Dave AspreyEntrepreneur, author and podcast host · founder and CEO of Upgrade Labs · no clinical or scientific credential claimed
Yes, bank your own now
What it rests onThe premise that stem cells age with their owner, plus two named banking companies he links to, one with a partner URL.
Source: daveasprey.com ↗
David A. SinclairPhD · Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Yes, if you are about to have a baby
What it rests onStated as a personal counterfactual rather than as advice, in an episode otherwise composed of warnings about medical interventions.
Source: lifespanpodcast.com ↗
Paul KnoepflerPhD · Professor of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy, UC Davis School of Medicine · stem cell and cancer biologist
Price it over twenty years first, and donate to a public bank instead
What it rests onA fact-check of the private banking industry's claims, a cited study in which almost two thirds of analysed cord blood units had at least one quality-control issue, and the existence of state-funded public programmes including the one his own institution takes part in.
Source: ipscell.com ↗
Asprey is describing an adult banking their own cells as a longevity purchase. Sinclair and Knoepfler are both describing new parents deciding about cord blood at a birth, which is a one-time, time-limited decision made on behalf of someone else. The three are not describing the same transaction, and that is exactly the confusion a reader arrives with.
All three accept that stem cells age with their owner and that a stored sample is biologically younger. Knoepfler does not dispute the premise; he disputes the expected value of paying a private company to act on it, and he agrees the sample is genuinely useful in the rare cases where it is needed.
Published utilisation rates from private banks, which none of the three cites, and quality-control data on stored units. Knoepfler's position also moves on family history: he says a family history of blood cancers or relevant mutations should change the answer.
You do, and your call is dated, kept, and yours to change. Follow the people you already trust and what they publish turns into a short daily practice.
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