Anti-Aging Medicine

How often do you get mail about "anti-aging" medicine or "anti-aging" supplements? We get a great deal of such mail, including brochures and magazines devoted to the topic.

Individual differences

While some of these commercial offers contain useful information, they miss a critical point. People are different. For someone with high blood pressure, lowering blood pressure will do more to improve longevity than anything else.  Only after one attends to that does it make sense to consider more general life-prolonging measures.

You may be asking "well, even with high blood pressure, how do you know that that is what going to kill them?"  And you are right, we don't know what actually will carry us away.  We can only guess.

So we are wisest to see if we can make a guess as to what our greatest risks are and avoid those.  For example, the most common cause of death in this country is heart disease. There are a number of metabolic conditions that cause heart disease. These are inherited and can be detected and treated. Not only is an "anti-aging" nostrum not likely to correct these problems, but these "anti-aging" remedies are usually much more expensive.

And group similarities

Having said all that, there are certain measures that will tend to increase the odds of a long healthy life for everyone.  We should never take the basics for granted.  These basics are clean water, effective sanitation, unpolluted air, adequate food, safe streets and so on.  For these we need mutual political cooperation and civil order.  Much more than our medical system, these are the great unpinnings of modern longevity.

In addition, of course, there are some other measures we can take to increase our span of days on earth.  Exercise, choose our food wisely, find contentment with our lives.   Only after those are seen to should you ask about other measures. 

So, finally, yes, we are familiar with most of the popular anti-aging measures, including nutritional supplements, human growth hormone, DMAE, and many others. We can help you separate the hope from the hype.

Adding life to years

Here are some of the services we offer:

• Individual consultation with Dr Rienstra with specific attention to your personal risks and how to lessen them.
• Annual cancer screening.
• Specialized metabolic testing when appropriate to ascertain risks of particular diseases and conditions.

Often we can avoid expensive tests by considering your individual experience and physical findings. 

The Bottom Line

Individual attention is the most important factor in any anti-aging plan. Some of our patients will bring in a sheaf of nutritional information and ask me "All of these nutrients look as if they would be very helpful for me, but there are too many. What do I do?"

Our advice is always to determine what you own particular needs are, then to take advantage of those measures that will be most beneficial and cost-effective for you. In other words, determine what your individual risks and priorities are, and then act accordingly. And never neglect outdoor activity, wholesome food, and fulfilling activities in life.

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