'Anti-aging' medicine: does it exist? A critical discussion of 'anti-aging health products'.
'Anti-aging' medicine has become a popular topic, in the lay press, the (semi-) scientific literature and the Internet.(1) In almost all instances, claims of drugs, health supplements and other types of intervention are not based on any evidence supported by sound scientific knowledge. Specifically, the aging process itself, in contrast to age-related diseases, has so far neither been fully understood, nor significantly influenced in higher species, notably humans. In addition to the ill-defined effects, claims of anti-aging medicine also pose a considerable economic burden on the usually poorly informed older segment of the population. The present paper is based on a recent report by the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) on the questionable and even harmful effects of anti-aging health products for seniors.
Wick
Georg
G
Institute for Biomedical Aging Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Institute of Pathophysiology, University of Innsbruck Medical School, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. georg.wick@oeaw.ac.at
D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D006801:Humans