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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    Health conditions and aging

    Related Topic
    Geriatrics & Ageing Well
    What health conditions do I need to be more aware of as I age?
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    • Dr Michael Elstein
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    Dr Michael Elstein

    GP (General Practitioner)

    I am an anti-ageing/wellness expert and author of ‘Eternal Health,’ and ‘You have the power.’ I have appeared on radio and television and currently have … View Profile

     Focusing on preventive health care including optimising nutritional, digestive and hormonal status might go some way to preventing the big four whose incidence increases with ageing, these being osteoporosis, dementia, cancer and heart disease. The emphasis needs to be on prevention and optimising health, as these are essentialy silent diseases, which take hold in our bodies without us realising they are there.  By they time they manifest, reversing what has already taken place can be extremely difficult and sometmes tragically impossible. 
      Osteoporosis can be assessed by means of an X-ray, but a urine test which examines the presence of collagen breakdown products can be useful as an early indicator that bones are becoming demineralised.
      Ar far as early markers of dementia are concerned signing up for the regular E-newsletter at www.alzforum.org can provide useful information about testing related to dementia prevention.
      At the CSIRO in Adelaide research scientists headed by Dr Michael Fenech are looking at markers of DNA damage and nutritional strategies to correct these before these cause irreparable harms.  It would br nice if these tests were freely commercially available.
     Aside from doing a range of blood tests to assess cardiovascular status, a coronary CT scan with an angoigram carried out by X-ray facilities, can identify the presence of blocked arteries that precede a heart attack, which allows for preventive interventional strategies.

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