American born Heather Bird is the President of HB Health, and is also a Director of the World Academy of Antiaging Medicine. Her London clinic, HB Health of Harley Street, focuses on internal antiaging medicine and preventative health, while her newly opened HB Beauchamp Place, specializes in external antiaging and beauty services.

AAM: Thank you Heather for taking the time out of your busy schedule- to talk a bit about the operation of an anti-aging clinic. Perhaps you could tell our readers about what made you personally get involved in this ultimate preventative medicine?

Heather Bird: In my formative years I worked with the UN World Health Organization in Switzerland. During my time with them I got to visit many geriatric wards. A lot of what I saw there made me feel sad; knowing how different many of these people must have been in their youth, in some cases just a few years beforehand. I started to think that this kind of disabilitating and degenerative aging is a disease, and that’s when I became an ardent advocate of antiaging or anti-degeneration if you prefer.

I think we can all sympathise with that point of view. I’ve often said myself that if anyone is feeling down for any reason, they should pop along to the local hospital and visit the geriatric ward. They always welcome visitors to talk with the patients; but after an hour or two, it will soon become apparent that compared to them, one has no worries at all! Let me say Heather, you are in an interesting position, as an American living in Europe, how do you find the people of different countries compare with their view to health and beauty?

There are not as many differences as most people might think, but on the whole I think that Americans embrace new ideas more readily than Europeans. It’s often said that Europe is 5-years behind new trends in America, and that’s certainly true for antiaging medicine in general.

Personally I find that whilst Europe has a lot more drugs, and certainly has cheaper prices on the majority of them- compared to the States, that the opposite is true of nutrition. In its broadest sense, Europeans have less access to nutrition and certainly pay more for them. As the 1996 U.N Codex Alimentarius Commission launched a worldwide initiative to restrict access to natural medicines, and which now has been effectively been translated into law by the EU, it may be as early as August 2005 that the European Food Supplements Directive could become active. This is estimated to be able to remove over 5000 vitamin formulations from shops and dramatically cut the dosage of many others. In addition, the Herbal Medicines Directive- under consideration by the European Parliament, will prevent any new herbal formulas from ever coming onto the market and remove any herbal product which hasn't had a proven track record in the E.U. Meanwhile, the Pharmaceuticals Directive seeks to expand the scope of the drug classification and in its current wording even food or water can be included as a substance which- and I quote; restores, corrects, or modifies physiological functions!

It’s frightening stuff, but luckily there are many active groups like the Alliance for Natural Health [Ed.- www.alliance-natural-health.org also the UK Conservative Party is compiling a petition see: http://www.conservatives.com/vitamins] and professional people like Dr. Mathus Rath, who are all presenting cases against these ridiculous regulations. We all need to lend them our full support and make sure that the public are aware of the erosion of their rights to choose for themselves.

I agree, after all if allowed to continue- the banning of over-the-counter natural medicine will create a two tier planetary health system. Plus, as the E.U. laws are imposed in other countries under World Trade Organization 'harmonization' rules- that includes America. I believe Europe needs a DHSEA like America, we need to put the boot on the other foot and allow natural substances to be available if there is no evidence of serious side effects/ contraindications. We must not allow the pendulum to swing completely the other way, otherwise the only offering will be drugs- because they are the only ones that can afford to have trials run on them, and that’s due to the fact that drugs can be patented and therefore have high profit margins etc. Still, we digress into politics!

It’s a necessary evil.

I did notice with interest that you have split your operation into two different parts, one for internal antiaging medicine, the other for external. How has that helped you?

Typically most people think- incorrectly- of antiaging medicine as a branch of aesthetic medicine. In other words ‘external’ beautifying treatments, perhaps not necessarily of a cosmetic nature. Whereas ‘internal’ antiaging medicine is the more long-term, dare I say, ‘serious’ end of the spectrum, where we seek to slow down, arrest and hopefully reverse the aging process. It’s not often that clients come in for both types at the same time, so our spa and clinic facilities have been separated to cater specially for each particular requirement.

Typically, what type of treatments do you offer for external treatments?

Various skin creams, including CoQ10, face peels, massage, acupuncture, mud packs, laser therapies and of course Botox and other fillers.

