Dee Martin of Marietta leads an active life. At 51, she hits the gym five days a week. She eats organic foods. Her weekend activities include mountain hikes and bike riding. But for some reason, no matter how much she followed the rules, she never seemed to drop the little bit of weight she wanted to lose.

After a visit to Dr. Ken Knott for a shoulder injury led to a discussion about hormone levels and testing, Martin made the connection. She had an underactive thyroid.

To improve her thyroid function, she began taking a thyroid supplement. She also took bioidentical hormones hormones that are identical in molecular structure to hormones made in the body. She tweaked her diet, per Dr. Knotts suggestions. In two months, Martin lost 15 pounds. Her skin, which had been dry and loose a trait she had assumed shed inherited from her mother became smoother and firmer, with her wrinkles less noticeable.

Martin was hooked on a growing, if controversial, medical focus known as anti-aging medicine.

I just want to age gracefully the way I am supposed to, Martin said. With Dr. Knotts program, you dont feel as old or look as old.

Knott is one of more than 100 doctors in the state listed with the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), an organization created in 1992 to advance technologies that prevent and treat age-related disease as well as support research on extending life. Anti-aging medicine is not recognized as a specialty by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Doctors who practice anti-aging medicine use a range of treatments and therapies, including bioidentical hormones and supplements, that continue to be the subject of debate in the medical community.

Using hormones to replace a deficiency is generally accepted by most physicians, said Dr. Lawrence Phillips, an endocrinologist at Emory University Hospital. But using hormones to battle old age or improve health in non-deficient individuals is unproven.

No research has shown that hormone therapies add years to life or prevent age-related frailty, according to the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the federal governments National Institutes of Health (NIH). Some hormones may have harmful side effects, according to the NIA, and the bioidentical hormones prescribed by many anti-aging doctors have not been subjected to rigorous testing for safety and efficacy.

It is easy to get seduced into the claim that there is something called anti-aging medicine, said S. Jay Olshansky, a longevity specialist and professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Exercise is about the only equivalent of a fountain of youth that exists today. It improves skin elasticity, muscle tone, bone density and you can do it for free, or pretty much free.

Anti-aging medicine has a long history, Olshansky said, with treatments such as caloric restriction and a precursor to hormone therapy surfacing in the pre-20th century. While many of todays anti-aging practitioners have their patients health and best interests in mind, Olshansky said, others are not far removed from the dollar-chasing hucksters of the past. I am optimistic that something is going to happen and happen soon that will allow us to slow the biological process, Olshansky said. But it is not anything that is out there today.

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