Blogging takes me places. This year it reunited me with someone I used to work with at my quasi-agency life. We worked really well together in the past and when he asked for my help to do some ground breaking work for a new venture in front of Burgos Circle at the Fort Global City, the concept intrigued me. They’re setting up the very first anti-aging clinic in the Philippines. It’s called LifeScience Center for Wellness (and the blog). It’s the stuff the medical tourism industry in Thailand is made of, apparently, and it’s now here. Well, sort of: the boutique hotel inspired clinic opens early next year.
So what’s to expect? When you walk into the clinic (that looks like a hotel), you undergo a very intimate consultation with the center’s doctors. You sit on chairs, side by side, not across a table. Consultation goes on for an hour or more. It’s an interview about your family history, the current supplements you take, your habits, your goals. It’s really intimate. From there, the clinic takes a sample of your blood and ships it around the world to be tested. When it arrives after two weeks or so, you’re presented with a map of your genetic makeup and they can also predict how your body will age. They tell you why you’re allergic to certain things. They tell you why this certain supplement works for your friend but not for you (i.e. weight loss pills). They do hormone regeneration for women and they can speed up your metabolism if you really want to lose weight. They tell you things that you’ve never known about your body. And it’s all science.
(This is probably the part where you’re wondering — ‘So is it too good to be true?’)
The last part of the consultation is equally interesting. Based on the results of your tests, they will customize vitamins and minerals and create a set of pills for you. In the same way that tailored jeans fit better, tailored medicine is more effective. They give you the exact dosage that you need, and you’ll actually be surprised at the gaps and crevices of what they recommend.
I’ve been having casual conversations with a number of friends, mostly ones I met from the Internet (i.e. Bambi and Liz). I also invited a few media friends including Nicole, Bianca alongside our resident Internet yoga mom, Jane to a little lunch with the principals from abroad. Main reactions? “This is great stuff but too good to be true!” It’s mind boggling as well. If you’re a doctor or have a medical background, a lot of the work here happens by studying the Krebs Cycle (I dunno but whenever I say “Krebs Cycle” to a doctor friend after explaining LifeScience, their eyes become big and go “Ahhh OK”).
In all honestly I think the main reason why I signed up for this was mainly because it was a geeky take on medicine. So what do you guys think?