(HealthDayNews) -- Anti-aging products that promise to turn back the clock do not deliver, and may even be hazardous to your health.
"Don't waste your money on anti-aging products," says S. Jay Olshansky, a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a senior research scientist at the university's Center on Aging.
He and 50 other top human-aging researchers warned consumers in a recent position statement that such anti-aging products as growth hormone and antioxidant supplements are not proven to work for people.
Dr. James Dillard, Clinical Advisor to the Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, agrees with Dr. Olshansky.
"Anti-aging is a great field for product marketers, because it's almost impossible to prove or disprove the claims," he explains. "Unlike natural remedies for heartburn or joint pain, the results of taking these supplements could only be known after many years, if at all."
Not only do these products not deliver what they tout, Olshansky says, but "some of these products are likely to be dangerous. In animal models, animals given growth hormone have shorter life spans. Short-term, the animals appear younger, but they die sooner."