And what type of treatments do you offer for internal antiaging treatments?

Naturally we offer the natural bio-identical hormones such as; DHEA, human growth hormone, estrogens, progesterone, melatonin and thyroid etc. But we also offer a wide range of nutrition, including the Beyond Chelation range- as we very aware of the damage that pollutants and toxins can do. In addition, we have several specialized brain nutrition products- the smart drugs and other cutting-edge antiaging therapies such as the Can-C eye-drops.

I’d like to ask- as a percentage, how many women to men take up the external treatments, and how does that differ with the internal treatments?

External treatments are as you might imagine are requested by about 70% women and 30% men. That figure reverses when it comes to internal therapies.

Please tell us, what’s a typical procedure for someone who wants to undergo an examination for antiaging medicine?

Their first consultation will be with our nutritionist. This includes a comprehensive questionnaire of the patient’s medical history, along with their family background. Naturally, we also determine what the patient wants to achieve, whether that be weight loss, better skin condition or the avoidance of a disease etc. That last one often comes as a result of seeing a close friend or relative with the same problem. A consultation can also be arranged with our Medical Doctor, Lynette Yong, she guides them through other, perhaps ‘stronger’ options and makes them aware of various concepts and issues in antiaging medicine. As a big part of the equation is education, patients need to understand why they are doing certain things and why they need to stick to them. As a slow degenerative multi-faceted complaint, aging is so broad that sometimes it’s hard to know where to start.

So how do you enable the patient to focus on his or her main aging problem areas, what kind of techniques have you been using?

One of our principle diagnostic tools is Inner-Age. This is a comprehensive test of approximately 30 physical parameters, and up to 100 blood measurements that can assess the patient against the average in the community. The Inner-Age report uses simple colors laid over a body map to identify which areas of the body are aging faster than the norm. As a result, we find that the average patient can focus on the areas of greatest concern, and over a period of months can make adjustments and changes to their lifestyle and health program. When they are retested, they can see for themselves if what they have been doing has worked for them, and in the majority of cases it does. Then the patient understands the processes involved much better and most important of all- sticks to doing it regularly!

That’s an important point. I’ve met people who say; what’s the point in knowing how biologically old you are? I suppose they only say that because they don’t understand that they can alter their outcome. In other words, they can focus on the biologically older parts of their bodies and make themselves biologically younger.

Indeed they can, and we see it all the time. People need to understand that antiaging medicine is principally about not getting sick, not being dependant upon others, and remaining physically active, lucid and agile throughout a long life. An old biological age means you are more likely to suffer with illness and disease before others of your same chronological age group. If you know that, you can do something about it.

Also it’s remarkable to me that some people have told me that they’d rather not know about their health condition! I’ve always thought that’s like not bothering to put road signs up that say the bridge is out ahead! Instead let’s just drive over it and plummet into the river! At least it will be quick- hopefully…

There’s a lot of misconception of what antiaging medicine is. Rather than a major, costly and debilitating treatment once every 5 or 10 years, why not do a little every few months and stay on the course of optimal health? At-the-end-of-the-day, it’s far easier and cheaper, but I suppose there are people out there who can’t see what they are paying for when it comes to preventative medicine, then all-to-often they are prepared to do and pay anything and everything the moment something like the ‘C’ word is uttered. We must continually educate people to the possibilities and the options open to them. One of the major efforts I am involved in is the London Antiaging Conference, with that vehicle I hope that we can enlighten people to understand the difference between what we are doing in antiaging medicine and what mainstream medicine does.

Yes indeed- please tell us a bit more about the next London Antiaging Conference.

It is due to take place at the Royal College of Physicians on May 5-7, 2005. Full details can be seen at www.antiageingconference.com

Congratulations on all your efforts Heather. I can’t imagine how you fit it all into your busy workload and hectic lifestyle that I know you have. Well done is all I can think of right now!

Thank you Phil. We’ve all got to keep banging-on-the-drum so that more people wake up to the realization that antiaging medicine is the next generation of medicine in the 21st century. It is available now to make people’s lives, particularly in their latter years easier, more comfortable and more enjoyable.

Hear hear!