March 1, 2002 -- A fresh warning against the growing hype of so-called "anti-aging" medicine is being sounded by a blue-ribbon panel of experts on gerontology and medicine, which suggests that controlling weight is a key to long life. The report falls closely on the heels of a new study put out by the University of Rhode Island that calls obesity a "global epidemic."

Even without scientific breakthroughs, the panel's review, organized by the International Longevity Center USA, estimates that people in industrialized countries could achieve "at least a ten-year increase" in average life expectancy by eating less and exercising more: "Half the [U.S.] population is overweight, 20 percent is obese, and only 15 percent of people over the age of 65 regularly exercise. Our diets are overwhelmingly conducive to the development of coronary artery disease, and far too many of us still use tobacco products."

The Longevity Center is co-sponsored by the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Center for the Study of Society and Medicine, the Kronos Longevity Research Institute, and the Canyon Ranch Health Resort.

A further danger of "anti-aging" medicine, the panel says, is that it "promotes and reinforces ageism," putting a "profoundly negative connotation on the very occurrence of aging, emphasizing its negative and depleting aspects" and denying "all that is enriching and positive about aging in the psychosocial sphere."

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