This at-home cheek swab test can tell you your ‘biological age’ — we tested it out

Biohackers live by the mantra, “Test, don’t guess” — figure out how well your cells and organs are aging, so you know the supplements to take for a longer, healthier life.

Some tests analyze gut bacteria or proteins in the blood to predict healthy aging, while others focus on changes to DNA.

I recently gave one of these DNA kits a try — $249 cheek swab test that estimates biological age and makes recommendations to help improve the results.

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“Many people that have written to us or I’ve talked to have used the test as inspiration to make really, really powerful life changes,” Adiv Johnson, head of scientific affairs and education at Tally Health, told me.

The test, called TallyAge, launched in 2023. A new peer-reviewed study by the Tally Health team confirmed that dozens of diseases and health conditions, such as pulmonary fibrosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cancers and tumors, increase the likelihood of a significantly higher TallyAge.

“We’re trying to learn more about what kinds of things lower or increase TallyAge,” Johnson said.

How TallyAge works

Nearly every cell in our body contains the same basic set of DNA.

TallyAge measures DNA methylation, where chemical tags called methyl groups attach to DNA, affecting how genes are read and expressed without altering the underlying DNA sequence.

Diet, exercise, stress and smoking are some of the lifestyle factors that can influence DNA methylation, a cornerstone of epigenetics. The extent of methylation varies significantly between different cell types and tissues.

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“We look at hundreds of thousands of DNA methylation sites across the genome,” Johnson explained.

“You get a value that tells you how methylated or unmethylated a given site is in your sample,” he added. “Basically what you get is an output of a large number of values that the algorithm can translate into an age.”

Results typically arrive within six weeks of sample collection.

Why a cheek swab?

Researchers have used everything sweat is being tested.

Johnson said a cheek swab is just as accurate as blood collection and more accessible — it can easily be done at home.

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“Both types of tissue are quite viable for epigenetic age prediction, but an advantage of a cheek swab is just the painless nature of it,” Johnson said.

Tally Health generally recommends testing once or twice a year — sometimes it takes months or even a year for a major lifestyle change to be reflected in the results.

How TallyAge compares to other aging tests

There isn’t one biomarker that definitively reveals how well we’re aging, so the trick for consumers is to find the right measure.

Of the tests I’ve taken, Tally Health gave me the most optimistic results.

I’m 42 and got a TallyAge slightly less than 37.

Johnson said I’m in the top 5.7% of all users and the top 3.2% of peers.

So I was feeling pretty confident when I agreed to have my eyes photographed for an aging test at last week’s Biohackers World conference. I was shocked to get an age of 46.

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“If you take 10 different tests from 10 different companies, you’re going to get 10 different results,” Johnson assured.

“And the range is going to be gigantic. It’s probably going to be like a 20-year range across tests,” he continued. “The reason for that is companies are using different algorithms, and not all of these tests are optimized for useful prediction.”

He pointed out that Tally Health’s latest research, published in the journal GeroScience, demonstrated that its model stood out among the rest for disease correlation.

He also noted that tissues in different organs — like those in the cheeks and eyes — age at varying rates.

Popular lifestyle changes

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TallyAge users are encouraged to take a lifestyle survey on their diet, fitness routine, sleep, mental health and daily habits for suggestions on how to lower their score. My elder millennial mom lifestyle was deemed “moderately healthy” — there’s room for improvement.

Tally Health membership ($129 monthly) includes personalized action plans, tests every six months, supplements and product discounts.

“We’ve seen a lot of people like the challenge of trying to beat their age,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of like gamification in terms of, it’s really fun to get a score and optimize it.”

Quitting cigarettes and booze are among the top changes. Johnson said Tally Health’s “data suggests any amount of alcohol increases the likelihood of being older” — especially 15 or more drinks a week.

What’s next for Tally Health?

In its new paper, Tally Health linked exposure to PBB-153, a man-made chemical used as a flame retardant, to an older age. The US banned PBB-153 in the 1970s after it was accidentally mixed into animal feed in Michigan, contaminating the food supply.

“We also saw that people that have untreated HIV are more likely to be epigenetically older, but then when they’re treated with antiretrovirals, they’re significantly younger compared to untreated groups,” Johnson said.

“These are the kind of things that are helping us understand what types of interventions and variables are connected to an older or younger epigenetic age,” he continued, “and we also identified methylation sites in our model that were important for driving those kind of associations.”