The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) is a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, that promotes the field of anti-aging medicine, and the organization trains and certifies physicians in this specialty. As of 2011, approximately 26,000 practitioners had been given A4M certificates. The field of anti-aging medicine is not recognized by established medical organizations, such as the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the American Medical Association (AMA). The academy's activities include lobbying and public relations. The A4M was founded in 1993 by osteopathic physicians Robert M. Goldman and Ronald Klatz, and as of 2013 claimed 26,000 members from 120 countries.
Several of the anti-aging methods recommended by the academy have wide support among experts in the field, such as exercise and a healthy diet, but others, such as hormone treatments, do not have support from a consensus of the wider medical community. Many scientists studying aging, dissociate themselves from the claims of A4M, and critics have accused the group of using misleading marketing to sell expensive and ineffective products. The A4M's founders and merchants who promote products through the organization have been involved in legal and professional disputes.
The activities of the A4M are controversial: in 2003 a commentary on the response of the scientific community to the promotion of anti-aging medicine noted that the activities of the A4M were seen as a threat to the credibility of serious scientific research on aging. According to MSNBC, anti-aging advocates have responded to such criticism by describing it as censorship perpetrated by a conspiracy of the US government, notably the Food and Drug Administration, the AMA, and the mainstream media, motivated by competing commercial interests. Tom Perls of the Boston University School of Medicine, a prominent critic of the organization, has stated that claims of censorship and suppression are a common theme in what he calls "anti-aging quackery".
Beliefs According to The New York Times, their co-founder and president Ronald Klatz stated that "We're not about growing old gracefully. We're about never growing old."
Writing in the 2001 issue of the journal Generations, historian Carole Haber of the University of Delaware, states that Klatz' aspirations and the rhetoric of the A4M "reflect well-worn ideas and the often-enunciated hopes of the past", drawing parallels with the ideas of the 19th century physiologists Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard, Serge Voronoff and Eugen Steinach. Haber states that the current resurgence of these ideas may be due to their appeal to the aging Baby Boom Generation, in a culture that is focused on the ideal of youth. Haber has also discussed the strong continuities within the philosophy of the anti-aging movement, writing that "For Steinach and Voronoff, as for the members of the A4M, old age was a 'grotesque' disease that could be scientifically eradicated through the correct combination of hormones, diet, and surgery."
A 2006 review of anti-aging medicine notes that of the researchers who are interested in this topic, the "vast majority dissociate themselves from the A4M." The Los Angeles Times states that "Many physicians, researchers and scientists, delving into the physiological aspects of human aging, view the Academy's activities with disdain, saying that the organization is an inappropriate blend of scientific and commercial interests."Valerie Reitman A rift in business, science of aging Los Angeles Times January 12, 2004, archived url Accessed September 10, 2009
Activities The main activity of the A4M is PR and advocacy for its brand of anti-aging medicine. It does this through publications, on-line activity and sponsoring conferences including the World Anti-Aging Congress and Exposition and the Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine. Some of these conferences are in conjunction with the World Anti-Aging Academy of Medicine, an umbrella group for several national anti-aging organizations that is also headed by Goldman. The Los Angeles Times stated that the 2004 annual conference of the A4M at Las Vegas presented a mix of "scientific and technical presentations" and exhibitors selling "wrinkle creams, hair-growing potions, sexual enhancement pills and hormone treatments".
According to a review of the anti-aging movement published in 2005, the A4M is one of the most prominent organizations that are making "attempts at legitimizing anti-aging as a medical specialty". The review notes that these efforts at legitimization are contentious and have been rebuffed by some academic scientists who work on aging, who instead attempt to portray the A4M as "charlatans whose main goal is making money." In a review of the history of anti-aging medicine published in 2004, Robert Binstock of Case Western Reserve University noted that A4M "actively solicits and displays numerous advertisements on its website for products and services (such as cosmetics and alternative medicines and therapies), anti-aging clinics, and anti-aging physicians and practitioners." The Times reported in 2004 that Klatz professes outrage at suggestions that he is motivated by money, quoting him as insisting that "The only thing that I sell are books... my website is non-commercial – we're just trying to advance science."Want to live for ever? The Times September 4, 2004 archive url, page 2, Accessed September 15, 2009 The Times went on to note a partnership between Klatz and Goldman and a business named Market America, which sells products that promise to "slow the ageing process".Market America Refuses to Grow Old Gracefully; Company Launches Anti-Aging Store at Recent Conference. PR Newswire March 18, 2003 The A4M's American Board of Anti-Aging Medicine (ABAAM) states that it offers anti-aging medicine as a specialty and gives educational credits to those who attend A4M conferences. The New York Times has reported that the American Board of Medical Specialties does not recognize this body as having professional standing. MSNBC noted that "as far as the American Medical Association or the American Board of Medical Specialties is concerned, there is no such thing as an anti-aging specialty." Robert Binstock stated in a 2004 review article in The Gerontologist that "Although the organization is not recognized by the American Medical Association, A4M has established three board-certification programs under its auspices—for physicians, chiropractors, dentists, naturopaths, podiatrists, pharmacists, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, nutritionists, dieticians, sports trainers and fitness consultants, and PhDs."
