CRYSTAL BALL FOR YOUR HEALTH

We try the full-body MOT that the top 1% are taking to test for multiple issues long before symptoms appear

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If you had an opportunity to detect a health issue before any symptoms occurred, would you take it?This is a trend sweeping Hollywood.

The Kardashians are among the big names investing money to ensure that they aren't in for any nasty surprises when they next go to the doctor, undertaking full-body assessments that rule out – or not – everything from cancer to heart disease and dementia.

Having just turned 40, I jumped at the chance to try this myself, signing up for the platinum experience offered by the Harley Street clinic Echelon Health.

This is a state-of-the-art full-body MOT that can detect up to 92% of the causes of preventable death among men and up to 95% among women; it’s described by Echelon Health as the most advanced health assessment available worldwide today.

“You need to establish a baseline for your health,” says Echelon’s chief executive, Ahmed El Barkouki. “And the best time to do it is when you do not have symptoms, so that if we find something it’s easily manageable and easily treatable.

“Most people need lifestyle changes and a bit of medication, then they're back on track. In some cases, they will need to see a specialist, but treating a stage 0 or stage 1 cancer versus treating a stage 3 or 4 cancer is worlds apart.”

So, how does it work? “We found out the main causes of morbidity and mortality in this country - excluding car accidents and things like that – for the age bracket of 40 or 45-plus,” Ahmed says.

“We came up with around 34 diseases that are the leading causes of death, from dementia and coronary heart disease to all the various types of cancers. “Then we said: 'OK, well, what is the gold standard to detect each and every one of those diseases as early as possible?'”