Scientists Say Beware of Anti-Aging Claims

People spend millions of dollars on bogus anti-aging products that could threaten their health, Case Western Reserve University researchers said Wednesday.

Most anti-aging products have not been shown to be safe or effective, the team wrote in its report. "The anti-aging market of products and remedies is growing," said researcher Maxwell J. Mehlman.

"There is the good, bad and the fraudulent." The researchers are enlisting the support of doctors and geriatric groups to educate the public. They also want greater regulation of the $35 billion anti-aging industry, although they called the prospects of regulation dim.

Regulation is complicated because some anti-aging interventions involve lifestyle changes such as increased exercise that cannot be regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the researchers said. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 also allows any dietary product to call itself a supplement as long as it does not make claims to treat or cure a disease, researchers said.

The FDA, however, has begun to take a closer look at the entire healthcare supplement industry to ensure products do not make claims that cannot be scientifically or medically substantiated.

Copyright 2004 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.


- Updated: July 2, 2004