Attribute | NOVOS Age Clock | Saliva-based Clock by Celebrity Scientist’s New Startup | Other Tests |
---|---|---|---|
Chronological Age Range | A top team of Duke University and Columbia University scientists with peer reviewed publications | A start up company without publication of the algorithms, thus lacking scientific scrutiny | No |
DNA Methylation Technology | Built using the modern Methylation EPIC array that measures 850,000 DNA sites and tests your sample on that same technology | Built using the modern MethylationEPIC array that measures 850,000 DNA sites but does not test your sample on that same technology | No |
Test Reliability | Optimized to be reliable across repeat measurements, with published and peer reviewed best-in-class ICC values (precision) >.96 for all three algorithms | Claims of being optimized to be reliable across repeat measurements without disclosing ICC values | No |
Diversity | Significant diversity across ethnicity, race, and sex, all supported by many peer reviewed publications | Diversity across ethnicity, race, and sex, but without support of peer reviewed publications | Rare |
Include Clinical Covariates | 21 clinical covariates and telomere length | No clinical covariates | No clinical covariates |
Immune Cell Controls | Published and Patented Advanced 12-cell immune deconvolution methods (cell changes won’t impact accuracy, which is common in saliva and makes blood samples better) | No controls | No controls |
Shares actual data on precision (ICC values) | See ICC values with comparisons in the FHS study | No data | No data |
Comparisons to other algorithms | Comparisons in the FHS study and in the Health and Retirement Study show superior results | No published comparisons | No published comparisons |
Studies that prove accuracy in different ethnic groups | Algorithms validated in the Family and Community Health Study of African American Families study, MESA (Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis), Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS Phillipines), Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 Study, Health and Retirement Study, the Normative Aging Study, the Framington Heart cohort, TILDA (the Irish Longitudinal Study of Aging), and many more | No studies | No studies |
Studies that show relationship to outcomes | Algorithms have been validated in the Health and Retirement Study, the Normative Aging Study, the Framington Heart cohort and more | No studies | No studies |
Studies that show change with validated anti-aging interventions | The only algorithm proven to respond in a significant way to validated anti-aging interventions such as caloric restriction (Published in Nature) | No studies | No studies |
Outputs and Analysis | Three: 1) 3rd generation Pace of Aging via DunedinPACE, 2) Biological Age, and 3) Telomere Length | One: A less accurate output of biological age | A single, less accurate output of biological age |
Tissue Collection | Blood from a small poke of a finger, a method that is more accurate than via saliva | Saliva from a cheek swab, a method that is generally not very accurate | Blood collection methods that are invasive and far more uncomfortable that via small pokes of fingers |
Sample Size | Samples from more than 20,000 humans | Samples from more than 8,000 humans | Samples typically from fewer than 2,500 humans |
Model Type | 3rd generation (latest) clock, the only one trained on longitudinal analysis (people across their lifetimes), the best way to track biological age as shown in publications and tested via peer review | Self-claimed “novel” method- based model that lacks publications, peer review, and head-to-head comparisons against other clocks | 1st generation (oldest) model trained to simply estimate chronological age instead of biological aging |
Number of Studies | 45+ published studies by 30+ longevity scientists’ labs across the world | Zero published studies | N/A |
Two general categories of biological age tests exist:
– Tests that measure your rate of aging
– Tests that measure your biological age
Tests that measure your rate of aging determine how fast you are aging.
Tests that measure your biological age determine how old you are biologically.
You can compare the rate of aging to how fast a clock is ticking (how fast you are aging), and you can compare biological age to the time a clock displays (how old you really are).
Changing the speed that the clock is ticking can be noticed in significantly less time than seeing change in a clock that has been ticking for decades. This is one of the multiple reasons we emphasize the Rate of Aging clock as the primary focus of Age (80% of the emphasis should be on this clock).
Biological age tests can be based off of the epigenome, proteome, microbiome, and more. Certain epigenetic tests are among the most accurate of all biological age tests, which is why NOVOS decided to offer these tests over alternatives.
To that point, there are already many epigenetic clocks in existence, and some are better than others.
Most epigenetic clocks measure biological age, to varying degrees of accuracy; very few of them measure the rate of aging.
The DunedinPACE rate of aging clock is currently considered by many in the field to be the most relevant and accurate test available with regards to mortality and disease risk.
It’s also the most actionable, since its outputs are based on your current lifestyle.
These are some of the reasons that we chose to offer the DunedinPACE clock to our customers.