Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:32, 2 September 2019

Revision as of 01:01, 8 September 2019

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In the 1992 [[documentary]] ''Never Say Die: The Pursuit of Eternal Youth'', Antony Thomas interviewed Pearson and Shaw, and criticised the anti-aging movement as misguided.<ref>{{cite news| title=The often gruesome search for perpetual youth |first=Virginia |last=Mann |publisher=The Record newspaper|date=1992-08-17 |accessdate=2007-03-01 |url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:BRCB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB2778DA83E3DCC&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated4&req_dat=0D0CB57AB53DF815 }}</ref> A review in ''[[JAMA (journal)|JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association]]'' by researchers with the Harvard School of Public Health advised that “Some of the "health" advice contained in this book would be humorous if it was not so dangerous” and that “Potential readers of this ridiculous book would be wiser to take only the antacids—as we felt the urge to do after the realization that we had spent $22.50 on an unscientific, impractical, and potentially dangerous health fraud that literally made us ill.”<ref name="Stare & Aronson, 1983">{{cite journal|last=Stare|first=Fredrick J.|author2=Aronson, Virginia |title=Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach|journal=JAMA|date=November 23, 1983|volume=250|issue=20|pages=2862–3|url=http://jama.jamanetwork.com/pdfaccess.ashx?ResourceID=526884&PDFSource=13|accessdate=2 June 2012|doi=10.1001/jama.1983.03340200094043}}</ref>

Two of the most prominent aging researchers offered contrasting assessments of the book. [[Leonard Hayflick]] deemed it "a glib, superficial overview of the field.,“ saying he "would be very unhappy to learn that there were substantial numbers of people depending on its contents for guidance.” [[Denham Harman]] declared, "I think basically the book is sound."<ref>{{cite web |author1=Karen G. Jackovich |title=Two Fitness Faddists Have a No. 1 Best-Seller, but Are They Stretching Life Spans or Truth? |url=https://people.com/archive/two-fitness-faddists-have-a-no-1-best-seller-but-are-they-stretching-life-spans-or-truth-vol-18-no-14/ |website=people.com |accessdate=8 September 2019 |date=October 4, 1982}}</ref>

[[Stephen Barrett]] of [[Quackwatch]] wrote that the advice in the book was impractical and unscientific. For example the authors recommended more than thirty supplements and prescription drugs and for the subject to take a medical examination with more than fifty laboratory tests. The authors made inaccurate statements about [[Multivitamin|vitamin supplements]] and their "presentation of experimental data is biased and uncritical."<ref>[https://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/NegativeBR/le.html "Book Review: Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach (1982)"]. [[Quackwatch]]. Retrieved November 22, 2018.</ref>

Nutritionist Kurt Butler has described the book as a [[hoax]] and has written: