Beyond Supplements with Alan Graves on Funding Clinical Trials and Longevity Research

Daphna sat down with Alan Graves, founder of DoNotAge, for an in-depth conversation about what it takes to make longevity science more credible, more collaborative and more accessible.

After a serious health decline in his late twenties, Alan entered the longevity field after learning that ageing may be more malleable than he had once thought. He went on to build DoNotAge as a self-funded health research organisation, using consumer supplements to help fund ageing research, support external labs and emerging researchers, provide high-purity ingredients for independent studies, and translate complex science into language people can actually understand.

The conversation covers why longevity science is still difficult to access, why the supplement industry has a credibility problem, and how marketing, underdosing and weak “science-backed” claims have made it hard for consumers to know what to trust.

Alan also discusses the realities of clinical trials, why they are slow and expensive, and the studies DoNotAge is currently supporting or planning, including work around spermidine, NAD, Crohn’s disease, berberine and biological age clocks.

In striving to make longevity easier and more practical, Alan has also introduced a one-a-day sachet designed to simplify adherence. They also explore his focus on sirtuin 6 activation, DoNotAge’s free London conference, and the wider aim of making longevity more affordable, practical and collaborative.

DoNotAge.org is a health research organisation.

You can learn more at https://routine.donotage.org

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

02:52 Alan’s Unlikely Origin Story

04:34 From Self-Experiment to Do Not Age

06:45 Funding Gap and New Model

08:12 Democratising Longevity Science

09:48 Research Company Not Supplements

11:09 Why Clinical Trials Take Years

12:50 How Do Not Age Is Structured

15:09 Supporting Labs Worldwide

18:01 Supplement Industry Credibility Crisis

21:01 How Consumers Verify Claims

22:42 Stepping Down as CEO

25:11 Choosing Which Research to Fund

26:45 Upcoming Trials and What’s Next

28:10 Basics Before Supplements

31:43 Testing and Biological Age

33:24 The One-a-Day Sachet Idea

36:03 Clinical Trials Pipeline

36:55 Making Longevity Affordable

39:58 Pricing Ethics and Dosage

41:33 Hype vs Evidence in Longevity

44:51 Who Needs Supplements When

46:55 Free Unbiased Science Conference

53:02 What Excites Him Next

54:08 SIRT6 Activator Deep Dive

58:30 Why Healthcare Won’t Adopt It

01:01:44 Boxing, Balance, and Ageing Goals

01:04:41 Rapid Fire and Wrap Up

01:07:15 Host Takeaways and Conclusion