Is Our Obsession With Staying Young Putting Our Health At Risk?

Wellness today, most often, is defined by going back to our age-old practices, which involve clean eating, practising yoga, meditating, and being close to nature. On the other hand, post the news of Shefali Jariwala’s untimely demise, with reports surfacing of her being on age-reversal injections, we see the new face of ‘wellness’ coming to light.

It seems like ageing gracefully is losing its grace with all the ‘anti-ageing’ medicines that are becoming popular. Whether it’s collagen boosters, glutathione injections, skin-brightening infusions, or vitamin IVs, the promise is always the same — to rewind time, to glow, to ‘reset your biological clock.

Before we dive deeper into what these medications are, how they should be taken, and what precautions should be practised, let’s take a quick peek at what happened on the night of June 27.

Reports suggest that Shefali was fasting the entire day and still had taken her anti-ageing injection, though no official confirmation has been released yet. This combination of events led to cardiac arrest and the death of the Kaanta Laga fame actress.

New face of Wellness

“In the present times, injectable anti-ageing treatments such as glutathione infusions, collagen boosters, skin-whitening cocktails, and vitamin IVs are being aggressively marketed — often without enough public understanding of what they actually do,” says Dr. Sujit Paul, Group CEO of Zota Healthcare Ltd.

These substances, while medically valuable in specific contexts, are being repurposed as cosmetic shortcuts. The problem isn’t always the compound. It’s how, where, and why it’s being administered.

Take glutathione, for instance, a naturally occurring antioxidant that plays a vital role in cellular repair and liver function. In medical settings, it’s used to manage conditions like oxidative stress or liver disease. But in the beauty world, it’s become a skin-whitening and detoxifying agent, administered via IV to “brighten” the complexion.

The same goes for collagen boosters, designed to restore volume and elasticity as our natural collagen production declines with age. Then there are vitamin drips, marketed as quick fixes for tiredness, dull skin, or low immunity, offering high doses of B12, vitamin C, biotin, and magnesium in one go.

None of these are inherently dangerous when medically advised and properly supervised. But, as Mr. Jeevan Kasara, Director & CEO of Steris Healthcare, explains, “There’s a dangerous misconception that these treatments are ‘light’ or ‘non-invasive’ just because they don’t involve surgery. But once you inject something into your bloodstream or skin, you’re bypassing the body’s natural filters and that comes with risks.”

When you add in variables like fasting, as may have been the case with Shefali, the body’s tolerance dips even further.

“Fasting in cold environments can lead to dehydration and rapid fluid loss,” Kasara notes. “Combining that with injectable treatments can push the body into acute imbalance, especially if there’s no clinical monitoring in place.”

Protocols to follow

The rise of aesthetic medicine has outpaced public literacy around it. Social media makes it look like a casual upgrade, just a part of your monthly self-care plan. But what often gets missed is that these are medical procedures, not spa treatments.

“People don’t realise that proper protocols are necessary,” Dr. Paul explains. “Before any injectable therapy, there must be health screening, disclosure of pre-existing conditions, trained supervision, and post-treatment follow-up. These steps are crucial and are often skipped.”

Unregulated salons, pop-up wellness clinics, and under-qualified aestheticians are offering these treatments with little to no safety infrastructure. And consumers, often driven by peer pressure or influencer promotions, walk in trusting the promise more than the science.

In Shefali’s case, if she did take an injection while fasting, without the body’s full capacity to metabolise the dose, the risks would have multiplied. That’s not vanity, that’s vulnerability, in a system that doesn’t always ask the right questions.

This isn’t a call to vilify science or shame anyone seeking cosmetic support. Medical innovation has made it possible for people to feel confident, energetic, and healthy well into their 40s, 50s, and beyond. But what it demands in return is respect for clinical boundaries.

“Ageing is a natural process,” says Dr. Paul. “And while science can support graceful ageing, the foundation must be clinical responsibility, not cosmetic pressure.”

So before the next injectable “glow-up,” we need to ask:

Who is injecting me?

Has my body been evaluated for this?

Is this medically necessary, or just trendy?

Am I risking my long-term health for short-term results?

Because true wellness isn’t about flawless skin. It’s about informed, intentional choices.

Cultural wake-up call

We may never know the exact cause of Shefali Jariwala’s death. But her story, a woman trying to take care of herself, trying to age with grace in a hyper-judgmental world, shouldn’t fade into a cautionary headline. It should push us to re-evaluate procedures we don’t fully understand, and the systems that allow them to flourish unchecked.

Yoga practitioner Ramdev gave a gentle reminder post the case about the natural ways of ageing fine and living better. He claimed that one could stall growing old for up to 100 years if one monitors their diet properly. "You do not know how to operate yourself. If you keep doing well, then it is true that you will not grow old for 100 years," he said in a recent interview.

There is no villain here. Just a sobering truth — our pursuit of youth must never outpace our understanding of the body. Because beauty should be a celebration, not a risk.

Published on: Sunday, July 06, 2025, 07:15 AM IST