Essay
8 min read
Suddenly, in Greece, longevity medicine has become synonymous with scams designed to make money. But that’s not the whole picture.
Suddenly, in Greece, longevity medicine has become synonymous with scams designed to make money. I won’t disagree that, within the worlds of medicine, wellness, biohacking, influencing, and coaching, you’ll find only a few truly valuable things. But that’s not the whole picture.
Let’s start with this: all jobs are done either for profit or for recognition. You, reading this post, work for one of these reasons too. For me, though, there is “ethical profit” and “unethical profit.”
Of course, we must comply with the existing legal framework for practicing medicine in each country. But I imagine penicillin was also forbidden in its early years. On the other hand, processed meats and alcohol are legally sold, yet they are proven carcinogens. Why?
Naturally, for patient safety we work based on evidence from research. However, besides the years required, studies also need funding. And for funding to be given, someone must benefit. In other words, someone must eventually make a profit, and that’s why a study gets funded. So, the missing data may simply be due to the fact that no one has an incentive to finance their investigation.
Absolute safety is proven by time. But that takes a lot of time: many years of use in humans and many well‑designed studies confirming the safety and efficacy of a medical practice.
Even clinical trials operate with risk. Unfortunately, that’s how medical science moves one step forward: by testing new therapies.
Anything that enters your body or comes into contact with it interacts with you and affects you. Even water can have side effects in some people and can even cause death.
Right now, something approved today may be withdrawn tomorrow, and something unapproved and experimental today may be a life‑saving therapy tomorrow.
Right now, regardless of legality, I would not recommend nor undergo plasmapheresis myself. Tomorrow, I reserve the right to change my mind.
Often, the right choice is not black or white, and neither is medical advice: you weigh cost, meaning potential side effects, against potential benefits. Every doctor judges and advises based on their knowledge, experience, and their own risk tolerance. That’s why it’s hard to find three doctors who agree absolutely, in every detail, on medical recommendations.
And every person reacts differently to interventions. Different genes, different history, different lifestyle.
The doctor’s duty is to inform the patient about all potential side effects and benefits, so that the patient can give properly informed consent on whether to follow that doctor’s advice and, of course, be able to manage side effects appropriately.
Evidence‑based medicine, meaning medical advice grounded in research‑backed, sound practices, has grey zones. There is no study that has specifically studied you, the person reading this post. We keep learning and we keep judging.
In longevity medicine, right now, there is a lot of pseudoscience and extrapolation (my friend Eleni’s favorite word). But this medicine exists and is evolving, as we speak.