Despite the care and tests, Johnson still developed an autoimmune diseaseBryan Johnson, the 48-year-old tech entrepreneur turned longevity evangelist, recently said on X that he has been "thinking things over and wonder[ing] if I’ve taken this whole longevity thing too far".The comment marks a rare moment of doubt from a man who has spent years and millions of dollars trying to slow ageing and extend human life.On an anti-ageing crusadeJohnson built his reputation around Project Blueprint, an intense self-experiment that treats his body like a lab and his daily schedule like a clinical trial. The program reportedly costs about $2 million a year and involves a team of more than 30 medical professionals, extensive testing, specialty nutrition, supplements and experimental therapies.His routine is tightly choreographed. Reports say he wakes at the same time every day, follows a fixed bedtime, and structures his mornings around biomarkers, light exposure, exercise and recovery.His regimen has included a 100%-plant-based diet, precise calorie control, repeated blood and organ testing, body-composition scans and sleep monitoring.Johnson’s diet is one of the most visible parts of the protocol.He has publicly described meals built around vegetables, legumes, berries, nuts, seeds, olive oil and dark chocolate, while avoiding alcohol and other habits he believes accelerate ageing.He has also used a long list of supplements and devices as part of the effort, with reports describing 40 to more than 100 daily pills or nutraceuticals depending on the phase of the program. His mornings have also featured red-light therapy, exercise, sauna sessions, cold plunges, and other recovery and performance interventions.Beyond the basics, Johnson has experimented with more unconventional methods, including plasma-related procedures, intermittent hypoxia training, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and other interventions designed to influence cellular resilience and biological ageing. He has also posted about trying new compounds and treatments, often turning his own body into a public test case.Why he is reconsideringJohnson’s latest reflection comes after he disclosed an autoimmune gastritis diagnosis, a rare condition in which the immune system attacks the stomach lining. He described it bluntly on X as his stomach “eating itself,” and said he plans to keep searching for solutions rather than simply manage the disease.Johnson said the diagnosis prompted him to rethink his choices, even as he insisted he would continue trying to solve the problem through monitoring and experimental care.The reaction to his diagnosis also highlighted how controversial his anti-ageing project has become.Johnson has often framed ageing as a challenge that can be measured, managed and perhaps eventually defeated, but his recent comments suggest the physical and psychological limits of that ambition may be harder to ignore.Diet broken?Johnson has long treated food as a core pillar of his anti-ageing mission, however, just hours after his post on rethinking his "longevity thing", the entrepreneur declared that he had gone off protocol and "ate meat"."While traveling in Australia, I tried to fit in with social norms and ate animal protein for the first time in six years," he said on X.He said the move "changed" his gut microbiome, with good bacteria falling 61% and bile-tolerant bacteria rising 2.5 times, calling it "a good experiment".Johnson said the effect was not a blanket judgment on meat, noting that many omnivores have healthy microbiomes. But he said that in his case, after six years of legumes, pea protein, hemp protein, vegetables, extra virgin olive oil, berries, nuts, seeds and collagen peptides, one week of animal food produced an "unfavorable signature".