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== Criticism ==
Prominent aging researchers expressed mostly negative opinions of the book.
Medical health experts have dismissed Pearson and Shaw's life-extension formula as dangerous. The industry advocacy organization [[American Council on Science and Health]] reported that the risks of their formula included headaches, intestinal disorders and kidney damage.<ref>Renner, John H. (1990). ''HealthSmarts: How to Spot the Quacks, Avoid the Nonsense, and Get the Facts that Affect Your Health''. Health Facts Publishing. p. 80. {{ISBN|978-0962614507}}</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]] , to whom the book was dedicated and whose free radical theory of aging was favored by Pearson and Shaw, declaredopined, "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> ▼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>
[[Gerontology#Biogerontology|Biogerontologist]] Dr. [[Roy Walford]] wrote, "[[gerontology]] has always been the happy hunting ground for faddists, charlatans, pseudoscientific fringe characters, and just misinformed enthusiasts with 'ready cures' for aging. ... Pearson and Shaw are among this long list of enthusiasts. ... Most of the Pearson/Shaw book relies on this lower-order category of evidence, and upon the testimonial posturing of Pearson and Shaw themselves."<ref name=Walford>{{cite book|last=Walford|first=Roy|title=Beyond the 120 Year Diet: How to Double Your Vital Years|year=2000|publisher=Four Walls Eight Windows|___location=New York, NY|isbn= 9781568581576|pages=21–23|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I0GeWFLLbQEC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21}}</ref> In a discussion group posting, biogerontologist Dr. Steve Harris, MD criticizes the book, offering an example of one the authors' "screwups:"
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