Anti-aging Medicine

My wife and I are vacationing in Fort Lauderdale at our snowbird's cottage. Today after paying our municipal taxes at the Broward center, and briefly shopping at the massive flea market on Sunrise Blvd., we dropped down to the Life Extension Foundation located on Commercial Blvd. I have been a member of the Life Extension Foundation since 1982 and make my annual pilgrimage to the center. It used to be located on Hollywood Blvd, then on 84th before moving to its present expanded office on Sunrise. I checked at their desk to find when my annual subscription was due (not until April 2007). I then picked up the last 3 issues of the monthly magazine even though I receive them regularly in Winnipeg.
In the Nov/2006 issue I was impressed with the editorial by Dale Kiefer of Dr. Philip Lee Miller. Dr. Miller gave up a busy medical internist practice to establish a Longevity Institute in the California's silicon valley. Prior to the transformation and opening of his anti-aging medical care center he sought advice and training at the Whitaker Wellness Institute. During the interview although Dr. Miller agreed that we will still need hospitals and " crisis intervention approaches" to medicine we also need a "new paradigm " - where anti-aging medicine would be taught in our medical schools. The aim of physicians should not just be curing the disease but also that of restoring function. He calls his approach " integrated functional medicine " .He further emphasizes that anti-aging medicine must go beyond just preventive medicine like regular exercise, proper nutrition and plenty of sleep.
As we age the level of many of our hormones decline and must be restored in a balanced fashion so that our patients can not only add years to their life (longevity) but also life to their years (wellness ).
I also am a disciple of Saul Kent's Life Extension Revolution, and a subscriber to Dr. Whitaker's Wellness Newsletter. For several years I produced a half hour long monthly TV production on Health and Longevity in Winnipeg. I also incorporated some aspects of complementary medicine in my practice.

Islet/retinal cell transplant?

While enoying the Florida sunshine during the month of November I checked my emails from Winnipeg and was impressed with the Life Extension Newsletter where they discuss restoring vision for victims of macular degeneration with embryonic stem cell transplants into the posterior chamber of the eye.

In a earlier blog I rationalized that since pancreatic islet cells appear to be of neural origin (neural crest) that maybe such cells could be transplanted into the brain where the body is less capable of mounting a homograft rejection.

Since the olfactory nerve like the retinal (optical) nerve has direct connection to the brain, it may be possible to transplant islet cells in the vicinity of the olfactory nerve through a surgical approach using the roof of the mouth-thus avoiding the brain itself. (viz vicinity of the olfactory nerve- or maybe even adjacent to the vascular rich pituitary area)

If such surgery is possible, loosing one's sense of smell may be a minor sacrifice to avoid the repeated daily injections of the insulin hormone which human physiologist admit does not control satisfactorily blood sugar levels throughout the day for many victims with a varied life style.

In the interum, endocrinologists might explore possible to use a hormonal nasal spray rather than the present insulin injections.