{"id":9948,"date":"2020-09-11T13:11:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T18:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vitoli.ca\/?p=9948"},"modified":"2025-04-24T10:56:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T14:56:46","slug":"longevity-prevention-disease-who-cares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitoli.ca\/en\/longevity-prevention-disease-who-cares\/","title":{"rendered":"Longevity? Prevention? Disease? – Who Cares!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The issue with modern-day western medicine (which I also mentioned in my personal Bio<\/u><\/a>)<\/u> is that it is disease oriented, rather than prevention oriented. Even society orients their perspectives in this fashion, which begs the question \u2013 WHY? It seems like we have been conditioned to have a form of detachment with our physical bodies, where we choose to only address issues when they seem to intervene with our everyday life. In doing so, we address the symptoms and not the underlying causes.<\/p>\n

This is the very concern that many holistic practitioners, naturopaths, longevity researchers, etc., aim to address. A recent scientific article published in the Public Policy & Aging Report of The Gerontological Society of America in 2019 by Dr. Matt Kaeberlein, called \u201cIt is Time to Embrace 21st<\/sup>-Century Medicine\u201d, speculated further on this issue. What is the point of addressing symptoms of disease when the end result is basically extending life in the presence of these very same diseases? What I mean to say is, why is our healthcare systems addressing health issues by looking at one symptom or disease at a time, rather than targeting the overall pathways of disease to prevent their very onset? Dr. Kaeberlein referred to this as a \u201ctraditional one-disease-at-a-time approach\u201d.<\/p>\n

Science has come so far as to discover so many medicines and causes of disease. Ranging from time that the common cold and common bacteria decreased life expectancies merely due to the fact that soap was not yet invented, to now being able to conduct complex bypass surgeries with approximate 95% success rates. We have come so far, yet our aging populations still suffer with fragility and are impaired in many ways in their final years. How is it that although we extended the average life expectancies, extended suffering along with it?<\/p>\n

\"diagrammeWhat has been suggested from longevity research is that targeting the pathways of disease is not the only method in preventing disease, but targeting the pathways of aging can, in fact, delay the onset and\/or progression of age-related diseases (Kaeberlein 2013). Targeting aging pathways prior to their onset would be the best prevention of disease thus far. In doing so, we will no longer target individual diseases or symptoms, but in fact, we will be targeting aging. To clarify this further, Dr. Kaeberlein states that \u201cnearly every organ system declines with age, which leads to functional impairments in a variety of measures, including the ability to fight off infections (immunity), hearing, vision, memory, strength, and many others\u201d.<\/p>\n

Perhaps we are looking at this the wrong way. Perhaps we should change certain mindsets in order to change these outcomes. Healthcare would have to change their approaches in order to intervene upstream and\/or bring the biological system back to homeostasis<\/a>. In this article, Dr. Kaeberlein refers to 21st<\/sup>-century medicine as medicines that directly target biological aging. He stated that \u201cNow is the time to begin preparing for the reality of effective approaches for delaying aging in people. Policy makers, research funders, regulatory officials, and medical professionals alike should understand that intervention in biological aging is not only possible, but is already making its way into the clinic and the unregulated marketplace\u201d.<\/p>\n

What about natural products and longevity? Well, this highlights their potential even further within this domain of research and longevity medicine. Afterall, Idunn Technologies<\/a>\u2019 main focus is discovering natural molecules that can preserve the metabolic and biological functions of longevity<\/a>. Dr. Kaeberlein, however raises his concerns in regards to natural products on the market. As mentioned previously in other articles in the Vitoli blog, many natural products on the market are not regulated<\/a>. It is important that consumers become knowledgeable about this fact to make sure that the natural products they consume are:<\/p>\n