medicine, or as he likes to call it, integrative medicine.
Sanjay Gupta to discuss his opinion on aging and other benefits of alternative medicine.
embrace that?
universal law, if your goal is anti-aging, I just think you're in the wrong relationship with
nature. There are people telling us that within our lifetimes we're going to be able to extend
the human life span to 150, 200 [years]. I don't believe it.
about them?
gotten disillusioned with medical practice and have seen this as an easy transition into a
field where they attract mostly the worried well, who are mostly affluent and willing to pay
out of pocket. They're told they are part of a frontier of medical practice. Some sensible
lifestyle recommendations are given, but along with that are recommendations of products
[or] services for which I think there's very little scientific evidence and, in some cases, I
think these are potentially harmful treatments. The one I'd single out is human growth
hormone. I don't think there's any evidence human growth hormone extends life or slows
aging. It may have some benefits on muscle mass and bone density but it may also have
downsides in terms of increased risks of joint problems, possess increased cancer risks and
cardiovascular risks.
hormones is they have very general effects. Often they're given for one specific reason and
ignore the others. You see that with female hormone replacement. I generally don't
recommend taking hormones unless there's a documented reason to do so.
live as long as practical, when I can enjoy life. I really don't want to have a long period of life
when I am unable to enjoy it, unable to do things. I want to do. So, I think I'm more
concerned about that than the absolute number of years I'm going to live.
problems that I have and I think I measure health in terms of having the capacity to do the
things that meet life's demands and enjoy life and put myself in situations so that I'm able
to enjoy it.
accurate information. I think also, partly, I have good credentials. I have a clear style of
writing and communication that people can understand. And I think I present balanced
information. I don't uncritically accept alternative medicine or uncritically reject
conventional medicine.
that they are really responsible for their own health and they want good information about
their options -- or sometimes its people who have had very bad experiences with
conventional medicine. They tend to be people who are educated and curious and
motivated, and it's a real pleasure to work with motivated patients.
medicine? Is it the same thing?
are not taught in conventional medical schools. Integrative medicine is seeing what's out
there that we might bring into the mainstream. But I think it's gotten much larger goals than
that. First of all, integrative medicine is trying to restore the medicine on health and healing.
That means [focusing] on prevention and the body's natural capacity to repair itself.
Secondly, it really insists that people are whole persons -- that we are more than just
physical bodies. You've got to look at the mental, emotional and the spiritual aspects of
human life to understand health and illness. And it really stresses lifestyle medicine. We've
got to look at how people eat, how they rest, how they exercise, how they handle stress, all
of that. And it places great emphasis on the physician-patient relationship as being central
to the healing process. So those are much larger goals that aren't really captured by
alternative medicine.
become less popular?
people want. I think high-tech medicine is becoming more and more specialized. It does deal
with crisis, with life-threatening illnesses, but it's becoming so expensive. I think for the
common everyday complaints that people have, integrative medicine will become the
standard of care.
what would our hospitals look like? What would our health care providers' systems look like?
right now it's not a health care system, it's a disease management system, and it doesn't
work. Clearly we don't spend our health care dollars in the right way. I mean, have you seen
in the statistics that we spend more per capita on health care than any other country and
have worse outcomes than any other developed country? So we are doing something wrong
and basically we are not spending money on prevention and education and correcting
lifestyle.
on its own feet and that the program at the University of Arizona is stable. You know, I am
delighted to see all these graduates out there, some that are training other physicians now.
That's great. I am done writing books for a while. A lot of my concern is about my own
leisure time and well being. You know, I really just want to have my own time to take care of
myself.
medicine, or as he likes to call it, integrative medicine.
Aging."
cardiovascular disease. But, my emphasis is not on life extension. It's on healthy aging. So, I'
m trying to keep you healthy as long as possible.
disease. Age-related disease are these big categories of illness that become more common
after age 60 and that account for a great deal of premature death and disability. So, the big
ones are cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease and its relative. So, I think the
emphasis is on preventing those, showing you how to reduce the risk or delay the onset.
And if you came to me as a patient, I would look at your family history, personal history to
see where your greatest risks were. And then I would concentrate the preventive efforts in
those areas.
doing some homework and then learning the information that you need then applying it. And
it's applying it really in all areas of your lifestyle. It means looking at how you eat, how you
use dietary supplements, how you exercise, how you handle stress, how you sleep, how you
rest, how you deal with your mind. You know, you really need to work in all those areas to
ensure healthy aging.
spiritual health, if I walk, dance, golf, and couple other things, I am going to feel better longer?
not paying attention to weight and not paying attention to your cholesterol and not paying
attention to other medical risks that you may have, you know, you can put all the flowers
you want in your house and it's not gonna help. So, you know, we have to attend to that
part of you as well.
music to getting massaged. My favorite techniques are breathing methods because they're
so cost efficient and time efficient. And these mostly come from the yoga tradition. But,
they're simple. I mean, there's a relaxing breath that I teach that takes all of two minutes a
day to practice that has a remarkable effects if you do it regularly over time.
much is genetics and how much is environment and lifestyle? I think it's always both. My
way of thinking of this is that we're all dealt a certain hand of genetic cards, some good,
some bad. But, it's up to us how we play them.
to walk away with today, diet-wise.
from soy foods, for example. Make sure you've got omega-3 fatty acids in your diet, either
from oily fish, or fish oil supplements. Try to reduce consumption of quick-digesting
carbohydrate foods, which are the ones made from any kind of flour, sugar, high fructose
corn syrup.
grains, packed grains, winter squashes, sweet potatoes. Really learn the differences between
good fats and bad fats. Use olive oil as a main cooking oil. Include nuts, seeds, avocados, in
your diet.
dark chocolate and red wine, in moderation, if you want their antioxidant effects.
medical research showing that people who have pets recover faster from illness. They get
out of the hospital faster if they have surgery. So I think there's a lot of benefits to being
involved with, you know, other things than yourself.
life. And that doesn't mean you have to run marathons, or go to aerobics classes. Walking is
a perfectly good physical activity if you do enough of it regularly enough. You want to learn
some method of stress management. You know, as I said, I like breathing exercises. But, you
know, anything you can do. You want to really try to identify negative thought patterns that
lead to negative behavior, and see how you can change them.
changing your computer operating system frequently. You want to stay connected and
involved with life. I think you really want to try to focus on the positive attributes that come
with aging, as well as the negative ones.
expert Dr. Andrew Weil in "Chasing Life" an hour-long documentary presented by the CNN
Special Investigations Unit, April 14 and 15 at 8 p.m. ET.
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