People are now paying to be injected with ‘young blood’

Move over, Dracula…there’s some new blood in town. 

Have you ever wondered whether pumping the blood of young people into your veins would help you maintain your youthful glow?

Yeah, me either. But, according to a recently published article in Business Insider, some people are now paying to find out.

For $8,000, Ambrosia, a new startup in Monterey, California, will pump the plasma of teenagers and young adults into your veins as part of a clinical trial.

The idea, apparently, is to see if it will in some way slow or reverse certain symptoms of aging and other otherwise improve healthy functioning.

Although this seems reminiscent of Lady Gaga’s plot line in American Horror Story: Hotel, (which was itself inspired by the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory), Ambrosia‘s inspiration was slightly more scientific in nature.

According to the Business Insider, Ambrosia‘s founder, Jesse Karmazin – who they note is an MD, but has no license to practice medicine – was inspired by scientific studies in which older mice and younger mice were sewn together with their veins conjoined, with results that seemed to indicate that perhaps certain hallmarks of aging could be reversed through the use of young blood. A variety of studies on the effects of ‘young blood’ on both mice and humans are linked to on the Ambrosia website.

The minimum age requirement to participate in the Ambrosia trials is 35, while the plasma comes from donors aged 16-25.

From Ambrosia’s website:

Our plasma is obtained from US blood banks. Donors are healthy, aged 16-25, and every unit of plasma is screened as is required by the FDA.

Our clinical trial studies the effects of infusions of young plasma.

We are currently enrolling.

It should be noted that multiple scientists and researchers have been harshly critical of Karmazin and his trial, expressing concern regarding the risks involved with the procedure and skepticism regarding any potential benefits, with some going so far as to call it scam.

According to Business Insider, as of December 15, 25 people had been injected with young blood.