Thomas Edison
Prof. Dr. Carlos Van Mieghem
cardiologist and specialist Lifestyle Medicine
‘The doctor of the future will give no medication but will interest his patients
in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease’
Cardiologist and specialist Lifestyle Medicine
As a cardiologist and as a scientist I have been active in healthcare and education for many years, in my first capacity with the aim of helping people get rid of heart disease, in my second capacity with the aim of helping to create a new generation of physicians who will further develop medicine.
Medicine in its current form has proven its worth over the years in reducing and treating various diseases, for example heart disease, infectious diseases and various forms of cancer. These developments have contributed to a manifest increase in life expectancy over the past 100 years: in the Western world, an adult lives an average of 30 years longer than in 1900. Thirty additional years of life, undeniably a triumph of current insights within healthcare. However, what these figures do not reflect is the discrepancy between life expectancy, 'lifespan', and the number of years a person has with a good quality of life, 'health span'. The difference between the two is on average 20 years of life, or in other words a period of 20 years that we will spend with some major disability. In other words, an improvement in the treatment of various diseases individually has contributed to a longer lifespan, but at the same time to more years that we do not spend in good health.
The recent COVID-19 epidemic has been a game changer for me personally. The conventional approach in medicine is 'reactive': waiting until a disease actually presents itself and causes damage, for example a corona infection, before 'taking action' (initiating treatment). The 'game changer' behaves proactively: moving 'upstream' in a disease process, making corrections at an early stage and therefore maintaining a state of effective health. This new approach is embodied by the discipline of Lifestyle Medicine. Without this medical discipline we will not be able to effectively combat the vast majority, around 80%, of today's diseases. The majority of our contemporary health problems mainly has its origin in diet and lifestyle.