Quantitative Medicine FAQ

WHAT IS QUANTITATIVE MEDICINE?

The Theory and Practice of Peak Health

Quantitative medicine is the practice of determining and modifying your health guided by direct measurement of Mikemeaningful biological markers. Everyone is different. The best diet is unique to each of us. Diet markers must be directly and precisely measured. If your health is good then your measurements (mostly blood tests) will be good as well. If you can maintain these ideal measurements (and most people can if they set their mind to it) you will be healthy,will age slowly, and will be at low risk of degenerative diseases such as cancer, adult onset diabetes and heart disease.

What we are selling

Quantitative Medicine, in my opinion, is the only rational way to practice medicine; at least since we now have the conceptual and computational capacity to so practice medicine. The only thing this blog is selling is the power of that idea. Rather than the haphazard ‘take one of these and call me in the morning (alternatively; take one of these for the rest of your life) I believe a well grounded and quantified understanding of your health will precisely prescribe a path to peak health. At a general level most of us believe this, however, this is a classic case of ‘God is in the details.’ The details will emerge as various issues are addressed in this blog. Stay with me, contribute questions, opinions, whatever, but let’s create a healthier future for all of us based on precise information.

Everyone’s bodies are quite capable of maintaining pristine health into very old age so along as its unique needs are met. The body knows how to handle a wide variety of behaviors. However, only clear markers highlight the correct path for each of us. These clear markers must be measured and not guessed at by using misleading metrics like your weight. Unfortunately, our ‘civilized’ lifestyle is not the correct path, at least not for most people. We are largely a product of what went on a million years before all that.

This mismatch between the ideal and the actual affects different people in different ways. For instance, can you eat grain? Or does it cause problems? Measure. If your numbers are ok, then eating grain is OK. Enjoy. Numbers not OK? We can usually predict the dietary changes needed to correct them. This may mean cutting down on grain, eating more protein or different fats. So try it and see. “Quantify” yourself. Paying attention to our evolutionary genetics is not pedantry or romanticism; it is a guide in choosing which metrics matter and which ones to measure and modify.

This works and it works well. The methodology has been refined and used on several thousand patients for the last 20 years with dramatic results.

This method can be used by almost anyone. It is straightforward and we will explain it step-by-step in coming posts.

  2 comments for “Quantitative Medicine FAQ

  1. Bill Norris
    August 2, 2015 at 1:21 pm

    Do you actually see patients? I’m 59 years old. Exercised all my adult life. Ate reasonably well the last 15 years when fat became a big issue. Fought AFIB for about seven years until I got back into sinus with ablation in March 2014. I still felt short of breath and after insisting they do more testing I was diagnosed with small vessel coronary artery disease. My MRI and Nuclear Stress tests were good after the ablation but it turns out my calcification score was very high(95%). My blockage is in the 15-30% range. It would appear my main problem is the small vessels in my heart. I’m on Ranexa and lipitor and Toprol. This has been traumatic to say the least. I’m unwilling to accept that I can’t get better. Is there hope for me and if I can’t see you would you have a recommendation? I live in Atlanta but would travel. Thanks in Advance,Bill Norris

    • August 4, 2015 at 8:38 am

      Hi Bill,
      I do see patients; my practice is full. That said, I cannot really comment on your condition via a blog format. As you know there are potentially thousands (!) of unexamined, often not even known, variables that account for any specific condition; yours is a nice illustration of that. Your docs are doing an excellent job at approaching your symptoms via ‘standard of practice;’ whether or not the medications do anything to improve function or recover function is an open question I cannot here address. Without exacerbating your frustration, which is not ‘good medicine,’ I think you are right to look for ways to get better. I am sorry to be of so little help,
      Dr. Mike
      PS I have high output athletes with coronary calcium scores in the thousands! So, with a negative nuclear and MRI stress test, there is plenty of reason to look further.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *