Quest to stay young drives longevity boom worth trillions globally | The Business | ABC NEWS

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From red light therapy and ice baths to stem cell treatments, more Australians are buying into a growing wellness industry aimed at improving health and even extending their lives. Health and wellness businesses are vying for a slice of what consulting firm McKinsey says is a $2.5 trillion global consumer wellness industry. Super-Young is one of them. Its co-founder and chief executive Tristan Sternson starts the day with an ice bath, followed by a "strict routine" of exercise, supplements, IV infusions and various treatments like saunas, cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy. He tracks 65 different markers via blood tests and even goes to the United States for umbilical cord stem cell treatments to stay young. At 45, he says he's got a "biological age" of 34 — a metric used by those in the longevity space based on a series of tests. Mr Sternson admits his wellness club, Super-Young, is more of a passion project than anything.

The industry is being driven by a growing demand from (often wealthy) individuals to measure and optimise personal health — and a willingness to pay big bucks to do so. The "preventative wellness" or longevity movement's signature alternative health practices have been popularised by US figures including biohackers Bryan Johnson, Peter Attia and even socialite Paris Hilton. It grew in the wellness heartland of Los Angeles and has since spread to Australia. The explosion of an industry full of alternative health practices has been met with scepticism by some in mainstream medical fields. The president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Michael Wright says the evidence base for a lot of these treatments is minimal. He advises a healthy dose of scepticism and careful thought before doing extra tests or investigations clinics might offer.

Another Australian company riding the trillion-dollar wellness wave is high-profile startup Eucalyptus, which launched a longevity app for men last year. They pulled the pin soon after, with the pricey subscription fee a major factor, but are hoping to relaunch in Australia next year at a lower cost with more automation. Eucalyptus chief executive and co-founder Tim Doyle says patients were curious about their own diagnostics and keen to make behavioural change but weren't willing to pay $1,500 a month for his app. The company, which is backed by Woolworths and Blackbird, runs a suite of health platforms and has grown rapidly — largely thanks to the rise of its weight-loss service, which enables users to access drugs like Ozempic via a telehealth app. Mr Doyle says Eucalyptus's digital platform made the experience of prescribing the drugs to patients seamless. However, medical bodies have been critical of the app's online prescription model for pharmaceuticals and say these providers are potentially fragmenting care.
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