Last week, ANH founder Rob Verkerk, Ph.D., gave the opening lecture at the International College of Integrative Medicine’s (ICIM) Inflammaging Conference in New Orleans.
For over two decades, ANH has been at the forefront of protecting and promoting natural approaches to regenerating, maintaining, and optimizing health. These approaches are not only threatened by regulatory capture by pharmaceutical interests, they are also neglected or marginalized by the majority of practitioners of conventional (allopathic) medicine. That’s why the integrative medicine community, which embraces natural solutions, is so crucial for all of us keen to ensure that Americans, both today and in future years, can have continued access to natural medicines and approaches that work with, rather than against, natural systems.
Since its formation in 1983, the International College for Integrative Medicine (ICIM) has been a not-for-profit medical organization that “seeks to teach the latest research in preventative, alternative, and innovative treatments.”
The theme of the conference, held at the Ace Hotel in New Orleans, was ‘inflammaging.’ The term refers to our tendency towards an increasing low-grade, persistent inflammatory state with age, a process that disrupts multiple body systems, most notably immune, redox and mitochondrial function, and that represents the underlying cause of most age-related, chronic diseases. Efforts to successfully reverse inflammaging offer incredible benefits as they reduce our risk of nearly all the big killer diseases, from heart disease, cancer and arthritis, to metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes and obesity, autoimmune conditions (of which more than 80 have been identified), through to degenerative neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons.
Expert speakers during the three days of the conference covered a dizzying array of different therapies, from specific diets, to hyperbaric oxygen, infrared, frequencies, botanicals and other dietary supplement ingredients, that have been shown through research and clinical outcomes to halt or reverse inflammaging. Dr. Verkerk opened the conference discussing the latest science on two groups of natural small molecules, nucleotides and peptides, both of which can have profound impacts on the cell cycle and the immune system.
Among the findings have been the capacity of one or both groups to facilitate cellular repair, reduce or even reverse the rate at which telomeres, the end caps of chromosomes which control lifespan, shorten, while also having the capacity to activate stem cells in organs and tissues that allow damaged cells to be replaced with health ones.
In the wake of the conference, Dr. Verkerk said, “This is where the rubber of natural medicine meets the road. Where physicians, scientists and even patients, can come together in a welcoming, open, uncensored environment, to share deep knowledge and insights that focus on nothing other than ensuring the best possible health outcomes.”
For those interested in finding out more about some of the revelations and clinical pearls revealed during the course of what was a hugely inspiring and uplifting conference, our colleagues at our UK-based, internationally-active, sister organization, ANH International, will be releasing more details about it next week. We’ll provide a link to it from our ANH-USA newsletter once it’s released. Alternatively, you can sign up directly to ANH International’s free newsletter.
