In a true "we have met the enemy and it is we" moment, blogger and PhD in organic chemistry Derek Lowe comments succinctly on the The Problem With Research on Aging:

Nature has a review of a new book on the anti-aging field, Eternity Soup by Greg Critser, and I found this part very instructive. The same things apply to several other therapeutic areas where people see fast money to be made:

"Critser's methodical portrayal of a host of anti-ageing practitioners reveals some fascinating people who seek to convince others that they can purchase longer and healthier lives like any other commodity. He makes clear that many anti-ageing treatments are based more on faith healing than on science, and that the industry defends them and presents them to the public with evangelical zeal. Scientific gerontologists who point out the lack of empirical evidence behind the claims are shouted down, sued for libel or made fun of as lab technicians or statisticians with no experience in treating patients.

"Critser became aware during his research of why the ridiculed scientific gerontologists find the anti-ageing industry so aggravating. The industry closely monitors the field for any advances, and when it spots something that might be turned into a commercial enterprise, the product is repackaged, branded and sold to the public as the next great breakthrough of its own invention. . ."

It's interesting, though, that the cancer-cure quacks tend not to ride so much on the current research. A lot of that stuff seems just to be completely made up, without even a connection to something in the scientific literature. Perhaps that's because there are occasional spontaneous remissions from cancer, but none from old age. . .

The above is just the beginning. Wait until you get to the feedback comments beneath Lowe's post.

Read it all.

Wired has produced an apt description of where science and medicine (and the research arms of both disciplines) stand in relation to making a breakthrough in the study of antiaging. As with many people, I have been unsure about the exact science behind antiaging research and some of the claims of firms promoting so-called antiaging products. Is it all geared towards producing new vitamin formulations, hormone therapies, creams and lotions, and drugs to reverse the aging process? First, the antiaging industry still needs to get free of its "snake oil salesman" reputation. The whole industry is on the verge of self-parody without more serious investigations into useful treatments and less emphasis on selling snake oil. How to Do the Ultimate Aging Study:

Longevity is one of the hottest areas of science, but there’s a curious hole in the research: Scientifically speaking, nobody knows how to measure aging, much less predict reliably how people will respond to time’s ravages.

After all, aging isn’t just chronological. Some people are spry and nimble in their elder years. Others are afflicted by the diseases of aging — heart disease, diabetes, cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, dementia and stroke — by middle age.

Many researchers think those diseases are manifestations of a common underlying cause, known conversationally as aging but as yet undefined by science. They call for studies that would gather exhaustive clinical and genetic data from thousands of people over many years, hopefully identifying the biological mechanisms of growing both older and unhealthier.

“Unlike models of drug development for the diseases of aging, which have consensus endpoints to evaluate, we have not reached a consensus in aging,” said gerontologist Don Ingram of the Pennington Biomedical Reseach Center. “We don’t know how to predict how someone will function later in life, and we need to.”

That such a basic gap exists seems counterintuitive. After all, longevity-enhancing research has never been so prominent. Following leads revealed by animals on calorically restricted diets — they tend to live longer, apparently because dietary stress triggers cell-protecting routines that prevent aging diseases — scientists have found genes and pathways that can be targeted by drugs.

Felipe Sierra, director of the National Institute on Aging’s Division of Aging Biology, laments the lack of authoritative studies on the nature of aging in humans. Researchers have had neither the technology nor the long-term understanding of aging factors to proceed.

Sierra noted that — at a moment of cheap gene sequencing and high-powered genome association studies, when desktop computers crunch terabytes of gene and protein data — the most reliable indicator of aging is still whether people look old. It’s hardly scientific.

“The technology has advanced to the point where we should be able to try,” said Sierra.

Ya think? Read it all.

Demand for antiaging cosmeceuticals and cosmetic products was strong in 2009 and growing, according to a recent post at CosmeticDesign.com. As I am decidedly skeptical about the antiaging product marketing that has exploded in the media in the past year, the marriage of antiaging science and market research is questionable at best. The CosmeticDesign.com story mentions anti-aging skin care sales in the US rising 13% between 2006 and 2008, hitting $1.6 billion.

Among the hot areas called out were products to treat skin glycation, a process that weakens skin’s structure at a cellular level; the launch of more technologically advanced ingredients, ranging from elastratropin (a bioengineered form of a part of human elastin) to antioxidant ingredients adapted to cosmetic use; and research investigating the potential of stem cells to heal the ravages of aging. Anti-aging technologies come to the fore in 2009:

Perhaps the biggest development for anti-aging formulations was in the area of stem cell technology.

In a conference held at the HBA event, in New York, back in September, lead LVMH scientist Eric Perrier underlined how such technologies were the path towards efficacy in a jar, as opposed to hope in a jar.

Another speaker at the conference, Boris Petrikovsky, senior scientific advisor for skin care company Bellis Development, discussed his research into fetal skin and how this could present new opportunities for anti-aging ingredients.

According to Petrikovsky, fetal skin heals in a completely different way to adult skin and bears little resemblance to the classic wound repair that scientists are used to and stem cell technology can be used to render it suitable for anti-aging treatments.

As 2009 draws to an end technologically and scientifically advanced anti-aging skin care formulations continue to proliferate, and with this proving to be the key driving factor for the categories, 2010 is set to throw up some equally spectacular developments.

The fact that this activity is all happening "in a jar" is a clue to the hype: One cannot put one's hands on any product that holds the hope of so many that the antiaging market will get real and get serious in the coming year. I admire the antiaging folks for being positive thinkers, though. There may be high hopes for the efficacy and usefulness of new antiaging products, but let's hold off on declaring them and the market a runaway success just yet.