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This article is from the WebMD News Archive
The Fight for the Fountain of Youth
Feb. 10, 2003 -- Scientists who study aging have declared war on the anti-aging movement. But their opening shot has hit their own feet, an expert observer says.
In one corner sit researchers who study the science behind the aging process. In the opposite corner sit doctors and others who claim to offer treatments that reverse or slow aging.
Here's a taste of the debate:
- "Real anti-aging medicine doesn't exist now," George M. Martin, MD, president of the Gerontological Society of America, tells WebMD. "There are a lot of claims to reverse or slow aging with antioxidant [ vitamins like C or E] of some kind or other unsubstantiated treatments. People spend significant money on them."
- "The gerontologists are bald-faced liars," Ronald Klatz, DO, president of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), tells WebMD. "To be against anti-aging medicine is to be against preventive medicine. If you are against anti-aging medicine, what are you for -- death? To make the claim that anti-aging medicine doesn't' exist is to say man will never fly. What they mean is that anything that doesn't come from them is impossible. But doctors who are members of A4M are practicing anti-aging medicine every day in their patients with good results."
The Crux of the Issue
To some extent, it's a turf war. But more is going on. Martin and other scientists want to see much more basic research. They want to know more about how aging works -- and more about the safety and efficacy of possible treatments.
"First things come first," says Martin, associate director of the Alzheimer's disease research center at the University of Washington in Seattle. "You have to establish solid rationales for any medical intervention. That has been the basis of rational medicine for years. ... We want to be judicious in what we might advise."
Klatz and others aren't waiting. They are using nutritional supplements and off-label hormone treatments -- including growth hormone -- to treat aging as a disease.
"We'd like to see an emphasis on human aging as a clinical condition," Klatz says. "We don't want this studied in a lab for another 30 years. There are people who need treatments. We want something done about it. Those trying to put a stake through the heart of anti-aging medicine are denying the possibility -- they are denying the potential -- for aging interventions."
This go-for-it attitude is exactly what bothers Huber Warner, PhD, head of the Biology of Aging program at the National Institute on Aging.
"Too many of the things being promoted have not been adequately tested for safety and efficacy," Warner tells WebMD.
As an example, Warner points to the use of human growth hormone (HGH) as an anti-aging treatment. Anti-aging practitioners often cite a study showing that elderly men given growth-hormone injections build muscle, lose fat, and feel better.
"But this was for only six months and with a very few subjects," Warner says. "That is very limited. Yet based on this, they routinely promote growth hormone as the secret to reversing aging. There's also evidence that mice lacking growth hormone live longer and that mice that overproduce growth hormone live shorter. The jury is still out on safety and efficacy."
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