Smart devices that track real-time health data<\/a> also offer \u201ca super opportunity\u201d to support long-term health, she said.<\/p>\nBut the biggest challenge is making these options accessible.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy 2050, two billion people will be over 60. If we can shift even a fraction of healthcare spending from chronic disease to prevention, we could save money and lives,\u201d she said. \u201cUnfortunately, most of what I do in longevity medicine is still paid out of pocket \u2014 but let\u2019s try to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longevity is a rights issue too<\/p>\n
Dr Alejandro Bonilla Garcia, chair of the NGO Committee on Aging, which lobbies the UN, said countries with good social protections \u2013 such as France \u2013 are where people will benefit the most from advances.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThere\u2019s now a group of UN countries and agencies working on a legally-binding convention on the rights of older people. It\u2019s not just about people living longer \u2013 it\u2019s about ensuring they live with rights and eliminating obstacles. We hope to have a convention adopted by 2026 so a wider group can benefit from longevity.\u201d<\/p>\n
AI and whole-body imaging<\/p>\n
Another cutting-edge development is the growing use of total-body MRI scans for early detection of disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
French doctor Julien Frandon of Revoscan in Geneva explained how recent advances mean high-quality scans can now be done in just 15 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach scan produces 6,000 to 7,000 images \u2013 far too many for one doctor to analyse,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where AI comes in. But we also need teams of specialists, not just one radiologist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than waiting for symptoms to appear, he said the goal is to spot subtle, early changes in body composition, organ texture, and volume \u2013 often before disease develops.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just prevention. It\u2019s a whole new kind of medicine, one based on risk, prediction and empowering people to take control of their health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each person\u2019s MRI data becomes an \u201cimage-based fingerprint\u201d of how they are ageing, offering the chance to act before serious illness takes hold.<\/p>\n
At present, full body scans are not offered by the French health service, but Dr Dominik Thor of the Geneva College of Longevity Science told The Connexion he hopes it will become routine in the next decade.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, following cancer screening programmes and regularly asking for a \u201cgood panel of blood tests will get you a long way\u201d, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diet plays key role<\/p>\n
Geneva-based Dr Pablo Bueno said diet plays a central role in health, from portion control and calorie intake to the timing of fasting periods between meals.<\/p>\n
He advised eating more unprocessed, fibre-rich foods that support gut bacteria.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPaleo or Mediterranean diets tend to work best,\u201d he said. These feed beneficial microbes, while fermented foods (such as choucroute or Activia yoghurts) are probiotics, adding new healthy bacteria.<\/p>\n
Other tips included \u201cmindful\u201d eating, good dental hygiene \u2013 including tongue-scraping \u2013 and avoiding excessive supplements: \u201cTwo or three that are well-targeted is better than overloading your liver.\u201d<\/p>\n
In future, he said, precise analysis of the micro-organisms inside an individual\u2019s gut is expected to lead to more tailored advice.<\/p>\n
A multipronged approach<\/p>\n
Some researchers are already testing more experimental therapies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Vladimir Leshko of Unlimited Bio, based in Honduras, said: \u201cWe aim to combine lifestyle with therapies \u2013 from gene and cell therapies to small molecules and blood plasma treatments. Whatever helps.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is likely a combination of therapies, addressing different aging processes, will give the best results, he said. This approach is also true of lifestyle changes, he added.<\/p>\n
“The more boxes you tick, the more benefits you gain for health and life expectancy: aerobic exercise improves your cardiovascular system, high-intensity training improves your ability to take in and use oxygen, weight lifting increases strength and muscle mass, good sleep helps prevent dementia, managing stress can help counter depression, managing diet reduces obesity and diabetes risk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of people aged 65 and over is expected to increase by 36% between now and 2050…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-134689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}