BECOMING A FAD. Stem cell therapy for health and cosmetic purposes is popular in China, India and many other Asian countries

MANILA, Philippines - Cynthia Carrion-Norton flits high-heeled around the Philippine capital with energy levels belying her years, thankful for a controversial treatment she highly recommends to fellow 60-somethings.

Carrion-Norton, 66, a member of the Philippine Olympic Committee and a former undersecretary for medical tourism, credits her vitality to adult stem cell therapy.

"The day I got the therapy, I went to a dinner party and everyone told me: 'Cynthia, you're blooming!," Carrion-Norton told AFP.

The procedure involves harvesting the patient's stem cells from their own fat and injecting them into their blood, which she likened to being injected with intravenous fluid in the arm.

In a country where many elite are obsessed with anti-aging, wealthy Filipinos are shelling out between US$12,500 and US$18,000 per session of stem cell therapy in the belief it will improve their overall health and make them look younger.

Rich businessmen and public officials mostly male are the most eager customers, according to Florencio Lucero, a doctor in Manila who said he started performing adult stem cell therapy in 2006.

"They do it because they want to work longer," Lucero told AFP.

"And then they tell their wives or girlfriends."

Lucero said Filipinos had been receiving anti-aging stem cell treatment since the 1970s, often flying abroad to do so.

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Philippine elite fight aging with stem cell therapy