I was scouring the Internet on this topic a few months ago. The most compelling stuff I found was correlation with oral health and also sleep quality. During sleep, the body releases erythropoietin (EPO) which signals the bone marrow to make red blood cells. I suspect if you routinely get poor sleep that blood cells that are not really mature get recruited early, because more cells are needed, leading to more size variation in the blood. As people age, many have sleep disrupted because they need to use the restroom at night. Sleep apnea, rotting teeth, and such also disturb sleep. Then there is caffeine, alcohol, financial or relationship worries or health/safety worries about oneself, a loved one or pet. Arthritis pain, and other pain/discomfort, can also disturb sleep. It is intuitive but for me at least a big mistake to stop drinking water before bed. I thought it would lead to needing to get up less often. That simply was not true. And I would have too little blood volume and my arms would get their circulation cut off. I decided to just start drinking water before bed, and everything corrected. I rarely ever have to get up to pee, now. It makes no sense, but that is the case. Water before bed cured me of needing to pee in the middle of the night. Your mileage may vary. My sleep is far from perfect. I get bacteria in my mouth from crummy teeth. When I was 19 or 20, some blasted dentist put in a filling, but she did not put in enough filler, so she ground down all my other teeth so it met the tooth above. That lead to every tooth getting a cavity. It also made my lower front teeth dig into the back of my front upper teeth, when it was just fine before. She had to be a sociopath. Of course, she knew that would happen. Yep, my RDW-CV is not ideal. 14.70 at last measure. And I get a lot of omega 3. I think that was not really a factor, as the regression showed. 5 years ago it was virtually the same 14.60. But recently even as I lost 20 lb it went up .20 So that does not support the calorie correlation. Only 2 data points, though.

When my meat, dairy and egg consumption was highest (cholesterol in the 400's) a few years back, RDW was in the range of 16.5 and 19.5. Last 10 months 99% plant based RDW is 11.6. Thank you interesting stuff.

I'm surprised you didn't comment on the impact that the enormous increase in the variance of the RDW data for people over 70 would have on the analysis. The data needed to be analyzed in two groups; one for people under 70 and another for those over 70. This could change the relative importance of RDW in Dr. Levine's biological age predictor depending on your age.

Outstanding stuff, generations ahead of our society.

Well done Michael, your years of self measurement have created some very practical information !

Thank you for the information. You are amazing!

Excellent stuff! Keep it going.

Woah! And here I thought my low RDW was an issue!

Great video, Mike, thank you. Mathematically, RWD and lifespan expectancy are related, but do we know how they are related mechanistically. Why is RWD (standard deviation of red blood size) mechanistically a surrogate marker for lifespan?

Fascinating, I look at pathological rdw every day. This info really depends my respect for this rather humble blood index

Excellent analysis of an important marker of aging. In my case correcting anemia ، being more dedicated to exercise and eating fish more frequently improve my RDW. Like hsCRP , RDW is a biomarker of inflammation. In your data do you notice some significant association between these two indicators?For you, are marine sources omega3 more significantly associated with RDW than plant source (flaxseeds)?

A study showed that for every 1 Muscle Strengthening Activity (MSA) session per day increase, the odds of having an elevated RDW (≥ 14.1%) reduced by 34% (p < 0.05).

Multiple regression is pretty awesome sometimes. It sure destroyed the p-value of the omega-3 effect once caloric intake was taken into account. Nice work!

Very interesting. I'm 41 yrs old and my RDW just came back at 11.9 - I eat a high lean animal protein diet that also includes lots of fruit and veggies. However, my omega index score was on the low side at 3.7

From my sleuthing of the early days of blueprint, Bryan Johnson and his team eliminated DHA and went to an EPA only supplement in order to reduce RDW. ALA from flax and chia as well.

Another great video. By the way, do you have any videos on thyroid biomarkers? Anything on TSH, T3, T4, APO A , APO B?

very great video! do you speak other languages beside english?

On my last blood test, my RDW was 11.1, so on the low side!

I've noticed my RDW seems to shoot up after a blood donation, stays hi for a while after, then slowly comes down. Not sure if there is a real correlation there, but maybe?

How do you eat your sardines? Do you cook them?

Great info! Thanks! Father has lung cancer.. rose from 20 to 35 now still 30. I have blood cancer from 18 now 11.5. I increased omega3 and decreased unhealthy calories over the course of a year.

Are dietary Omega 3s only from your fish intake, or is plant included? If the latter, what happens if you look at correlations separately?

