BEWARE BAIT-AND-SWITCH NUTRITIONALS MARKETING
THAT MISREPRESENTS SCIENTIFIC GROWTH HORMONE RESEARCH, SAYS AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ANTI-AGING MEDICINE
July 27, 2001 (Chicago, IL) / Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) of human growth hormone (HGH), which naturally occurs in the body and levels of which decline with age, is as important to the treatment of aging as replacing normal levels of insulin is to an insulin-dependent diabetic. Thousands of studies in the world medical literature have documented the benefits of injectable (pharmaceutical) HGH therapy. This approach is successfully helping patients to reduce body fat, increase muscle mass, boost energy levels, enhance sexual performance, restore youthful immune function, strengthen bones, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, increase wound healing time, restore smoother and firmer skin, regrow hair, sharpen vision, elevate mood, and improve cognition.
Indeed, the breakthrough Rudman study of July 1990 concluded that “The effects of six months of human growth hormone on lean body mass and adipose-tissue mass were equivalent in magnitude to the changes incurred during 10 to 20 years of aging.”
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M, Chicago IL; www.worldhealth.net), a non-profit medical society of 10,000 physicians, scientists, and health practitioners from 65 countries worldwide engaged in life-enhancing, life-extending medical care, reminds the general public that the only scientifically validated, reliable method of human growth hormone replacement is by injection. The A4M cautions consumers not to be mislead by the ‘bait and switch’ tactic of marketers of homeopathic growth hormone secretagogues and oral sprays (purportedly boosting the release of growth hormone) and herbal growth hormone boosters (supposedly elevating HGH in the body). These products take the form of pills, powders, and sublingual remedies.
The anti-aging industry is valued at $30 billion a year [Dateline March 27, 2001]. Over a six-year period, consumer use of nutritional supplements increased from 64% (1994) to 72 (2000) [Supplement Industry Executive, July/August 2001]. These two factors have contributed to an explosion of product manufacturers and vendors who misrepresent the scientific data on the efficacy of injectable (pharmaceutical) human growth hormone and imply that such data is equally as valid for secretagogue and booster products. Simply stated, dietary supplements including over-the-counter vitamins, amino acid products, and herbal precursors and stimulators are no substitute for pharmaceutical-grade HGH. Remarks Dr. Ronald Klatz, President of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, “Vendors and marketers who attempt to equate dietary supplements to injectable, pharmaceutical-grade growth hormone are giving the public an ‘apples equals oranges’ argument. You wouldn’t buy that from your grocer, don’t make the same mistake with your health.”
Do not be mislead by product marketers who take the writings and data of academic experts out of context and without permission. Be wary too, that many nutritional HGH manufacturers and vendors deliberately skew their own test results to fit their products’ claims, and cloak the results as ‘third-party research,’ when such analyses were conducted solely as marketing fodder.
The A4M does not endorse any product or vendor, and takes umbrage with all manufacturers and vendors whose guise of ‘bait and switch’ of study data misleads the public. Such deception does a great disservice to the public, and to the scientific movement of anti-aging medicine.
To help sort out the plethora of wellness-promoting products for doctors, health professionals, and consumers, the A4M introduces the Consumer Education & Research Council (CERC; www.cerc2000.com). CERC is spearheaded as an important watchdog of validated information for the nutritional and anti-aging marketplace. A4M has created CERC to:
1. Expose anti-aging product marketing practices that may be misleading or deceptive
2. Educate consumers about what they should expect from anti-aging healthcare products
3. Create a forum for sharing anti-aging health product information
4. Identify and give special recognition to the most reputable products
By achieving its four purposes, CERC enforces its mission:
1. To fund high-yield clinical anti-aging medical research
2. To protect the consumer from unethical marketing practices
3. To raise and distribute resources to advance all aspects of anti-aging science
4. To promote anti-aging health policy in the U.S. and overseas, as well as curriculum development at schools of medicine, public health, nursing, nutrition, chiropractic medicine and other health fields
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine supports an open and competitive, scientifically honest marketplace where products are universally accessible. At the same time, the A4M bears the important duty and obligation to defend the hard-won gains of anti-aging medicine among the medical, scientific, and consumer audiences. As such, A4M stands committed to the philosophy of scientific integrity and ethical truth-based marketing.
