US-based Cenigent Health Enhancement Medical Institute, has unveiled the first medical programme founded on a new “systems and genetic-based” medical approach to fight prevalence of chronic diseases in the UAE.

The programme presents UAE residents, who have a high average life expectancy of 77 years, the opportunity to avoid age-related chronic disease and enjoy their later years in life via a groundbreaking method that recognises the dynamics of the human body’s complex systems and their relationships to health and disease.

The health experts are deeply concerned as chronic medical illnesses such as heart disease and hypertension have turned out to be the top causes of death in the UAE.

Recent studies show that one in four Emiratis has diabetes in contrast with the world average of 5 per cent. The World Health Organisation has also predicted that diabetes deaths will increase by more than 50 per cent in the next 10 years if no preventive measures are taken.

Meanwhile, osteoporosis, a bone-weakening disorder, affects 70 per cent of women over 60 in the GCC. But even with the higher prevalence of these diseases, fewer residents are interested in tackling these life-threatening conditions, with 42 per cent of women putting staying slim as their top health concern.

Such widespread occurrence of chronic illnesses and ignorance of vital health issues among UAE residents has caused authorities to urge residents to seize every available opportunity to live a healthier lifestyle.

Medical experts said the residents’ cosmopolitan lifestyle was taking its toll on their health and would need to undergo a dramatic paradigm shift in order to prevent further rise in the number of lives taken by chronic diseases.

In line with the UAE Ministry of Health’s efforts to promote health-conscious living, California-headquartered Cenigent has launched these breakthrough genetic-based programmes, said a senior official.

Cenigent’s systems approach differs tremendously from the current modern “reductionist” medical approach, which focuses on treating the end-symptoms of disease, rather than the core causes, and according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama), “treats disease in isolation, without taking into account the integrative systems in the human body.”

As the first and only medical facility using a systems approach in a clinical setting, Cenigent delineates itself from modern medicine’s philosophy that aging and age-related chronic diseases inevitably occur and should be accepted, said Lida Ghaderi, MD, founder and medical director of Cenigent, a noted internist with expertise in the new field of personalised genetics.
 
The company’s view is that age-related health decline occurs due to functional deterioration of the eight Cenigent systems and can be prevented by restoring the optimal functioning to all eight systems, she noted.

To achieve this, Cenigent follows a systems approach, performing predictive testing and assessments followed by restorative measures to optimise the major systems, avert age-related health decline and achieve peak health.
It conducts comprehensive predictive and preventive diagnostics for more than 750 biomarkers, as well as screening and total body imaging diagnostics, to assess all aspects of existing and potential health decline.

Cenigent’s systems approach recognises the body as a complex system and has classified eight core sub-systems and their relationships to health and disease. 'When there is a dysfunction in any of these core systems, it can lead to age-related chronic disease.

'These subsystems and their relationships are the common links for many age-related chronic diseases including cardiovascular, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, obesity, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and others,' Dr Lida said.
 
“Cenigent uses the information from personalised genetic testing differently than simply assigning risks for diseases. We use proprietary genetic software and exhaustive research on these results to recommend personalised treatment programmes, translating to better prevention and treatment of disease.'

'We also accommodate Islamic religious laws, such as offering Halal meals and the necessary prayer items, and make sure our treatments are Halal as well,” she added.-TradeArabia News Service