The Massive BS that is generated by Wellness Apps like Superpower and Function

The Skeptical Cardiologist

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On the Massive BS That is Generated by Wellness Apps like Superpower and Function<br>Testing hundreds of biomarkers may seem like a great idea but services like Superpower are identifying lab abnormalities that are of no concern and foisting supplements for profit, not your health

The Skeptical Cardiologist<br>May 06, 2026<br>∙ Paid

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Recently, I received this email from a man at a company called Superpower

The skeptical cardiologist article he linked to is from 2014 and does not mention asymmetric dimethylarginine1 and my name isn’t Guy.<br>But I’ve been meaning to write about Function, which several of my patients have subscribed to in order to have hundreds of (mostly unnecessary) biomarkers measured on a quarterly basis.<br>The business model of Superpower seemed very similar to Function, so I agreed to get the no-charge set of “100+” biomarkers and get sucked into the marketing maelstrom that those results would trigger.<br>So here’s the not-so-short but very honest write-up of my experience.<br>Claude advises me that “Function Health is the more established and heavily funded player compared to Superpower, with a broader test panel and a deeper clinical advisory board — but both companies are targeting the same growing wave of health-conscious consumers wanting proactive, data-driven insight into their bodies.”<br>As you will glean if you keep reading, the concept of more is better when it comes to biomarkers is complete marketing BS 2and as a result the reliability/integrity of the clinical advisory board for both of these operations is suspect3.<br>Superpower: Marketing on Steroids

Superpower is a preventive health and longevity startup that positions itself as a “super app” bridging the gap between wellness and traditional healthcare.<br>For $199 per year, Superpower offers lab testing that claims to analyze over 100 blood biomarkers across 21 categories, including hormone health, longevity, immune regulation, inflammation, and nutrients and toxins. Testing can be done at Quest Diagnostics locations or at home (extra charge), and results typically take about a week.

Superpower’s pitch is that<br>Your annual physical tests 10-15 biomarkers

Superpower tests 100+ in a single blood draw (about 9 tubes of blood)

Which they say, “is the difference between checking if you’re sick and understanding if you’re actually optimized.”<br>They also emphasize that they give you “Personalized protocols-not a printout and a “see you next year.” plus on-demand access when questions come up (from a crappy AI chatbot) and most importantly from their profit standpoint (and relentlessly marketed to you), a marketplace of prescriptions and supplements up to 20.<br>This all sounds good but what if the majority of those additional tests are just derived by manipulating those 10-15 biomarkers your PCP gets?<br>What if the personalized protocols are full of errors?<br>What if there really is no need for the “marketplace of prescriptions and supplements” that are promised?<br>And what if, Superpower harasses you with frequent emails encouraging you to pay more for additional tests that you don’t need or to gift subscriptions to your mother for Mother’s day?<br>Superpower Score and biological Age

After about a week I was notified that my results were ready and I logged into my Superpower dashboard.<br>It’s a very slick dashboard, and the first thing I saw was my biological age and “superpower score.”

What is this biological age of which Superpower doth speak?<br>Superpower and many other companies are using something called PhenoAge to estimate your “biological age.”<br>PhenoAge uses 9 biomarkers, all of which except for CRP are available in the typical annual PCP blood panel.

Biological age calculators like PhenoAge are genuinely useful research tools for understanding population-level patterns of aging but for an individual hoping to optimize longevity, they are at best a rough directional signal — and at worst a number that can be gamed, misinterpreted, or acted upon in ways that have no validated connection to actually living longer.<br>The interventions most robustly linked to longevity (not smoking, exercise, sleep, diet quality, social connection, blood pressure control) are largely things you don’t need a biological age clock to tell you to do.<br>Biomarker Bloat

The concept that more is better with biomarker testing is highly suspect.<br>But a segment of American consumers loves to pay for more tests done more frequently. Even if those tests don’t add anything meaningful to their health evaluation.<br>These are the suckers consumers that Superpower (and Function) are seeking.<br>The “health-conscious consumers who want more proactive, data-driven insight into their bodies than a typical annual physical provides.”<br>In my case, 58 of the 105 biomarkers were “optimal”, 37 “normal”, and 10 “out of range.”<br>It turns out that a third of the 105...