The process of ageing begins at birth. Through the decades, science has made tremendous progress in extending human life but there is still a pressing need to prolong our active and healthy years.
As a commitment to helping Filipinos live young longer, Nestlé Health Science recently held the Opt to Be Active media roundtable discussion to share their new discoveries and secrets in nutrition and healthy ageing. Nutritionists and fitness coaches were also present in the event to help attendees assess their nutrition and health status.
Dr. Jimmy Bautista, Medical & Scientific Affairs Lead at Nestlé Health Science and Dr. Marianna Sioson, Section of Nutrition Head at The Medical City, shared how Filipinos can achieve a full and active life by making proactive choices such as maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and keeping the mind active.
In his lecture held at the Manila Diamond Hotel, Dr. Bautista stressed that the human body has two different ages—a chronological age and a biological age.
“People who optimize their health may have a biological age that is 10 years younger than their chronological age,” said Dr. Bautista. “At the same time, the presence of chronic conditions may accelerate the body’s decline, making us biologically older than our chronological age.”
Dr. Sioson, on the other hand, emphasized that it is never too early to assess if we are meeting our energy and nutrient requirements. Since the prevalence of developing malnutrition significantly increases as we grow older, there is a pressing need to start taking nutritionally complete oral supplements to continue to live a young and active lifestyle.
“We want Filipinos to ask themselves if there is a need for them to optimize their health and nutrient intake so that they can achieve a full life,” said Dr. Sioson.
Where nutrition becomes therapy
Filipinos often find themselves caught in a battle between indulging and being healthy and, more often than not, the earlier prevails. This gives rise to lifestyle-related, non-communicable diseases (NCD). In a report by the World Health Organization, NCDs account for 61 percent of total deaths in the country. The organization defines non-communicable diseases as chronic diseases that are not passed from person to person. NCDs are grouped into four main types—cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.
Simple lifestyle changes like preparing healthy meals and optimizing your nutrient intake can be the body’s best defenses against these diseases.
Nestlé Health Science champions this approach by providing novel ways to bridge the gap between nutrition and therapy. The health science arm of the leading global nutrition, health and wellness company strongly believes that the food we consume on a daily basis is the largest single influence on our health.
“By shifting the way people manage health and nutrition, we have the force to improve lives around the world because beyond medicine, there is nutritional therapy,” said Nestlé Health Science
Country Business Manager Angela Sison. “This is what is considered the point where scientific research meets human insight.”
Formed in 2011, Nestlé Health Science is an innovative and fundamentally different type of health science company that is focused specifically on advancing nutritional therapy to change the course of health.
To know more about Nestlé Health Science, visit www.nestlehealthscience.com.