By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 23, 2:12 PM ET
The best-known practitioner of integrative medicine, melding alternative and
traditional approaches, has gone mainstream. Dr. Andrew Weil, whose 10th
book came out Oct. 18, intends to raise the public consciousness about
aging, and why it is and should be healthy.
In his view, advocates of anti-aging medicine, who tout regimens ranging
from growth hormone to Botox and cosmetic surgery to stop the aging process,
have become the 21st century equivalent of snake-oil purveyors - long on
pitch and short on scientific substance. It's a charge that's been leveled
at Weil for years.
Weil calls anti-aging advocates "false prophets who are putting out a
message that aging is reversible or that we can stop it."
"I think those are very wrong ideas," he says during a recent interview at
his Vail ranch, about 30 miles southeast of Tucson. "Aging is a universal
natural process, and I think if you set yourself up in opposition to it,
you're in a very wrong relationship with nature."
In his latest book, "Healthy Aging," Weil argues that there are no effective
anti-aging medicines. Publisher Alfred A. Knopf is banking that Weil's
streak of four straight best sellers will continue, with an initial printing
of 650,000 copies.
Throughout his career, Weil has championed herbal remedies, acupuncture,
osteopathy, cranial therapy, hypnotherapy and nutritional approaches to
wellness, as well as traditional medicine.
He majored in botany as an undergrad at Harvard University, where he also
went to medical school, graduating in 1968. He left the National Institutes
of Mental Health after the first year of an internship to travel the world,
pursuing his interest in plant study and herbal remedies. He largely
supported himself through college and the 1970s as a freelance magazine
writer.
Then his car broke down in Tucson during the warm, wet winter of 1973, with
the desert in full bloom, and he never left. Weil continued writing and
eventually began lecturing at what was the University of Arizona's
then-fledgling medical school about marijuana, which he said in interviews
at the time was a mild intoxicant. Later, he began giving lectures on
alternative medicine. He launched a first-of-its-kind integrative medicine
program in the College of Medicine in 1997.
"My strong conviction always had been that the main business of doctors
should be to teach people how not to get sick," he says. "That is, there
should be a real emphasis on prevention and lifestyle adjustment."
He also believes that pharmaceutical drugs often "caused too much harm."
His focus on alternatives has put him at odds with many mainstream
practitioners and academics.
One persistent critic, Dr. Arnold Relman, an editor emeritus of the New
England Journal of Medicine and professor emeritus at Harvard Medical
School, said he's long disagreed with Weil because "he believes in miracles,
at least he used to."
"He believed in the healing power of thought, and going back to his earliest
career, he's taken a position that usually flies in the face of science, and
for that reason I've disagreed with him." But Relman does acknowledge that
Weil has advocated some sensible things about diet and lifestyle.
Still, Weil's advocacy of such positions as broccoli being a cancer
treatment and reliance on anecdotal evidence from patients "can't stand the
light of scientific examination," Relman said. If Weil's anti-aging stand is
based on hard, scientific, objective evidence, he added, "then I applaud
it."
Weil said he decided to write about aging because of his concern about the
rise of anti-aging medicine and said he hopes the book will trigger a
national dialogue.
"The most damaging perception out there is that the worth of human life
diminishes with aging, and I've tried to make a case that aging brings its
own rewards - that there can be an increase in the value of life, like fine
wine," he says.
He acknowledges that skillfully done cosmetic procedures can provide
"pleasing results" and enhance quality of life. But he takes issue if the
reason for surgery is to deny that aging happens.
Weil's own appearance, including his trademark full white beard and a bald
head, help to underscore his own age, 63. He remains very active, though a
casual, almost idyllic home setting helps offset the hectic pace that swirls
around him. He is divorced, his teenage daughter is in boarding school and
he's "involved in a relationship."
A frequent guest on TV talk shows, he's committed to a 23-city, seven-week
book tour, and he just appeared for the second time on the cover of Time
magazine, which previously heralded him as one of the world's 100 most
influential people. He works part time in the University of Arizona's
integrative medicine program, writes a newsletter and a column for
Prevention magazine. He offers vitamin, antioxidant and nutritional
supplements, endorses skin care products and even pet foods on his Web site,
http://www.drweil.com, while giving daily advice on healthy living.
And he's just been sued over a five-year, $14 million deal, accused of
failing to adequately market and promote an online pharmacy company as the
exclusive distributor of his endorsed health care products. He called it a
contract dispute.
Weil has lived for 11 years on his 120-acre ranch. It's one of about 30
"ranchettes," mostly 40-acre plots, carved out of the X-9 Ranch, once a
historic cattle operation spread over 36,000 acres. Weil's property, set off
behind a gated entrance, is the nowhere reached at the end of a three-mile
rutted, tooth-jarring washboard dirt road.
Weil, who is partial to shorts, sandals and loose-fitting Hawaiian-style
sports shirts, lives in a comfortable but hardly lavish setting in what was
the X-9's main ranch house, rebuilt after a 1938 fire. "I have lots of
friends; I have my dogs, who are wonderful companions," he says about
Rhodesian ridgebacks Jambo and Daisy.
Large picture windows in his Mexican-tiled home look onto a patio and the
Rincon Mountains. A spring-fed swimming pool sits on grounds dappled in
shade by cottonwood, walnut and mesquite trees. There's also an outdoor
garden and a large greenhouse. His various enterprises are run in nearby
offices.
Weil believes he's aging gracefully. "I think I'm doing a pretty good job. I
keep very active. I like my body. I'm generally not so bad. I enjoy coming
into my own as an elder."
Some critics view him as a self-promoter and product huckster, but Weil says
that all after-tax profits from his books and product sales go to his Weil
Foundation to help fund his integrative medicine program.
And Weil does have his medical supporters.
Cardiologist Dr. Joseph Alpert of the University of Arizona, Weil's best
friend from medical school, calls Weil a top leader in integrative medicine.
"Has he brought credibility among physicians? Probably not. Has he brought
credibility among patients? Definitely, yes. He's tremendously bright, an
excellent communicator and a very good writer," Alpert said.
Twenty-six American medical schools and three in Canada have integrative or
alternative medicine programs, and the Congress, recognizing a growing
public interest, created the National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine in 1999.
"From what it's meant to the public, he (Weil) has been the father of
integrative medicine," raising public awareness and interest through his
down-to-earth, sensible writing style, said Dr. Richard Liebowitz, medical
director of Duke University's Center for Integrative Medicine.
But while Andrew Weil pushes a diet rich in nuts and olive oil, multigrain
breads, soybeans and fresh, organic fruits, vegetables and fish, he's been
known to indulge a sweet or two.
On this day, it's a 20-pound peach pie sent by a friend and baked by Pam
Rinella, who operates the mountaintop Mount Lemmon Cafe about 90 minutes
from Weil's ranch.
"I haven't had any of her pies in years," he says, eying the fruity treat.
"That's a serious pie."