I mentioned that I had visited Terry Grossman’s anti-aging clinic in Denver last month.
The main reason for going so far was that I can find little interest among UK professionals of all types in anti-aging. At least, not in the practical way that many in America approach it.
For example, let’s take the setup of our medical profession.
Heart Disease – Cholesterol Is Only The Third Most Important Factor
There are two factors, easily measured in the blood, which are more important than cholesterol in causing heart disease; homocysteine and c-reactive protein.
When present at a raised level, both are well-known (if you read the literature) to be correlated with a raised incidence of heart disease and stroke as well as cancer. Yet they are hardly talked about by the great majority of doctors.
Even those doctors who do measure CRP or homocysteine for some reason or other use a range which is just too high. What they call ‘satisfactory’ the anti-aging lobby would call ‘dangerously high’.
Mum’s CRP
For example, my mother’s c-reactive protein (CRP) (an indication of raised general inflammation) happened to be measured, as she had a type of arthritic condition, her CRP was 17 milligrams per litre (mg/L) of blood.
Quite rightly, the doctor said that was too high. When CRP came down to 10 mg/L, after a couple of weeks, the doctor was delighted with that figure.
Well, according to Philip Miller* (an anti-aging specialist) a woman with CRP of more than 4 mg/L has a ‘substantially elevated risk’ of heart attack. The ideal level of CRP is less than 1.5 for women; and less than 0.5 for men.
My own CRP, by way of comparison, was 0.65 when I had it checked in April 2008; pretty good.
So, my mother’s level of 10 was very far from satisfactory. I now have her taking large amounts of omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil), the most effective single way of bringing it down further.
Anti-Aging – Go To America
So, I was saying why I visited USA for tests. It’s because the people I have found who know about anti-aging are based in America. It seems ridiculous to have to go that far, but there it is.
Resources:
Article about homocysteine and heart disease
Article about c-reactive protein, heart disease and cancer
My anti-aging blog
*Book – Philip Miller, Life Extension Revolution, from Amazon
Are you interest in my holiday trip to Colorado? Read about it on my website about visiting lovely Denver and Beautiful, exciting Colorado.
