Longevity program

It is said that Christmas is for children, and the young at heart.

What about the not-so-young, and the dual citizens (Filipino and senior)?

Aging, of course, is on adult minds not just during this season of joy. It is of special concern for people like me who are caring for loved ones suffering from cognitive decline.

So my interest was pricked by an invitation to the launch of a “longevity program” using genetic technology by the Wellness and Aesthetics Institute of The Medical City in Ortigas, Pasig.

The program initially smacked of utopian sci-fi, especially in this land of the science-challenged. In the invitation emailed to me, it was described as a program that “seeks to redefine aging by focusing on cellular health, offering individuals the tools they need to navigate their habits and lifestyle for a better and longer health span.”

Among other things, the longevity program features pharmacogenomics. This involves using a client’s unique genetic data to personalize medical treatment and predict the effectiveness and potential side effects of medication. Five genes will be examined to derive drug profiles for more than 180 types of medication.

Also part of the program is nutrigenetics – the idea that genes influence nutritionally related diseases such as diabetes. Based on genetics, personalized meal plans can be customized for over 800 nutrient gene genotypes. Weight management becomes more efficient. Athletic performance can be boosted.

Even if the program was being launched by one of the country’s top hospitals, I would have dismissed the promise of genetics-based lifelong wellness as medical marketing hype.

Except the consultant and technology curator for the program is Dr. Raul Destura, noted biotech expert who heads the Philippine Genome Center. The infectious disease expert drew national attention when he rolled out, in the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak, the first and only locally produced reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test kit.

Remember the RT-PCR test, so limited and expensive at the onset of the pandemic when it was most needed? Doctor Destura’s GenAmplify COVID-19 RT-PCR Detection Kit was manufactured by his company,