Publications The A4M publishes Anti Aging Medical News, a trade periodical which is their official magazine, as well as proceedings of its anti-aging conferences in a periodical called Anti-Aging Therapeutics, this is edited by Klatz and Goldman.Anti-aging therapeutics National Library of Medicine, Accessed September 20, 2009
The International Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine (IJAAM) was another periodical published by the A4M. According to Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, IJAAM was published by Total Health Holdings, LLC from 1998 to 2001, on behalf of the A4M.Record for International Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Ulrich's Periodicals Directory
The contents of the International Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine have been strongly criticised. In a 2002 letter published in Science, Aubrey de Grey described them as consisting of a set of advertisements for a "pseudoscientific anti-aging industry". According to Bruce Carnes of the University of Oklahoma:
Leonard Hayflick of the University of California, San Francisco, a former editor of Experimental Gerontology, writes:
In 2009 the A4M stated that it is no longer associated with the journal and that it had sold its interests in this publication in 1999. They also defended the scientific quality of its contents, writing that almost all of its articles were reviewed by an editorial board before publication.Deposition www.courthousenews.com, archived url August 20, 2009 Robert Binstock of Case Western Reserve University stated in 2004 that this periodical is a "nonrefereed publication".
Divergent views on anti-aging products
According to a 2002 article in the Seattle Times, there are two opposing viewpoints of anti-aging products. The article states that the first view is represented by scientists who publish their findings in the scientific literature and who believe that no currently available intervention can slow or prevent aging. The alternative viewpoint is represented by people who the article states have "fewer credentials" and who promote a range of products that claim to have anti-aging properties.Joel Garreau Holding back the years: Scientists say extended youth may be near Seattle Times 2002, Accessed September 28, 2009 A similar observation was made by Business Week in 2006, when they stated that although anti-aging medicine is increasingly popular, there is "precious little scientific data to back up their claims that the potions extend life."Selling The Promise Of Youth cover story Business Week March 20, 2006, Accessed September 28, 2009
As an example of the first viewpoint, a 2004 review in Trends in Biotechnology written by Leigh Turner of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey stated that the products promoted by the A4M have "no credible scientific basis" and that "there are no proven, scientifically established 'anti-aging' medications". A 2006 review published in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine of the antioxidants and hormones that are promoted as anti-aging products by A4M and clinics like the Palm Springs Life Extension Institute concluded that these products have "minimal to no effect on improving longevity or functional abilities." In an editorial accompanying this study, Thomas Perls stated that although many unjustified claims were made about anti-ageing products, no substance had yet been shown to halt or slow the aging process. Similarly, the National Institute on Aging, who are part of the National Institutes of Health, published a general warning in 2009 against businesses that claim anti-aging benefits for their products, describing these as "health scams" and stating that "no treatments have been proven to slow or reverse the aging process".
The Seattle Times quotes Klatz as describing those who doubt the validity of anti-aging medicine as "flat-earthers" who make unjustified criticisms that are not backed by scientific evidence, the article also states that Klatz "sees the science and medical establishments as out to get him."
Human growth hormone controversy
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine was formed following a 1990 study on human growth hormone (hGH) that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was performed by Daniel Rudman and colleagues at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Rudman had treated twelve men over 60 years of age with human growth hormone; after six months, these men had an increase in lean body mass and a decrease in adipose tissue mass when compared with a group of nine men who did not receive hormone. Members of the anti-aging movement have interpreted these results to support a role for growth hormone in slowing or reversing aging. A review in The Journal of Urology noted that this promotion of growth hormone as an anti-aging remedy is "arguably similar" to ideas that date back to the late 19th century, when the physiologist Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard advocated rejuvenating hormone products prepared from animal testicles and stated that "the injections have taken 30 years off my life".