It’s the fear of knowing. We’re all familiar with it. Sometimes it keeps us from going to the doctor when we have symptoms we don’t understand. Other times we’d rather skip the blood test or scan when we’re worried that it’s going to show something.
Although that is a possibility, it pays to wade through that uncertainty. A significant percentage of findings discovered through imaging or bloodwork are either manageable, monitorable, or potentially reversible, particularly when identified early.
When you know what’s going on, you have options. But those options don’t appear until you have the information you need. If you have nerves or worries now, that’s understandable. But know that there’s a good chance that you’ll feel better in the end. Research finds that proactive health screening like whole body MRI may even help calm anxiety and bring reassurance and peace of mind.
These are 7 conditions that may be improved and even reversed with lifestyle changes, medical treatment, monitoring, or a combination of all three.
1. Fatty liver disease
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is found in 25 to 30% of adults, with those with obesity or type 2 diabetes being the most vulnerable. Driven by factors like insulin resistance, gut dysbiosis, and chronic inflammation, MASLD can sit undetected for a long time, as it’s frequently asymptomatic until severe.
Most commonly, an abnormal liver function test or an imaging scan identifying fatty liver buildup kicks off a diagnosis. That’s good news because MASLD is linked to cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and metabolic dysfunction.
Early stages of disease can be reversible, but you need to find it first before the disease progresses. While there are approved medications, the basis of treatment are lifestyle changes to diet and exercise, with a very realistic goal of 7 to 10% of your body weight.
2. Central obesity
Belly fat is especially dangerous when it’s visceral fat, which is the fat that lies deep inside your abdominal cavity and hugs your organs. Visceral fat is pro-inflammatory, and it’s associated with insulin resistance, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and chronic pain. There is even a connection between excess visceral fat (central obesity) and certain types of cancer, such as colorectal, pancreatic, and esophageal.
No matter your weight, even if you have a normal BMI, visceral fat accumulation is dangerous, and it’s often invisible.
All that to say, you’re better off knowing what your belly is made of so you can do something about it. Visceral fat responds well to healthy diet and exercise. Reducing your visceral fat by 10% with these lifestyle improvements drops your future risk of type 2 diabetes by 30%, found through new research in the journal Circulation.
Related: 3 surprising facts Prenuvo data shows about belly fat — and how to reduce it
3. Prediabetes and insulin resistance
Insulin resistance and prediabetes are reversible, but you have to know that your metabolic health is malfunctioning, and with no associated symptoms, most of us are in the dark. In fact, eight out of 10 adults have no idea they have prediabetes, a condition where blood sugar levels are elevated, but not to the point of full-blown diabetes yet. Insulin resistance is a precursor to prediabetes, as it means that your body does not respond well to insulin, the hormone that removes sugar from your blood and pushes it into cells where it can be used for energy.
The good news is that simple blood work can reveal your metabolic health status. Both a fasting plasma glucose test and A1C test can diagnose prediabetes. Once you know where you stand, you may be able to reverse it and send your glucose numbers back into the healthy range. Research shows lifestyle intervention is the best medicine. Follow a reduced-calorie diet and get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every week to lose 7% of your body weight, something the American Diabetes Association says is effective in preventing a diabetes diagnosis.
4. Elevated cholesterol and ApoB
You won’t know if you have elevated or high cholesterol unless you get a lipid panel through blood testing. The simple test will tell you your total, LDL, HDL, and triglyceride numbers, all measures that clue you in on your risk of heart disease or stroke.
ApoB may be lesser known, but this marker of plaque-depositing particles in your blood provides insight into your future risk of cardiovascular disease. The benefit of adding ApoB to a lipid panel is having a more well-rounded perspective of the health of your arteries and how well your blood flows through them.
5. High blood pressure
Half of adults have high blood pressure, but only one of four have it under control, putting them at risk for heart disease and stroke.
Hypertension isn’t called “the silent killer” for no reason. Your body won’t feel any different until your heart and other organs have been damaged. By being screened you may catch the problem when it’s at the prehypertensive stage, which is your best opportunity to prevent and reverse damage
Although it’s always a conversation between you and your doctor, medication is typically not the first-line treatment for pre-hypertension. Instead it’s—you guessed it—lifestyle changes. Following a low-sodium, potassium-rich plant-based eating pattern, losing about 5% of your body weight, doing both cardio and strength training every week, managing stress and sleep quality, and limiting your alcohol intake (or giving it up altogether) are all effective for lowering blood pressure.
6. Low muscle mass or early sarcopenia
Starting in midlife, muscle mass declines by about 1% per year. That might not sound like much, but by the time you’re in your 70s, some people have lost half of their muscle mass from their younger years.
Muscle is a metabolically active organ. The more muscle you have, the zippier your metabolism and the healthier your body. Loss of muscle, strength, or performance is a progressive disease defined as sarcopenia, which is associated with metabolic syndrome, diabetes, MASLD, and heart disease.
Knowing your body composition will clue you into how much lean tissue versus fat mass you have. If your muscle mass is not sufficient, resistance training with bodyweight, free weights, machines, bands, any way you can get it is your friend for building muscle and strength. Research finds that about 90 to 120 minutes per week is associated with a lower risk of dying from any cause compared to no strength training at all. And for everyone asking: Yes, you can boost strength at any age.
7. Certain hormone imbalances
Bloodwork can clue you and your doctor in on some measures of hormonal health, such as low testosterone, thyroid irregularities, and potential reproductive health issues. Many of these hormonal irregularities come with vague symptoms like fatigue or irritability that are tough to attribute to a medical problem, lifestyle, or both.
Although hormonal health is multifaceted and there can be many underlying causes, it’s important to identify potential issues. That gives your doctor a starting point where they can suggest more pointed testing, additional evaluation, and discuss management strategies.
Not every finding needs treatment
Clearly, there’s a lot going on in your body at one time. But that doesn’t mean that with testing and screening, you’ll get a long, overwhelming to-do list to “fix.” Many findings, from cysts to benign growths, or normal age-related changes, don’t require treatment at all. Other times, a finding may fit into the “watch and wait” category, and you’ll make a note in your calendar to make another screening appointment in the future. There’s also a real benefit to establishing a baseline so that you can monitor your health progress or help catch changes as the years go by.
You’ve also probably noticed that, for the conditions and diseases on this list, they’re largely treatable with the same lifestyle changes. A weekly aerobic and resistance exercise routine, eating vegetables and lean protein, and getting adequate sleep can go a long way. It’s the old hit-five-birds-with-one-stone trick.
Health is more flexible than people think
Health isn’t an either-or thing. You’re not healthy or unhealthy. Instead, it exists on a spectrum. Many conditions evolve gradually, and they’re worth paying attention to. Other conditions improve with awareness and action. Even if you have a chronic condition, you can still live a healthy life with the right disease management and lifestyle shifts.
A Prenuvo Membership can help set this all in motion. Through whole body MRI, Body Composition Analysis, and advanced blood panels you can get a detailed picture of what’s going on in your body. Together, with your physician, you can decide what you can act on, what’s reversible, and what’s worth watching. And that can give you peace of mind.
To learn more about the benefits of Prenuvo or a Prenuvo Membership, book a call with the Patient Service Team.
