Health promotion in older adults. Promoting successful aging in primary care settings.

The ultimate objective of the successful aging paradigm is to improve the quality of life among the elderly. Although the aging process is currently immutable, primary care providers can modify the pathology and mitigate the expression of disease through prevention and treatment. Avoiding disease and disability, maintaining mental function and maintaining physical function are cornerstones of this approach. Recommendations about eating right, eating less, and exercising more are to make , but they are not easy to adopt for geriatric patients. Our elderly patients need far more physician mentoring and guidance in order to attain the goal of a healthier and higher quality of life that is implied by strategies for successful aging.