The situation surrounding “anti-aging.”
I have just been appointed President of the Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine.
Although we are still fighting CORONA, I would like to share with you my views on “anti-aging.”
The COVID 19 is also a fight against Aging. The field of “anti-aging” has progressed rapidly; five years ago, even the word “anti-aging” was restricted in medical advertising. We at the Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine have always been concerned with how to deal with Aging. In recent years, we believe that it is possible to slow down the aging process. Some people look younger and people who look older, even if their calendar years are the same. This difference in phenotype can now be assessed as a difference in biological age. In image analysis, it is now possible to measure aging with the help of AI. Many biological age indicators called “aging clocks” have been reported. It has also become clear that the number of senescent cells increases with age.
Control of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), secreted by senescent cells, can also inhibit the progression of inflammation during Aging.
By controlling epigenetic regulation, we may soon be able to slow down the rate of Aging and create a situation where we can stay healthy throughout our lives.
Until 2015, we have been rambling about slowing down the aging process with exercise, nutrition (diet), and spirit (brain and sleep). Now we know the importance of environmental issues, including research into gut biota, infectious diseases, and external environments such as infection, air, light, temperature, humidity, and even addiction. Relationships, education, and income have also been shown to play a role in Aging. Since 2018 the trend has been to control exercise, nutrition, mind (brain and sleep), and environment to be “anti-aging.” Advances in epigenetic research have led to a better understanding of biological age beyond calendar age and the ability to measure Aging, such as with the Epigenetic Clock.
Even if the genetic background is the same, differences in lifestyle can change the biological aging rate. Both at the genetic level and epigenetics need to be addressed individually.
In 2019, the treatment of aging in humans will become a topic of discussion. In 2020, it will be reported that “rejuvenation” will be possible through the control of epigenetics, albeit in animal experiments.
It is now possible to control the stages of aging with Yamanaka factors and epigenetic regulation.
The WHO International Classification of Diseases has been revised for the first time in 30 years and will be used as ICD11 in 2022. Work is underway to make aging a disease, with the adoption of aging-related XT9T, albeit as a subcode. As with cancer, it will take many years of basic research, including staging studies, before “aging is a disease” is understood, and Aging is adopted as a complete code in the ICD. It is expected that clinical trials for Aging will eventually be formalized. The concept of age-related diseases is already beginning to be used in current clinical trials. Cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and even COVID19 are now being attributed to age-related diseases in terms of the cause of death. The development of therapies for common age-related mechanisms will continue. In particular, there is an urgent need to test interventions in the nervous system.
Life span and Aging are now very different from the days when they were used interchangeably. The human race may one day be able to overcome even life expectancy. Still, first, we need to promote PPK (ping ping korori) (ping ping is a mimetic word for vitality. “Korori” means to die without being bedridden). Let’s aim for PPK. Our current goal is to make healthy life expectancy as close as possible to human life expectancy (120). As rejuvenation is now possible in some organizations, let us aim to control Aging and regulate the aging clock in our own organs and tissues. The economic and sociological debate is progressing, and the concept of Aging as a disease should be accepted by society.
In addition, the WHO is campaigning against Racism, Sexism, and Ageism, and this decade has been a period of intense campaigning against Ageism. Opposing ageism is “anti-aging.” In the Osaka-Kansai Expo in 2025, the Osaka Pavilion will have the theme of “Reborn” with the slogan “10 years younger”, which will synergize. In this context, the Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine is sure to develop further. We hope that many people related to Aging will participate in JAAM to raise the momentum of “anti-aging” together.
July 8, 2021
JAAM President
Hidekazu Yamada M.D. ＆Ph.D.
1.About Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine(JAAM)
The Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine (JAAM) initially founded as the Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine Japan with 20 doctors in 2001. It was then reorganized as JAAM in April 2003, and incorporated as a limited liability intermediate corporation in July 2006.
