Selling the Fountain of Youth: How the Anti-aging Industry Made a Disease Out of Getting Old- and Made Billions

by Weintraub, Arlene

• ISBN13: 9780465017218
• ISBN10: 0465017215
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-08-24
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

The beauty industrywhich once revolved around creams and powders, subtle agents to enhance beautyhas become the anti-aging industry, overrun with steroids, human growth hormone injections, and "bioidentical" hormonesall promoted as "cures" for getting old. AcclaimedBusinessWeekscience reporter Arlene Weintraub takes us inside this world, from the marketing departments of huge pharmaceutical companies to the backroom of your local pharmacy, from celebrity enthusiasts like Suzanne Somers and Oprah to the self-medicating doctors who run chains of rejuvenation centers, all claiming that we deserve to be forever youngand promising to show us how.Weintraub reveals the shady practices that run rampant when junk science and dubious marketing meet consumer choice. She shows for the remarkable economic and cultural impact of anti-aging medicine, on the patients who partake and on the rest of us. It's not a pretty story, but Weintraub tells us everything we need to know to avoid being duped by this billion-dollarand dangeroushoax.

Author Biography

Arlene Weintraub has over fifteen years of experience writing about health care, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. As a reporter for BusinessWeek, she explores both the science and business of health. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
ôPhysician, Heal Thyself!ö	p. 1
All for Money	p. 25
Too Tempting to Resist	p. 53
Homemade Sex Hormones	p. 77
The Hollywood Connection	p. 107
The Invention of Male Menopause	p. 133
Ragtag Pharmacists Cash In	p. 161
Potions Galore	p. 187
Anti-Aging Goes Mainstream	p. 209
Acknowledgments	p. 231
Resources	p. 233
Index	p. 235
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