The anti-aging movement is a social movement devoted to eliminating or reversing aging, or reducing the effects of it. A substantial portion of the attention of the movement is on the possibilities for life extension, but there is also interest in techniques such as cosmetic surgery which ameliorate the effects of aging rather than delay or defeat it.
Two popular proponents of the anti-aging movement include Ray Kurzweil, who says humanity can defeat aging through the advance of technology, and Aubrey De Grey, who says that the human body is a very complicated machine and, thus, can be repaired indefinitely. Other scientists and significant contributors to the movement include molecular biologists, geneticists, and biomedical gerontologists such as Gary Ruvkun, Cynthia Kenyon, and Arthur D. Levinson. However, figures in the gerontology community in 2003 tried to distance their research from the perceived pseudoscience of the movement.
Two popular proponents of the anti-aging movement include Ray Kurzweil, who says humanity can defeat aging through the advance of technology, and Aubrey De Grey, who says that the human body is a very complicated machine and, thus, can be repaired indefinitely. Other scientists and significant contributors to the movement include molecular biologists, geneticists, and biomedical gerontologists such as Gary Ruvkun, Cynthia Kenyon, and Arthur D. Levinson. However, figures in the gerontology community in 2003 tried to distance their research from the perceived pseudoscience of the movement.
Anti-aging medicine
Anti-aging medicine has become a budding and rapidly growing medical specialty as physicians who initially sought treatment for themselves have received training and certification in its practice by organizations such as the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) co-founded by Dr Robert M. Goldman and Ronald Klatz.
Human growth hormone
Central to anti-aging medicine is administration of human growth hormone.
Clinical studies have shown that low-dose growth hormone (GH) treatment
for adults with GH deficiency changes the body composition by
increasing muscle mass, decreasing fat mass, and increasing bone density and muscle strength. It also improves cardiovascular parameters (i.e. decrease of LDL cholesterol) and affects the quality of life without significant side effects.
However, it is also said to have potentially dangerous side-effects
when used in injectable form, if proper protocols are not followed. It
is not approved for use in healthy aging patients, though many have been
using it for this reason for decades now. That restriction is
sidestepped by means of a diagnosis of some injury, organic condition,
or adult growth hormone deficiency which supposedly has resulted in reduced secretion of the hormone.
Menopausal hormone drugs
Administration of estrogen and other hormones such as progestin were popularized by the 1966 book Feminine Forever by Robert A. Wilson. However, the increase of the use of estrogen was shown to be associated with an increased risk of cancer. Later, in 2002, research into the long-term effects of estrogen on post-menopausal women, the Women's Health Initiative, produced evidence that there were serious side effects.
Physicians who prescribe the hormones now prescribe low doses of the
drugs. Research into the long-term effects of hormone replacement
therapy is continuing, with a 2017 Cochrane systematic review concluding that long-term use may decrease the risk of bone fractures or postmenopausal osteoporosis, but increase the risk of stroke, heart attacks, endometrial cancer, and breast cancer.
Hormone therapy is generally only recommended for postmenopausal women
who are at a high risk of osteoporosis when non-hormonal treatments are
not suitable.
Hormone therapy is not suitable or advised for treating cardiovascular
disease, dementia, or for preventing cognitive decline in postmenopausal
women. The risks of long-term hormonal therapy for women under 50 years of age have not been determined.
Scientific approaches
Biogerontology is a scientific discipline which has the same area of interest but, as a branch of gerontology, takes a more conservative approach. Caloric Restriction
is a phenomenon introduced in anti-aging techniques which focuses on
depletion of calories and taking the right amount of nutrients necessary
for growth.
Calorie Restriction
Calorie
Restriction (CR) refers to a dietary restriction that focuses on less
calorie intake to increase longevity and reduce the age-related diseases
in humans. Calorie restriction maintains a low-calorie intake that
helps to regulate the rate of aging and increases the youthfulness of an
individual or animal.
Low-Calorie intake has directly been correlated to negative energy
balance which promotes low Body Mass Index (BMI) and comparatively high
plasma dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) for improved life expectancy.
Calorie Restriction has widely been practiced by pregnant women and
people with pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes. The right
amount of calorie restriction help pregnant women to achieve positive
weight gain whereas a significant drop in calorie intake can lead to
hypothalamic alterations leading to long-term effects in the offspring.
Moderate CR in diabetic patients increases insulin sensitivity and
reduces the amount of hepatic fat in obese individual and type-2
diabetes.
Long term CR in older animals results in stem cell function similar to
that of the younger groups. The active stem cell function helps in
enhanced recovery of the damaged skeletal muscle tissue, which is
comparatively slow in older individuals than in younger individuals.
CR in the United States has shown a prolonged life span in women than a
man as women tend to consume 25% fewer calories than a man in their
lifetime.
The statistical analysis of CR, available for anti-aging movement in
humans is not sufficient enough to prove the prolonged lifespan
associated with CR.
Mass movement
A substantial fraction of older people, taking their cue from alternative medicine, purchase and use herbal supplements
and other products which promise relief from the incidents and dangers
of aging. Some products are not effective while others hold promise.
Reception
There
are at least two opposite views on the prospects of anti-aging research
and development. One group states that there is a great deal of
over-heated rhetoric in use with respect to life extension
with over-optimistic projections on the part of its advocates. They
also claim that there is little evidence that any significant
breakthrough has been made, or is on the horizon. Some state that this is largely due to a current lack of funding or interest in the issue. A study of the common supplements and hormone treatments used published in 2006 in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine showed that none of them are effective with respect to extending life.
Another group notices that recent scientific successes in rejuvenation
and extending the lifespan of model animals (mice 2.5 times, yeast and
nematodes 10 times) and discovery of variety of species (including humans of advanced ages) having negligible senescence
give hope to achieve negligible senescence (cancel ageing) for younger
humans, reverse ageing, or at least significantly delay it. Moreover,
stopping or delaying aging should be a focus of the modern science and
medicine since ageing is the major cause of mortality in the world.
Though some scientists think curing aging is impossible, there
are some criticisms of both the time frame life extensionists envision
(the first, perhaps somewhat crude, treatments within the next several
decades, or at least before the beginning of the 22nd century) and of
whether curing aging is even desirable. Common criticisms of the idea of
life extension are fears it will cause the world to be more overpopulated; however, De Grey counters that by saying that since menopause would also be delayed, women could wait longer to have children and, thus, the rate of growth would actually decline as a result. Also, the slowly growing population would buy centuries of time to figure out new places to live, such as space colonies.