With a membership of more than 8,200 individuals covering a wide and diverse range of basic research and clinical specialties, JAAM has grown into one of the largest academic societies dedicated to the advancement of Anti-Aging Medicine in Japan.
Anti-Aging Medicine deals with the biological process of aging. It aims to prevent diseases, including lifestyle-related diseases; to control factors that promote the occurrence of disease, including stress, fatigue, and immunological deterioration; and to promote and prolong a healthy life span. Insights yielded in this field are also helpful in scientifically elucidating phenomena occurring in biological processes throughout life, from birth to death.
From the genetic and cellular level to the individual level of animals and humans, Anti-Aging Medicine covers diverse fields of medical science, including biochemistry, physiology, and clinical medicine, and takes a multidisciplinary approach involving chemistry, physics, agriculture, pharmacy and others.
Research results are utilized in the practice of Anti-Aging Medicine, which is supported by replacement herapy based on nutrition and endocrinology, and lifestyle improvement, including physical exercise and rest.
The clinical practice of Anti-Aging Medicine can be approved only when it is validated on the basis of scientific evidence. In this context JAAM pursues the practice of Anti-Aging Medicine that is scientifically evidence-based.
2. Mission
The mission of JAAM is three-fold: to advance Anti-Aging Medicine, a basic element of healthcare in the 21st century, to accumulate and analyze aging- and anti-aging-related data, and to appropriately approve practice on the basis of scientific evidence, thereby promoting the practice of Anti-Aging Medicine.
Through the advancement of Anti-Aging Medicine, JAAM helps contribute to improving the well-being of people everywhere.
3. Establishment
In 2001, the year when the Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine Japan was established, the coming of the aging society was already foreseen, with fewer children and marked increases in medical costs for the elderly. The universal healthcare system of Japan was expected to come under pressure, with many anticipating a change in policy and direction. In theses circumstances and amid the advance in research into aging and related phenomena, the Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine Japan was founded by physicians and researchers to make active use of Anti-Aging Medicine, in both basic and clinical medicine, and encourage prevention of the pathological processes of aging, thereby improving quality of life.
Anti-Aging Medicine contributes to promoting and prolonging a healthy life span, reducing increases in medical expenses for the elderly, extending productive age, and securing an adequate workforce, all of which should be part of a national strategy.
Reorganized as the Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine (JAAM) in April 2003,
we continue to dedicate our best efforts to the accumulation of precise data, dissemination of accurate information, and the establishment of Anti-Aging Medicine as an evidence- and fact-based discipline which is approved and accepted by the medical community and society as a whole.
4. Research of Anti-Aging Medicine
・Insights yielded in this field are also helpful in scientifically elucidating phenomena occurring in biological processes throughout life, from birth to death.
・Anti-Aging Medicine deals with the biological process of aging.
It aims to prevent diseases, including lifestyle-related diseases; to control factors that promote the occurrence of disease, including stress, fatigue, and immunological deterioration and to promote and prolong a healthy life span.
・From the genetic and cellular level to the individual level of animals and humans, Anti-Aging Medicine covers diverse fields of medical science, including biochemistry, physiology, and clinical medicine, and takes a multidisciplinary approach involving chemistry, physics, agriculture, pharmacy and others.
・Research results are utilized in the practice of Anti-Aging Medicine, which is supported by replacement therapy based on nutrition and endocrinology, and lifestyle improvement, including physical exercise and rest.
5. Subcommittees
Anti-Aging Medicine of Ophthalmology
Anti-Aging Medicine of Dental Medicine
Appearance for Skin and Beauty
Anti-Aging Hormone
Anti-Aging Medicine of Urology
Anti-Aging for Women’s Health
Anti- Aging Medicine of CVD
Anti- Aging Medicine of locomotorium
6. Progress and future of Anti-Aging Medicine
・How to activate GDF-11.
・Genomic Medicine
・SmartCare
・Solve physical and mental problems that are factors preventing elderly people from participating in society.
・Reduce medical expenses
