Exclusive | Ive been a vegetarian for over a decade and I just found out what its done to my biological age and nutrient makeup

I haven’t touched seafood or meat in more than a decade, and aside from a daily multivitamin, I’m hardly what you’d call supplement-savvy.I feel healthy overall — but I had to wonder: Is my vegetarian lifestyle helping me age gracefully, or quietly wearing me down?To find out, I turned to Function Health’s biological age test, a new service that promises to reveal how your body is aging on the inside and and empower you to take charge of your health.Dr.Mark Hyman, the company’s founder, walked me through my results — including one major red flag I probably wouldn’t have caught until it was already causing serious trouble.You’ve got two ages.Your chronological age is how many years you’ve lived.

Your biological age reflects how your body is aging at the cellular level.A growing number of companies now offer tests that promise to reveal your biological age by analyzing factors like gut bacteria, blood proteins and DNA.Function Health launched its biological age test in 2023, backed by investors like Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal.For $499 a year, you get two rounds of testing: an initial assessment with 105 lab tests, then a follow-up three to six months later with 60-plus retests to track changes after you’ve had a chance to modify your diet, exercise and supplement intake.The process requires over two dozen vials of blood and a urine sample over two visits.My results came back in about a week, along with personalized insights from Function’s clinicians.I scored 20.8 — 4.2 years younger than my actual age.“It means you’re doing better than average,” Hyman told me, “but the calculation is based on a largely sick population.”In the US, 6 in 10 adults have at least one chronic disease, while 4 in 10 have two or more, according to the CDC. Function’s biological age test screens your blood for 102 biomarkers, and of them, 11 of mine were out of range. “With low vitamin D, low iron and low anti-inflammatory omega 3’s, I could imme...