Great stuff. In my mid-60s, my RDW has been hovering between 11.7 and 12.6 for most of the last two years. But it spiked up to 13.1 on a test last week. I can see how an increased caloric intake might be responsible. I don't track my Omega-3, but eat fatty fish and walnuts literally every day so I assume it's fine. But here's my question - should we be looking at net caloric intake, including exercise? If I burn 300-500 calories per day (according to my Polar HR meter and app) in exercise, and I do, does that have the same effect on RDW as if I consumed 300 to 500 calories LESS, with no exercise? Which leads to my larger question - can the well-known longevity benefits of calorie restriction be mimicked through more exercise - i.e. burning more calories?

interestingly that O3 index is not more important. Regarding the O3 intake, did you check for animal source (DH,A EPA) separately? Is RDW% related to your homocysteine and vit A status, as these are 2 powerful agents in opposite directions? thanks

Are any studies out there correlating metabolomic panels with siphox type test and venipuncture? How about with serum klotho and SASP?

impressive omega 3 intake? where do you get it from? also interesting to see more confirmation that less calories is better (assuming adequate nutrition).

Are there any infections thart affectnS RDW?

My RDW had dropped gradually from 15.3 when age 60 to 12.5 before going on a blood thinner at age 77. I've always been a sardine lover but moreso after retirement, but as you point out not a cause of the decrease. But I eat more now than when working so there's another contradiction. One note of caution is that since last year I have been plagued with intermittant afib and there is a connection to too much omega 3's; typically I seldom exceed 1 or 2 grams/day. I also fluctate in being a bit anaemic even in youth and wonder if the whole mess comes down to bone marrow. Saying more than I know as this is not my area of expertise.

I thought the ideal RDW value range was 11.8 - 14.8. My RDW value is 12.2, so does that indicate an age of approx. 21? I am 76.

The slopes of the graphs are pretty shallow, therefore any correlations ??

Parasites are associated with increased RDW. Maybe increased calorie intake is associated with increased parasite exposure in food.

I am 47 but I have always had a RDW% of 16 my whole life. I have MTHFR defect and Gilbert syndrome. It might be correlated to that

I was wondering. You keep track of all the food you eat. Do you record how much water you drink? I was thinking that some of the benefits you have seen from reduced calories might be instead be attributable to a change in ratio of water to calories, with higher water perhaps helping remove toxins that come with the food or generated in the metabolism of the food.

Did you happen to perform the statistical analysis in the opposite direction for calories and omega 3? I.e. when correcting for omega 3 intake is calorie intake significant? As in perhaps they might be both important but the signal from one drowns out the other?

Does net calories have an influence? I.e energy balance. Do you eat more calories when exercising more?

If calorie intake inversely correlates with the RDW, why would the RDW increase as people get older, if people generally consume fewer calories, as they get older?

The Tonelli study is fuzzy, a black box in large part because we have no way of accessing if they adequately adjusted for age when calculating the hazard ratios, given it is published in a low impact journal, I will choose to ignore it until other authors publish similar data supporting their conclusions.

My last test showed 12.7 as the value but was low according to test which has range of 13-15.. Yet it wasn't even brought up by my Primary Care Physician.. So it seems my number is almost optimal (at the time).. yaaay. 52 years old at time of my last test..

Is there clinical research based on your presentation? From what I've read, high RDW mortality isn't a factor in otherwise healthy individuals. Not to dispute your presentation, would just like a link to find out more about it. Thanks in advance.

I'm screwed with RDW at 16.7% at age 60. Beta thalassemia minor. Calorie restriction since youth, more fiber g than protein, whole foods plant based for decades, omega3:omega6 ratio about 3:1. Not sure I can restrict kcals beyond what I currently consume (around 1500) at a BMI of 18.5. If you have any ideas, let me know.

Would RDW-SD be a good marker that also reflects biological age? I read that unlike RDW-CV, RDW-SD isn't dependent on MCV and so may more accurately reflect if the red cell size distribution is normal or not

Range is also seem to be gender specific, I just looked it up…I am Female, 49, 11.9%

My RDW is 14.90 Hemoglobin A1C 5.7 Only those two test give me headache. Any idea what going on

On the scatter diagram, up to 65 years of age, there is NO increase in RDW that correlates with age. RDW should not be used as an indicator of age below 65. Moreover correlation is not causation and if you do something to decrease RDW, that doesn't mean you will get younger. This is Statistics 101.

I noticed that when I revisited the iolla site it now includes biological age … wasn’t pretty.

A review of several videos from this presenter regarding key factors in promoting and preventing biological aging and longevity, is very questionable! There are so many blood markers and other factors that have been researched and demonstrated to either promote or decrease lifespan such as blood platelet/white blood cell count, grip strength, muscle mass, walking speed, ability to get off the floor without using hand/arm strength, etc,, that it is virtually impossible to predict if any one of these markers, or others, definitively predict life expectancy. Furthermore, regardless of whether an individual meets the criteria for a healthy lifespan based on biomarkers and other factors, unexpected medical conditions such as cancers, cardiac and neurological conditions can negate life expectancy. This is the reason to engage in a healthy lifestyle without becoming obsessive regarding biomarkers, and living life to its fullest.

This video is from a cardiologist that has biological age 18 years younger than the chronological age. Some things he does are similar to your approach, others are different: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/frp6lMV-p9jcj2w.html