete answer to “can we reverse aging” you can take today.

Frequently asked questions

Can supplements really reverse aging? In measured ways, yes. Human trials have shown biological age falling, telomeres lengthening and immune cells shifting younger with specific compounds at specific doses. Eight of those compounds are in Protocol 01. No supplement changes your calendar age, and Protocol 01 as a complete formula has not yet been studied as a whole.

What is the difference between reversing and slowing aging? Reversing means a marker of aging moved backward, such as biological age falling or telomeres growing. Slowing means you aged less than you otherwise would have, such as biological age holding steady while a placebo group aged. Both widen the gap between your calendar age and your biological age.

What is biological age? Biological age measures how your body is holding up at the cellular level, using markers like DNA methylation patterns and telomere length. It can be higher or lower than your calendar age, and it can move.

How long does it take to see a change? The urolithin A immune trial saw changes in 28 days. The NMN trial saw a difference from placebo in 60 days. The vitamin D epigenetic trial ran 16 weeks. Most measures of biological age move over months, not days.

Why is the Senolytic Cleanse only two days a month? Senescent cells take weeks to build back up after they are cleared. Researchers testing senolytics use short, intermittent doses for that reason, and the Cleanse follows the same pattern.

Has a multi-ingredient supplement ever lowered biological age? Yes. A 2021 randomized trial of a diet and lifestyle program built around curcumin- and EGCG-rich foods lowered Horvath epigenetic age by 3.23 years in eight weeks. Studies of supplement stacks sharing ingredients with Protocol 01 have also recorded lower biological age on some clocks. Protocol 01 itself has not yet been studied as a whole.

Is Protocol 01 a drug? No. It is a dietary supplement. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

When does Protocol 01 launch? October 2026. Founding List members get early access and launch updates first.

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