Young blood plasma: the one I felt on the same day

I didn’t go into this one looking for anything. I tried it for the same reason I’ve tried everything else we offer: the rule is that we don’t put anything in front of anyone until we’ve had it ourselves. What I didn’t expect was to feel it the same day. This page is what that was like, where the plasma actually comes from, and what I was told the research does and doesn’t show.

 

Jump to: Why I tried it · What I felt, and when · What I hear from other people · Where the plasma comes from · What happens on the day · Where the idea came from · What I was told it does · What the research is looking at · Do I still do it? · The questions I get · Side effects

 

Why I tried it

No symptom, no goal, no problem to fix. It was on the list, so it went through me first, like everything else on the list. I mention that because it matters for how you read the rest of this: I wasn’t waiting for something to happen, so I wasn’t talking myself into it either.

 

What I felt, and when

On the day. That’s the part that surprised me.

 

The nearest I can get to it is the feeling you get from a glass of orange juice: you’re just fresher, straight away. More energy. A clearer head, the kind where focusing isn’t work. And I slept better.

 

The way I describe it to myself is that it’s like extracting the good stuff and having it ready to use. That’s my picture, not a biology lesson.

 

What I was told to expect was slower than that: most people notice something within one to two weeks, and it’s described as a boost that lasts somewhere around one to three months rather than a permanent change. Mine came earlier. That’s one person, on one day, and I’d rather tell you it happened than pretend it means it will happen for you.

 

What I hear from other people

This is the one where people most often tell me the same thing I noticed: that they felt a difference. Not always the same difference, and not always as fast, but it’s the most consistent thing I hear about anything in this section.

 

Now the honest problem with that. Almost everybody I’ve spoken to who had plasma had something else at the same visit, usually stem cells. So when someone tells me they’re sleeping better, have more energy, or walked back into the gym and lifted more than they expected to, I can’t tell you which of the two did it, and neither can they.

 

One couple came together and split it: one of them had cells, the other had plasma. They went home saying they felt the best they had in years. Lovely to hear. Useless as evidence for either one.

 

The cleanest case I can think of is someone who had plasma on its own, after a long, draining stretch in their own life. They told me their head felt clearer, they slept better, and they felt less wound up. I’m glad. I’m also aware it’s one person.

 

Where the plasma comes from

With anything that comes from another person’s blood, the source is the whole question.

 

The plasma comes from umbilical cord blood, collected at birth from full-term, healthy newborns. Preterm and post-term births are excluded. The mothers are screened during their antenatal care, before the baby is born, and only those who meet the criteria go forward. One cord gives one donor’s worth of plasma, and what you receive comes from a single donor, not a pool.

 

That was a choice, and it’s one I cared about. If the whole idea is young blood, I wanted it to come from the youngest source there is: blood that has spent its whole life inside the womb and hasn’t met much of the world yet.

 

It’s processed and stored in a Lab class 100 lab. The clinic where the cord blood is collected is a private clinic in Bangkok, and under the contract with the lab, neither that clinic nor the donors are named. I know that can sound evasive. It’s the same privacy you’d want if it were your baby.

 

And to be clear about one thing people often assume: there are no live cells in it. It’s plasma, the liquid part of blood. It is not a stem cell treatment.

 

What happens on the day

Because it’s a blood product, it has to be matched to you first. A blood sample is taken and cross-matched, checking your blood group and making sure your blood and the donor plasma don’t react in the tube, which is the same logic as the checks done before any blood transfusion. That’s also how the most suitable donor is chosen for you. It usually takes one to three days before the treatment can go ahead, so it isn’t something you walk in and have on a whim.

 

On the day, it goes in through a drip. It’s roughly 50 to 55 ml from that single donor, and it takes about 45 minutes. A doctor and a critical-care nurse stay with you the whole time. You’re given a lab certificate for the plasma you received, showing the blood group, the infectious-disease test results and the cross-match details.

 

I was told there’s nothing specific to do afterwards. If you have your own situation to think about, that’s a conversation with the doctor, not with me.

 

Where the idea came from

The whole idea of “young blood” comes from animal experiments, and I think you should know that before you read anything else about it.

 

The explanation I was given starts with something called parabiosis: surgically joining two animals, usually an old mouse and a young one, so they share a circulation. The thinking was that young blood might carry something that older bodies have less of.

 

In those experiments, the older mice showed changes in some age-related measures: muscle function, some aspects of thinking and memory, and the activity of their own stem cells. That’s where the question started. It’s a mouse result, and it’s the reason this treatment exists at all.

 

What I was told it does

I’m not going to explain the biology in my own words, because it isn’t mine to explain. This is what I was handed.

 

The explanation I was given is that young plasma carries growth factors, which are proteins involved in cell growth and repair; exosomes, tiny packages that cells release carrying proteins and genetic material; anti-inflammatory molecules; and substances thought to protect brain cells.

 

The research I was pointed to is almost all in mice, and it’s worth saying that plainly:

• Older mice given young plasma showed improvements in memory and learning, thought to be linked to factors that support brain health and the brain’s ability to adapt.

