Time in a bottle?

Roots in science make antiaging products alluring, but their safety and health benefits are unproven

Beyond wrinkle creams, Botox, megavitamins and hormones, the new Holy Grail in antiaging marketing goes right to the heart of the aging process, promising to slow cellular deterioration by employing the discoveries generated by mainstream medicine.

A growing crop of tantalizing ads on the Internet - where the majority of such products are sold - promote supplements made from herbs or other natural substances that, the makers say, slow, or reverse cellular aging and many of its dreaded consequences. The promised benefits read like a baby boomer's wish list: higher energy, lower blood pressure, a sharper mind and memory, and improved eyesight.

Although these products generally lack the painstaking, large-scale tests for safety and effectiveness - and, thus pose unknown potential risks - many are rooted in established science, and promoted by scientists with respected credentials. And that makes them all the more alluring to youth-seeking boomers.

Take Bruce N. Ames, a 79-year-old California molecular biologist who was awarded a 1998 National Medal of Science by the White House. Ames was honored for his pioneering research on cell mutations and the translation of those findings into "intelligible public policy recommendations on diet and cancer risk." He is known for developing a laboratory test - called the Ames test - used worldwide to determine whether a substance is potentially carcinogenic.

He is among the scientists who have, in recent years, formed companies to invent and market antiaging products. In 2002, his company, Juvenon, released its first product, also called Juvenon. It is a pill that, according to the company's website, can "slow cellular aging" and produce "more energy, sharper mind and better memory, more restful sleep, healthier blood pressure, and shinier hair and younger-looking skin."

Juvenon combines two substances the body normally manufactures in sufficient levels during youth but in lower quantities as we age. Ames previously detailed in published research how he reenergized old rats within weeks by feeding them the combination of acetyl-L-carnitine, known as ALCAR, and alpha lipoic acid.

"The company keeps a database of every letter we receive to make sure there are no hidden side effects and also to get clues for what clinical trials to do," said Ames, who said he regularly takes Juvenon. He said he does not keep any profit from the product, and instead sends it to a foundation to give away to scientific research.

"Since I am working on this in the lab, and I want to convince people of the scientific interest, I thought it better not to make money," he said.

But there is scant published evidence of the product's effect on humans, aside from a Boston Medical Center study published last year that showed Juvenon lowered blood pressure by nine points, on average, among a small group of men over 55 who took the pills for eight weeks. The study was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Juvenon supplied the Juvenon pills.

With 77 million baby boomers in this country, and an estimated global marketplace for antiaging products worth $60 billion, the stakes are high for the industry that produces them.

Many traditional scientists warn consumers against spending money on pricey pills that have not been proven effective and worse, may be harmful.

Unlike pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, such as Juvenon, are not required to pass stringent safety and efficacy tests by federal regulators. That also means there is no independent assurance that what's listed on the label is actually in the bottle. A 1994 federal law only requires that supplements not claim to cure or treat any specific disease.

"You can say it's good for your heart, your brain, or it's good for aging, and you don't have to do any kind of demonstration for safety or efficacy. [The law] completely circumvents any kind of protection for the consumer," said Dr. Thomas Perls, associate professor of medicine and director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University School of Medicine.

Aging specialist Dr. Marc Blackman, associate chief of staff for research and development at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington D.C., offers this advice: "Any time I hear terms like 'fountain of youth' for a product or intervention that is going to be the magic bullet to slow, or retard, or attenuate the aging process, I would suggest tremendous skepticism."

Blackman, previously a top researcher at the National Institutes of Health Center on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, said the aging process is complex, with no single explanation or approach for treating the diseases that come with it.

The AARP Bulletin, the monthly magazine for the 40-million-member organization that caters to those 50 and older, refuses ads for products that promise benefits not backed by empirical research, said Susan Crowley, the magazine's executive editor. "We encourage people to embrace a healthy lifestyle rather than antiaging products which can be expensive, harmful and not regulated," Crowley said.

The Internet operates under different rules. And that's where T.A. Sciences, a New York-based company, advertises its TA-65, a pill made from a Chinese herb that, its makers say, promotes overall cell health and longevity. The pill is steeped in accepted scientific research on telomeres, tiny caps that protect the ends of chromosomes within every cell.

Years ago, mainstream scientists pinpointed telomeres as important in the aging process. When telomeres get too short, a cell can no longer divide and function properly. Scientists have also isolated a powerful enzyme, known as telomerase, that has been shown to preserve telomeres. But identifying a substance that activates the enzyme has stymied scientists.

Now, entrepreneur and T.A. Sciences company founder Noel Pattonsays his TA-65 is that elusive substance. "We've spent several years and several millions of dollars on the chemistry to extract this molecule," Patton said. The evidence of success, he said, is not scientific but empirical - reflected in the improved condition of the people who have taken TA-65.

It is sold to consumers in a one-year, $25,000 "Patton Protocol;" the fee includes extensive lab tests performed before, during, and after the first year to measure consumers' improvements, he said. Although the product is advertised online, to buy it consumers must travel to the company's New York headquarters or to a satellite site in Florida.

The company did some safety tests on animals before launching the product about a year and a half ago, but with just 100 customers so far, T.A. Sciences lacks large-scale data about the product's safety and effectiveness in humans, Patton acknowledged. One key concern is that cancerous cells produce telomerase, which allows them to grow indefinitely. It's not known whether unleashing the enzyme may elevate a person's cancer risk.

Meanwhile Perls, of BU's New England Centenarian Study, has spent years researching people who live to 100, and he said some of the most compelling antiaging secrets he's discovered are not found in a pill or potion, but among the modest lifestyle of Seventh-day Adventists.

"They don't smoke, they regularly exercise, they don't drink alcohol very much; they eat in moderation and they put a lot of emphasis on spending time with family and religion, which may translate into an ability to manage stress better," he said. "They also have the longest life expectancy in the country, on average, 88 years."

Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.