Aging Well. . - Book Corners - Longevity - book review

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Feb-March, 2002  by Irene Alleger

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Longevity

by W. Lee Cowden, MD, Ferre Akbarpour, MD, and Russ Dicarlo with Burton Goldberg

AlternativeMedicine.com, Inc. 1650 Tiburon Blvd., Tiburon, California 94920 USA; www.alternativemedicine.com 2001, softcover, $14.95, 441 pp.

Baby-boomers are in an enviable position today. There has never been so much information on how to live a long and healthy life, nor so many diagnostic and screening procedures to catch serious illnesses early. Anti-aging, or longevity medicine (the term the authors prefer) is a fairly recent area of practice, with solid roots in preventive medicine (reducing risk factors).

"Longevity practitioners are especially interested in distinguishing those factors that play a direct role in aging from those that are merely consequences of aging." This gets a little tricky -- like which comes first, the chicken or the egg. "Decrease of some hormones is an effect of biological aging," yet "concluding that aging is simply the consequence of depleted hormone levels is misleading." That is because these practitioners address root causes -- in this case, there may be some fundamental process underlying the decline of hormone levels; not just a simple case of aging.

Researchers have found that genes account for about 25% of variability in life expectancy. The factors that we can control (and therefore improve our chances of a long and healthy life) are primarily involved in the oxidative process -- the infamous free radicals. As free radicals can be caused by everything from bad food, chemicals and toxic metals, to radiation and too much sunlight, it is the primary area of interest to longevity practitioners. A whole foods, organic diet will prevent too much oxidation, and supplementation with antioxidants will be the main thrust of the protocol.

Many things influence increased life expectancy: hormone production, nutrition, stress load, toxic load, immune system competence, and brain function. The protocol used by the authors begins with tests to establish a "base line," and to spot irregularities and imbalances. The CBC blood test has been greatly expanded by a new method that lists the amounts of 44 substances normally found in the blood. It also ranks these items, such as cholesterol, lymphocytes, sodium, and bilirubin, according to their relative deviation from the mean or average value. Another new test now available in the US is the Biological Terrain Assessment (BTA) which analyzes blood, saliva, and first-morning urine. This test helps doctors determine factors involved in malabsorption and maldigestion, including bacterial overgrowth, parasitic infection, and enzymatic depletion.

Other innovative tests include Electrodermal Screening which can indicate the degree of stress that is affecting an organ and can monitor the progress of therapy, avoiding trial and error and general guesswork, and Darkfield Microscopy -- looking at live blood cells. Comprehensive digestive stool analysis is another important test for preventive-oriented longevity practitioners -- digestive problems are endemic in the US.

There are other tests for hormone levels, nutritional deficiencies, toxicity (hair analysis), immune system tests and while most of these give general information, the tests for early cancer detection are important for the client's (I'm not sure they can be called patients), peace of mind. Some of the alternative (and newer) tests include AMAS, an immunoassay, Thermography (based on infrared heat emissions from targeted regions of the body), The Hemoccult Test (for colorectal cancer), and the T/Tn Antigen Test (markers for cancer).

After "Developing Your Longevity Program" (with tests and screening as guides), the authors address the main causes of aging: dietary deficiencies, excessive stress, toxicity from environment, immune dysfunctions, and hormonal imbalances. Each one is covered thoroughly with scientifically researched information on dietary factors, etc. It appears that longevity "enhancing" foods are the particularly powerful antioxidants such as broccoli, citrus, Japanese mushrooms, and green tea. This section contains one of the "Quick Guides" -- this one on Fats. These special sidebars are very helpful in explaining complex dietary components such as fats.

Diet is addressed first because it is obviously the basis of good health maintenance, and most important. I was interested to see the authors list excessive stress in second place as a cause of aging. Chronic stress affects the immune system the most, however its effects are felt in many areas of the body, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, heart disease, and the endocrine system. Each of these sections is followed by protocols such as appropriate supplementation, stress "busters," detoxification methods, immune "boosters," and "fortifying" hormones.

As in all the Alternative Medicine Definitive Guides, the amount of information is staggering, yet in a format that facilitates easy reading. This Goldberg series has become the gold standard in providing scientifically researched information for the public on preventive medicine, and a better bargain cannot be found for $14.95.

COPYRIGHT 2002 The Townsend Letter Group
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group