A Silicon Valley tycoon who poured vast sums into anti-aging efforts, even receiving transfusions of his son's blood, has been diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease, according to reports.
"My Stomach Is Eating Itself"
According to Britain's Telegraph on Monday, Bryan Johnson, 50, disclosed his illness on his social media account on Nov. 30.
In the post, he wrote, "I have an autoimmune disorder. My stomach is eating itself."
Johnson is reported to have received the diagnosis in May. The condition was confirmed to be autoimmune gastritis.
According to medical experts, autoimmune gastritis is classified as a disease that occurs when the body's own immune system attacks the stomach lining, rather than being caused by external factors.
It originates from a process in which the parietal cells that secrete stomach acid are damaged by an immune response. When acid secretion decreases, iron absorption disorders can lead to anemia, and the risk of cancer also rises in tissue with persistent inflammation, according to these explanations.
Although the exact prevalence has not been determined due to the nature of rare diseases, Johnson said, "2 to 5 percent of people have this condition," explaining that a full cure is impossible.
Childhood Diet to Blame? "Causation Unclear"
Johnson, who has appeared in a Netflix documentary, speculated that the cause of the disease could be found somewhere between the sugary cereals and fast food he enjoyed as a child and a period in his early 20s when declining health and weight gain overlapped.
However, the prevailing view is that autoimmune diseases generally have no clear connection to diet, leaving it uncertain whether his assumption has any medical basis.
Johnson explained, "Autoimmune gastritis leads to nutritional deficiencies, anemia, and, over the long term, an increased risk of cancer." He lamented, "The current medical system essentially gives up when this disease is discovered. They say that no matter how serious or fatal it may be, there is nothing that can be done beyond management."
Nevertheless, he said he is continuing efforts to identify, through blood tests, the immune cells attacking his stomach lining. Johnson said, "If we identify them, we can find a treatment path to suppress those cells."
'Don't Die' Experiment After $800 Million Sale
Johnson, who sold a payment processing company for $800 million (about 1.2133 trillion won) in 2013, is known as a figure who has since invested enormous sums in a project to slow aging.
He has spent about $2 million (about 3 billion won) each year assembling a team of medical staff, continuously measuring the condition of his blood and organs, and personally practicing a philosophy of "don't die." He has also claimed that his heart age is 37, his skin 28, his lung function 18, and his gums 17.
In 2023, he even went so far as to receive transfusions of his son's blood in an attempt to reverse cell damage, but later admitted himself that it had shown no particular effect.
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