Speedwell Trust Lecture 12/11/14

Dr Paul Clayton

This month’s Speedwell Trust Lecture at the Templeton College Oxford was given by Dr Paul Clayton and entitled “How to Grow Old and Stay Young"

He is previous Chair of the Forum on Food and Health at the Royal Society of Medicine and a former Senior Scientific Advisor to the UK government's Committee on the Safety of Medicines. He has worked with leading doctors and clinical scientists at centres of clinical expertise in the UK and abroad, and trained the pharmacists in Britain's largest chemist chain in preventative nutrition. He is now a consultant to several well-known international companies.

Dr Clayton designs clinical trials for nutritional therapies at leading teaching hospitals and lectures widely on nutrition and health. He has directed TV and radio programmes on health issues, and written extensively on these topics. He  has recently been appointed as Research Director of Medical Nutrition Matters, a post-graduate course in Oxford registered with, and approved by the BMA. Its function is to teach nutrition to GPs and other health care providers.

Dr Clayton belief is possible to stay healthy into ripe old age and to prevent, stabilise and even perhaps to reverse, many of the chronic degenerative diseases.

Underpinning all his  research and advice is this simple fact. Given the right nutrition and lifestyle, our bodies have amazing powers of self-healing and regeneration. Every cell and tissue in your body breaks down and is replaced on a regular basis. Bone is re-absorbed into the body and then renewed, cartilage in joints experiences wear and tear but is renewed, membranes of nerve and other cells are broken down and replaced. (Stephen Ludbrook’s comment _The bodies ability to heal is the basic  concept that allows Bowen Therapy to be so effective)

Chronic inflammation is now acknowledged in the scientific and medical press as a key underlying cause, not just of ageing, but of almost all the so-called age-related diseases – heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, dementia, arthritis, sexual dysfunction, hypertension and some cancers.

No wonder that a paper published by the US National Institutes of Health in 2010 called chronic inflammation “a unified theory of diseases”.

Yet you may never have heard of this type of internal inflammation. It builds up gradually and is difficult to detect.

Chronic inflammation is therefore largely unrecognised as such a serious threat by the general public. Until — too late — it manifests itself as a potentially fatal and always debilitating degenerative disease. Yet many experts now believe it’s a bigger risk marker than cholesterol, and that reducing inflammation can deliver more health benefits than statins.



Further salient points he raised were :

1. Contrary to public belief, people are not living longer than they did in late Victorian times – due to the lack of nutrients, the low ratio  of  omega 3 : omega 6 consumption, lack of exercise,  and sedentary lifestyle and resulting obesity.  There are a lot more people now of course so the number living long lives has increased – but not at the same rate as the population increase.
   
   
2. The average IQ is reducing
   
   

  

American Adults:-

• represent 5% of world’s population but consume 53% of Pharmaceutical drugs
  
  
• 70% of American adults are on permanent Medication
  
  
• 80% take regular pain killers.
  
  
• Live 5 years less than Japanese although the pharmaceutical budget is double
  
  

 

Diet, hydration, exercise are all key issues if you want to live long and prosper. Avoid table salt, 

 

I would suggest that Dr Claytons Free newsletter is a worthy technical view of a wide range of medical issues. – and can be found via  his website –“Newsletter”   tab . He is also to be  found on youtube.  

---