High risks of anti-ageing hormones
A leading American medical authority has criticised the use of anti-ageing hormones, following the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Council on Science and Public Health’s recently released report, The use of hormones for “anti-ageing”: a review of efficacy and safety.
Dr Thomas Perls, an Associate Professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, has long spoken out against the promotion and distribution of growth hormones for non-medical uses such as anti-ageing and sports.
In an editorial appearing in the Future Medicine journal, Aging Health, Dr Perls applauds the courage and example displayed by the AMA in its recently published assessment of the risks and benefits of growth hormone, testosterone, estrogen and DHEA for anti-ageing. The editorial is entitled “Anti-aging medicine: what should we tell our patients?”
The editorial summarises the AMA’s assessment for each of the purported anti-ageing hormones and essentially the bottom line of his argument is that in terms of anti-ageing, the risks of these hormones out-weigh the little or no benefit.
Dr Perls denounces the marketing of these hormones, particularly growth hormone and anabolic steroids (anabolic steroids are variations of testosterone), for anti-ageing.
He also provides guidelines for spotting “red flags of quackery” and basic advice that physicians can lend to their patients in their pursuit of healthy ageing.
