Healthy Aging Health Center
This article is from the WebMD Feature Archive
Aging Gracefully and Naturally
Spring Cleansing
Nope, it doesn't involve a vacuum or a broom. Body-cleansing systems are touted everywhere as a way to detoxify the body and get rid of what ails us.
One such program, the Body Rejuvenation Cleanse Program, takes place over six weeks. Participants use organic herbal tinctures to support the liver, detoxify poisons, and help the body remove the layers of infection. "They also cut back on simple sugars and foods known to spike blood sugar," says Dean, who developed the program. "By slowly changing the way they eat, you are able to renew your energy and strengthen your immune system and lose unwanted weight."
Other cleansing fasts may involve only drinking juice or water.
But There Are Some Detractors
Not all health-care professionals are sold on antiaging medicine, including Nir Barzilai, MD, director of the Institute of Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y.
"If there really was a good antiaging drug, companies would be doing huge studies," he says, adding that "there are statements and no data."
Though vitamins and minerals may not be harmful, some supplements may be, he warns WebMD.
Growth hormone, for example. "Companies are quoting studies that suggest it may have benefits, which led to [government]-funded studies to see if it's true, and they have shown some benefits but also some risks," he says. "The benefits may be skin tightness, but the risk is cancer.
"Vitamins are not dangerous, but that's not how they are being marketed," he says. "Some say that vitamins will decrease aging, and the answer is that there is no evidence for that -- it might, but nobody has shown it yet."
The best thing you can do to delay aging, he says, is to keep your body weight at a normal level.
"We are trying to look at two models of longevity, and one is a caloric-restricted model, and mice, rats, or monkeys who eat 60% of calories of their brothers live up to twice as long," he says.
"The basic thing we know is that if you are lean or obese, you have totally different risks of all different causes of death," he says.
del.icio.us
VIVELLE-DOT (estradiol transdermal system) IS AVAILABLE BY PRESCRIPTION ONLY.
INDICATION
Vivelle-Dot is used after menopause to: reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; treat moderate to severe dryness, itching and burning in or around the vagina; help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones); and treat certain conditions in which a young woman's ovaries do not produce enough estrogens naturally. Vivelle-Dot 0.025 mg/day is only used to prevent osteoporosis from menopause. If you use Vivelle-Dot only to treat your dryness, itching, and burning in and around your vagina or if you use Vivelle-Dot only to prevent osteoporosis from menopause, talk with your healthcare professional about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Estrogens increase the chances of getting cancer of the uterus (womb). Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away while you are taking estrogens. Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb).
Do not use estrogens with or without progestins to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, or strokes. Using estrogens with or without progestins may increase your chances of getting heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer, and blood clots. Using estrogens with progestins may increase your risk of dementia (decline in memory and thinking skills).
Vivelle-Dot should not be used if you have unusual vaginal bleeding; currently have or have had certain cancers, including cancer of the breast or uterus; had a stroke or heart attack in the recent past (for example, in the past year); currently have or have had blood clots; currently have or have had liver problems; or think you may be, or know that you are, pregnant.
The most common side effects that may occur with Vivelle-Dot are headache, breast tenderness, and back pain.
You and your healthcare professional should talk regularly about whether you still need treatment with Vivelle-Dot.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Please see Full Prescribing Information for Vivelle-Dot.
