I was on the phone the other day with Marilynn Larkin:
Editing/writing: all areas, but especially health, wellness, fitness, medical (user-friendly interpretations and practical advice in areas listed above), related technologies, informed consumer.
She was interviewing me for a piece in The Journal on Active Aging®, a publication put out by The International Council on Active Aging:
This burgeoning demographic spent 79 billion dollars in 2009 on products and services that claim to slow the aging process — despite the fact that “most of those products and services don’t deliver what they claim to,” says Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA).
A bit more about it all:
The sale of putative anti-aging products such as nutrition, physical fitness, skin care, hormone replacements, vitamins, supplements and herbs is a lucrative global industry, with the US market generating about $50 billion of revenue each year. Medical experts state that the use of such products has not been shown to affect the aging process, and many claims of anti-aging medicine advocates have been roundly criticized by medical experts, including the American Medical Association.
I beg to differ. There are plenty of anti-aging products, services, and activities that are staggeringly effective. They stop the aging process almost immediately.
For example: War, pestilences, diseases, famines, natural disasters, and accidents of all types top the list of anti-aging services and activities. For fast-acting anti-aging, there are pills and/or herbs. Try cyanide, hemlock, arsenic. Some exercises are effective. Jump off a building. If you’re anti-aging, they work!
Of course, not everybody is in favor of anti-aging. Many are pro-age. For them, eating healthy stuff and exercising will probably help (I’ve dabbled in both). Keeping your brain active is not anti-aging, might even be pro-aging (but don’t count on it). Some modern medicine and public sanitation are pro-aging. Other than those – and if you happen to have lucky-ducky genes – that’s about all the help you’ll get.
Unfortunately, there’s not much money to be made with pro-aging – so marketers and advertisers ignore it, preferring to push an anti-aging agenda.
Caveat: Personally, I’m in favor of the anti-aging services provided by this admirable organization. Other than that, keep those anti-aging products and services away from me. The more wrinkles I see, the happier I’ll be.
