Abstract
Lifestyle has changed from being an indicator of the overall well being of an individual to a cause of disease and now “lifestyle” has itself become an object of medical attention. Alcohol has been used enormously as one of the oldest ‘lifestyle’ drugs, and currently sildenafil citrate (Viagra), the drug of choice for erectile dysfunction, exemplifies a turning point in the era of modern lifestyle drugs. This drug has transformed the lifestyles of millions and greatly increased the revenue of many pharmaceutical companies. With the Indian economy growing rapidly at an annual rate of 8-9%, a new era of drug discovery and development coupled with an enormous increase in the marketing of new drugs is being seen. This has certainly made the Indian public vulnerable to issues related to lifestyle drugs. There is a need to study this concept deeply and the impact of these drugs on Indian society, particularly since this topic has already been the centre of many discussions in other developed nations.
Highlights
Lifestyle has changed from being an indicator of the overall well being of an individual to a cause of disease and “lifestyle” has itself become an object of medical attention
Alcohol is the oldest of the lifestyle drugs that have been used since ages in all civilizations
Sildenafil citrate is currently representing a whole new class of drugs, a turning point in the era of modern lifestyle drugs that has altered the lifestyle of millions, transformed the pharmaceutical industry, and added vigour to the economy
Summary
Lifestyle drugs should not be interchanged with lifestyle medicine: ‘Lifestyle Medicine’ is an established branch of medicine where we discuss lifestyle's contribution to health in addition to non-pharmacological intervention in the treatment and management of lifestyle diseases, such as exercise in diabetes mellitus and weight management in obesity[8]. In the current scenario, the most operational definition of ‘lifestyle drugs’ is as follows; drugs that could modify or change non-medical or non-health-related goal or conditions at the margins of health and wellbeing[3,7]. These can be used fashionably over the counter to
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