• Older mice showed better muscle function and tissue repair.

• Some work suggests certain age-related declines, such as muscle strength and physical performance, might be pushed back.

• Young plasma has been linked with effects on the immune system and on how it responds to infection.

• Animal studies suggest a protective effect on brain cells against age-related damage.

 

The published work behind that is listed at the bottom of this page. I’m not the person to weigh it for you, and I’m not going to hold it up as proof of anything.

 

What the research is looking at

This is the part the old articles on this subject spent the most words on, so here it is, in the form it was given to me.

 

The explanation I was given is that researchers are looking at young plasma in relation to the things that come with age:

• Muscle and mobility. Loss of muscle mass and strength, and whether growth factors support muscle repair and physical capability, including muscle wasting.

• Thinking and memory. Memory, attention and decision-making, and whether protective factors support clearer thinking.

• Heart and circulation. Whether it supports blood-vessel health and circulation.

• The immune system. Whether it helps an ageing immune system respond better to infection.

• Bone and joints. Bone density, osteoporosis and joint stiffness, and whether it supports bone and cartilage repair.

• Inflammation. Chronic inflammation is linked with many age-related conditions, including heart disease and arthritis, and it’s thought young plasma may reduce it.

• The brain. Protection of brain cells and the connections between them, with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease among the conditions being studied.

 

On Alzheimer’s specifically, what I was told is this. In animal models, certain factors in young plasma have been linked with better memory and learning, and some studies reported fewer amyloid-beta plaques, which are one of the hallmarks of the disease. It’s also thought to support the survival of nerve cells, the connections between them, and to calm inflammation in the brain.

 

And the sentence that the original article itself ended on, which I think is the most important one here: that’s preclinical work, animal studies don’t necessarily carry over to people, and proper human trials are what would settle it.

 

I haven’t been through any of those conditions. I’ve got nothing personal to add to that list, so I won’t.

 

Do I still do it?

Every now and then. Not on a schedule.

 

What I was told is that people usually repeat it somewhere between every six months and once a year. How often it makes sense for any one person is decided by a doctor after seeing them, and I’d be wary of copying anyone’s rhythm, including mine.

 

The questions I get

Is this the same as stem cells?

No. There are no live cells in it. It’s plasma, the liquid part of blood. The explanation I was given is that plasma carries proteins and signals, while stem cells are living cells. The stem cell side has its own page.

 

Can you do both?

Most of the people I’ve talked to about plasma did it at the same visit as stem cells. What I was told is that the two can be done in the same visit, even on the same day, if the doctor agrees. Whether that combination makes sense for you, and in what order, is a doctor’s decision after seeing you in person.

 

Is it safe if I’m older?

The explanation I was given is that it’s generally well tolerated across age groups, that every donor is screened, and that the cross-match is there to catch a mismatch before anything goes in. Age is one of the things the doctor looks at, and it should be.

 

How soon will I feel something?

I felt it on the day. What I was told is one to two weeks for most people. Some people will feel less than I did, and I’d rather you arrived expecting that.

 

Where does the cord blood come from?

A private clinic in Bangkok. Under the contract with the lab, the clinic and the donors aren’t named.

 

How often do people repeat it?

What I was told is every six months to a year. Mine is less regular than that: every now and then.

 

Side effects

I’ve never had one. Not once.

 

That’s a sentence about me. “I was fine” is not the same sentence as “you’ll be fine,” and a treatment that comes from another person’s blood is exactly where I’d want you asking the doctor the hard questions first.

 

Related: NAD+ & more · NAD+ · Placenta extract · Exosomes

 

It’s the one people most often tell me they noticed, and I noticed it too. That’s all it is: what happened to me, on one day.

 

Message me on WhatsApp →

 

References

1. Villeda SA, Luo J, Mosher KI, et al. The ageing systemic milieu negatively regulates neurogenesis and cognitive function. Nature. 2011;477:90–94.

2. Conboy IM, Conboy MJ, Wagers AJ, et al. Rejuvenation of aged progenitor cells by exposure to a young systemic environment. Nature. 2005;433:760–764.

3. Katsimpardi L, Litterman NK, Schein PA, et al. Vascular and neurogenic rejuvenation of the aging mouse brain by young systemic factors. Science. 2014;344:630–634.

4. Castellano JM, Mosher KI, Abbey RJ, et al. Human umbilical cord plasma proteins revitalize hippocampal function in aged mice. Nature. 2017;544:488–492.

5. Castellano JM et al. “Human Umbilical Plasma Proteins Promote CNS Repair.” Nature, 2021.

6. Wyss-Coray T. “Young Blood for Old Brains.” Nature, 2016.

7. Thai FDA. “Guidelines for Stem Cell and Plasma Therapy.” Ministry of Public Health, 2023.

8. —

9. I’m George. Thirty years in business, then ten years trying this whole field on myself before offering it to anyone else.

10. This is where I write down what I use, what I stopped using, and what I’d never do again. More about me →