THE RACE TO BECOME SUPERHUMAN
In India, it has found its most obsessive followers in metros such as Delhi and Mumbai, where money is abundant and wellness is the latest buzzword. Biohacking is slowly making inroads into Tier II and III cities too, courtesy a social media-savvy biohacking community.
For Chima, the goal is simple: to be superhuman. In fact, that’s the name of his biohacking company, Be Superhuman, under which he plans to launch centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad later this year; he already has two centres in London. In the next few years, he envisions people going to biohacking centres like they would the gym. “Most people who see someone with an IV in their arm will say ‘get well soon’ because they think they’re sick. But going forward, this will be a lifestyle choice.”
For others, the induction to biohacking has been more modest. It comes from a place of having exhausted all other options. In the early 1990s, Manish Saraf was an ambitious 19-year-old in Raniganj, West Bengal, with dreams of joining the Army. However, when working out in the gym one day, he was suddenly unable to bend his knees. Slowly, the in²ammation spread to his other joints, and he was practically bedridden. On the cusp of 20, he was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, an autoimmune condition, and put on strong medications for life. Far from joining the Army, day-to-day living became a struggle for him. In search of an alternative, around ve years ago, he came across the (Clockwise from right) Jag Chima; a client undergoing IV therapy; Ennapadam S. Krishnamoorthy; and Manish Saraf. biohacking community through a friend, and was intrigued.
He enrolled in Kochi-based wellness solutions company Vieroots’ Eplimo (Epigenetic Lifestyle Modication) programme, which used genetic and metabolic tests to give him a slew of customised health and lifestyle interventions. Saraf was already in remission and had stopped his medication, but within a week of adopting Eplimo’s suggestions, he claims all his lingering pain disappeared, too.
Sajeev Nair, founder of Vieroots, is one of the most vocal proponents of biohacking in India. He believes that biohacking ultimately boils down to data and its interpretation. The more data you have on your body’s mechanical functions, the more you can optimise the machine that is you. “If you treat ageing as a disease and try to x that one issue, you may be able to x many other health and lifestyle problems,” he says, emphasising that all interventions should have scientic backing.
One of the premises of biohacking is hormesis — the idea that controlled stress is good for your body. For instance, exercise and ice baths are hormetic stressors that trigger adaptive responses, such as activating antioxidants, which in turn boost resilience. But too much stress, and the body won’t adapt; it might even trigger in²ammation. Which is why Nair steers people away from blindly experimenting at home. “They should consult experts like us who can guide them correctly.” Since it started in 2020, Vieroots has grown from a couple of hundred customers every quarter to 250 every month.
DIY isn’t always good
Nair’s hacks seem all the more incredible, given that he isn’t a doctor by profession; he has done an M.Sc in Analytical
Chemistry, followed by an MBA. But this isn’t surprising among biohackers. A lot of them have functional medicine practitioners on board (Nair has a functional medicine practitioner with an MBBS, along with a homoeopathic and Ayurvedic doctor), but their own qualications range from nutrition coach, to gym trainer, to performance psychologist. That’s the whole point of the DIY, experimental quality of ‘biohacking’ — it appears that anyone can do it.
But can they really? Ennapadam S. Krishnamoorthy, a neurologist and founder of Buddhi Clinic in Chennai, observes that with the availability of information online, it is natural to want to be in charge of your own health. But not all interventions are safe. For instance, he gives the example of tDCS
Is everyone jumping on the biohacking bandwagon to make money? Peter Attia, a physician focusing on longevity, is reportedly charging $150,000 for his services. Is the world only meant for the rich? If you can sort out the basics such as fresh air, water and food, we don’t need to be talking about all of this
RAJAT CHAUHAN
Sports medicine physician (Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation), a technique that uses low level electrical currents to stimulate the brain and is used to treat depression, cognitive impairment and the like. But now, tDCS kits are available online, and biohackers are using them at home for things like sports enhancement and corporate performance. This, says Dr. Krishnamoorthy, can be dangerous as unsupervised use can cause confusion, and actively harm someone prone to seizures. “This is a classic example of technology that, in the right hands, is treatment, but in the wrong can become impairment.” He believes that all biohacking clinics should have an allopathic doctor on board, since “it remains the most well regulated form of medicine and continues to be our safety net”.
Perfect or imperfect?
As of now, India has no regulations that directly govern biohacking. In 2016, the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) came out with a set of regulations for nutraceuticals, though their implementation remains doubtful. The CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) too has guidelines around the production and distribution of biological products, including vaccines and gene therapies, but this hardly covers the entire gamut of biohacking activities.
Critics would argue, and rightly so, that research around the ecacy of biohacking remains shoddy. Do nutraceuticals make you healthier? Do blood transfusions make you younger? There is no conclusive evidence to suggest so, and experiments by the Bryan Johnsons of the world prove nothing. In fact, in many cases these experiments can do real harm. Take the case of Jo Zayner, an American biohacker who has experimented with editing his own genes and now runs a company that sells CRISPR kits, which allow you to edit your own DNA — a dangerous practice that can lead to life-threatening mutations.
At its best, biohacking is about taking control of your own health, but at its worst, it can veer into pseudo-scientic peddling that does more harm than good.