Anti-Aging Therapies

Anti-aging medicine is not in full force yet in the medical fields because there is still much researchers need to understand and prove about anti-aging methods. While caloric restriction, stress reduction and life-style changes can elongate life expactany, researchers are finding medicinal practices and therapies to further enhance this effect. Many different hormone and gene manipulations have proven in theory and animal clinical testing to be efficient in slowing the aging process. But major side effects and unproven and unfinished clinical trials hinder anti-aging medicine to be a full-blown force in the world of medicine. The International Longevity Center addresses these specific therapies, their success’s and problems, in its 2001 workshop report, “Is There Anti-Aging Medicine?

Genetic manipulations seem to be one of the best interventions for slowing the anti-aging process. The ILC gives fifteen examples of genes that were modified in animal testing and helped to increase life expectancy. But researchers are still unclear as to how each gene and its surrounding proteins are exactly involved with longevity. These scientists have been successful in proving their theory of manipulating growth hormone and therefore insulin-like growth factors in mammals but research is not sufficient enough. The ILC uses words like “appear, suggest, can”, all words of possibility but no definite answers. It will take much more research and assurance for to prove these anti-aging therapies will be successful practices.

Another similar practice that the ILC addresses is the very controversial hormone replacement therapy. Like genes that affect aging, circulating hormones like testosterone, estrogen, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) all decrease with age, speeding the process. Supplementing these hormones to slow aging seems great in theory, but yet again more research is needed to find the proper application of these hormones and to prove that the risks outweigh the benefits. For example, success had been made in beginning clinical trials such as improving the life expectancy of mice by five percent after supplementing them with the hormone melatonin. But, serious side effects (such as the sporadic tumors that started to show in the clinical mice) and the question as to how effective these hormones really are create obstacles to their legitimacy.

One of the hormone used for this practice that is most argued over is estrogen. Estrogen replacement therapy has had success in improving length and quality in women. The supplementation of estrogen can do wonders to a woman’s body including preventing osteoporosis, dementia, “inhibition of atherosclerotic plaque formation in arterial walls, increase in cardiac output, an increase in arterial flow velocity, a decrease in vascular resistance, and a decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure.” But there have been multiple concerns about the serious risks of estrogen replacement therapy like the development of ovarian cancer after a long period of treatment. But failure to prove that ERT can prevent cardio-vascular disease in patients who previously had it made the American Heart Association drop its support of ERT, starting a long battle of legitimacy for the therapy. What is most interesting about this fact and other risks of ERT (for example, the fact that it may stimulate growth in already existing tumors) is that it may be a case for specialized medicine. If ERT does not help with women who already have a breast tumor or who have had cardio vascular diseases, doctors can stratify patients into patient populations and treat them accordingly. While some trials have shown overall improvement in length and quality of life, question and concerns still linger and make people wary of ERT, just like the other unproven therapies for anti-aging.

http://biomed.gerontologyjournals.org/cgi/reprint/57/9/B333.pdf