Last week, I had a peculiar medical exam: I, together with other reporters from other publications, was instructed not to eat or drink anything for at least eight hours after dinner. The following morning three vials of blood samples were taken and then I was instructed to go back after a week for the test results.
When I returned, I learned that my blood samples were sent to a laboratory in Thailand.
There were also some interesting revelations. One sheet indicated the food items—200 were identified—that my body seemed to be extremely, slightly, or least allergic to. Another sheet showed how sufficient or how deficient my body is of certain vitamins and minerals while the third one charted the levels of several antioxidants in my body. Both reports offered suggestions on how I could improve the level of each one to attain the normal range.
Likened to a car
Suddenly, I likened myself to a car that was inside a service center for a checkup—oil filter and engine oil need changing, front tires already worn out, low compression on two of eight cylinders.
“The blood tests done reveals so much the specialist doing the interpretation of the reports could actually tailor a specific and effective solution that could make you feel much healthier or even allow you to ward off the development of a potential disease. And just like a well-diagnosed car, you won’t find yourself stalling in the middle of an expressway or hitting something or someone because the brakes are not working,” explained Dr. Benedict Francis Valdecañas, medical director and antiaging physician at LifeScience, a center for wellness and preventive medicine.
Located at the 8th floor of ACCRA Law Tower at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 30th Street in Bonifacio Global City, LifeScience Center uses preventive medicine to target disease before symptoms appear.
Disease prevention
“In preventive medicine, measures are taken to prevent diseases or even possible injuries rather than curing them or treating their symptoms. It is more focused and targets individual needs,” Valdecañas said.
A visit at the center usually starts with a consultation. Laboratory tests are the requested afterward depending on the person’s specific needs and concerns.
“These tests can range from micronutrient levels in the blood, byproducts of metabolism that can shed light on your physiologic, digestive or hormonal deficiencies, actual genomic studies that give a glimpse of your genetic architecture, to what diseases you are destined to get, and thus giving you the power to adopt measures to prevent them,” said Maria Victoria Romero-Salas, LifeScience Center executive director.
Faulty lifestyle habits
She explained that once the laboratory results come in, the same specialist who the person saw earlier will now begin to uncover faulty lifestyle habits and then draw up guidelines that may point the person toward a healthier future through different services available at LifeScience Center.
“For example, through the LifeScience Food Intolerance Test, one will be provided with a list of more than 200 food groups he/she is most reactive to down to the least reactive ones. That person will realize that a number of these food items are the ones actually making him/her feel bloated or gaseous. In more serious instances he/she will be able to realize that certain food stuffs he/she likes so much are not absorbed adequately or produce toxins that stay longer inside the body,” Valdecañas said.
He added that aside from guiding the person to change to a less immunologic diet, LifeScience Center could also provide “Customized Nutraceuticals” that could ensure that the person’s vitamin and mineral intake responds to his/her needs and requirements.
Overdue
Salas said the center’s services are long overdue in an age where preventable disease is the single largest cause of death. The center’s services include age management program, metabolic management program, hormonal restoration program, joint care and regeneration, sports medicine and physique development, as well as beauty and skin program.
She said: “Indeed, unhealthy behaviors like poor diet and sedentary lifestyle, account for significant percentage of premature deaths or proliferation of certain diseases around the world. What you eat is as important as what you exclude and what you eat affects which diseases you may develop. Some may even be harmful to your health over time. Our center intends to point you to the right direction.”
Valdecañas added that preventing diseases is better than waiting for them to occur and then treating them. “We think of healthcare as an expense, but we really should be thinking of healthcare as an investment. We want to invest where we have the greatest return. I would put preventive medicine in that bucket.”