Tags: Physical Wellness
By Anna Valmero
TAGUIG CITY, METRO MANILA— Everyone is different so preventive and anti-aging healthcare and medicine should be tailored to focus on the specific needs of a person for it to be more effective, according to a renowned anti-aging expert.
“The general trend in the medical industry is that healthcare is geared towards customized healthcare for patients to achieve optimum health. It also requires patients to be more proactive in caring for themselves,” said Dr. Michael Klentze, president of Klentze Institut and international expert in preventive, regenerative and personalized medicine.
Klentze recently visited the country during the launch of the LifeScience Center for Wellness and Preventive Medicine in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig. Klentze Institut partnered with LifeScience Center to advocate preventive medicine and holistic healthcare among Filipinos.
“Often, you see the doctors for cure but more people are realizing the benefits of preventive and integrative medicine because you enjoy a higher quality of life and serious ailments are prevented or caught before it gets worse,” he explains.
Preventive and integrative medicine is focused on understanding and restoring health of a person “from the inside” down to the microscopic level. This means focusing on cellular functions, for example, of mitochondria or “powerhouses” of cells to prevent aging of the body.
“Disease starts at the molecular level so by understanding cellular mechanisms such as length of telomeres against the age of a person and in response to oxidative inflammation due to stress could help us to better predict and avoid conditions that can lead to diseases,” says Klentze.
Telomeres are integral to cell division, blood regeneration and repair of the body organs. A younger person heals a wound better due to longer telomeres. Over time, it naturally declines in number but unhealthy lifestyle choices speed up the aging process.
While nobody wants to be old, Klentze says everyone is prone to aging and decline in performance, productivity and health.
Also, people respond differently to medicine and he cites Metformin, a common drug prescribed for diabetics, as an example. He points out that some 30 percent of Filipinos do not respond to its formulation so taking or increasing the dosage is a common malpractice.
Klentze is optimistic that through advocating holistic healthcare, more Filipinos would be able to avoid diabetes, which could be predicted based on the study of the body’s micronutrients, overall health, exercise activity, and one’s genetic history.
He advises Filipinos to practice eight hours of sleep to allow the body to repair itself and to eat less foods with sugar and high cholesterol to avoid obesity and related diseases.
One benefit of customized healthcare is that medical costs are cut down by half, particularly in medicine expenses, said Dr. Ben Valdecañas, medical director of LifeScience.
Based on his personal experience, Valdecañas used to spend P12,000 for his maintenance drugs but when he adopted a more customized approach on healthcare, he cut down his expenses to around P6,000 only because he did away with unnecessary supplements and medicines.
Valdecañas said that the medicines prescribed at the center are based on a person’s gender, metabolism, blood tests, nutrition and overall health status of a person compared to those over-the-counter medicines that only target symptoms.
In this era of highly processed foods and 24/7 living, people often take too much energy and sleep less so the body cannot efficiently convert the energy and repair the body during rest periods. Caloric restriction or eating less twice or thrice every week could help heal the body and prevent obesity, Klentze said.
Integrative and preventive medicine also hinges on proper nutrition and exercise but one needs to consult a doctor first to better understand the exercise needs and diet to achieve one’s target weight.
The Life Science facility features top of the line technology that understands a person’s genes and molecular metabolism by getting cell samples using non-invasive mechanism such as getting the saliva or cheek cells. Using this method, doctors are able to understand if a person is predisposed to diabetes, obesity and hypertension, Valdecañas said.
The center also offers IV treatment for detoxification and hormone replacement therapy, oxygen beds for recuperation, and customized vitamins based on blood types, among others.
Get more information about LifeScience Center for Wellness and Preventive Medicine
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