Filipinas take pride in looking younger than their age, such that several years after specialized anti-aging creams were first introduced here, still only two percent of the population use an anti-aging product—a figure unchanged since 2008.

This number may sound dismal, but suggests a great opportunity for growth for skin-care brands, hence the beauty brands’ aggressive efforts to educate consumers and introduce innovations in anti-aging.

“Filipinas generally feel that they don’t need anti-aging products because they do tend to age more gracefully,” says Jacqe    Yuengtian, senior brand manager of Pond’s in the Philippines. “They feel that an anti-aging cream is needed only when they hit their 40s; otherwise it’s an unnecessary luxury. While the anti-aging market is familiar to most, here, this market has yet to reach maturity. We believe in educating the market.”

This week, Pond’s rolls out the latest iteration of its best-selling Age Miracle line, launched in October at the Pond’s Institute in New York to Asian and Mexican media. The improved formulation claims to renew skin cells by adapting to skin’s unique genetic framework. It’s one formula that adjusts to each individual skin.

While the previous Age Miracle carried the tagline “Advanced CLA Complex,” the new formula now bears the words “Cell ReGEN” to underscore the improved technology. The range now also comes packaged in new, deep ruby-red jars and pump bottles, a subtle change from the old packaging.

Pond’s Age Miracle Cell ReGEN’s so-called Intelligent Pro Cell Complex contains six bio-actives, the newest update on the formula being the addition of 12-HSA or 12-hydroxystearic acid, which is responsible for renewing skin cells by adapting to the uniqueness of each individual’s skin.

It still contains the CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid, which is said to promote faster cell renewal; retinol, which enhances the skin’s ability to produce collagen and repair itself; two retinol boosters; alpha hydroxy acid (AHA), an exfoliant; and glycerine, which enhances skin’s moisture level for a visibly youthful-looking appearance.

Renewal power

Pond’s’ claim is that Age Miracle Cell ReGEN gives skin cells three times more renewal power (based on clinical tests over a period of 15 days, versus subjects whose skin remained untreated). Its claim is that it can visibly reduce fine lines, improve skin’s elasticity, improve moisture and lighten age spots in only seven days.

Dr. Valerie Callender, a dermatologist whose expertise is pigmentation disorders, and who spoke at the New York launch, clarified that, owing to each person’s unique genetic makeup, individuals respond differently to products: some may experience quick and dramatic results, while for others progress may be slower. “Activity varies,” she noted.

The press launch included a workshop at Givaudan in Manhattan, the perfumer responsible for creating the Age Miracle fragrance, as well as a meet-and-greet with celebrity fashion photographer and author Nigel Barker, who has visited the Philippines more than once. Barker spoke about embracing wrinkles when they happen. He clarified that his stance doesn’t run contrary to what Pond’s espouses.

“What I meant was that when you wrinkle, don’t be afraid of them,” Barker said. “If you’re a happy person, you wrinkle and it will show. These are the stories of our life. If you fill it with botox, you remove your story to some extent… People take things a little bit to the extreme these days, it’s a whole other level. We’re talking about slowing down aging. It’s not about not caring for your skin: stay out of the sun, drink plenty of water, apply lotion so it doesn’t dry out and crack.”

The launch was held after a series of lectures and a tour of the Pond’s Institute in the sprawling Unilever R&D center in Trumbull, Connecticut, one of Unilever’s six R&D locations in the world and where 40 percent of all Unilever R&D is done. It has 700 scientists, mostly Ph.Ds.

Unilever spends 927 million euros in R&D each year; of this, 250 million is spent in Pond’s’ skin-care R&D. Unilever has 200 patents in skin care. Along with Age Miracle, Pond’s also launched the reformulated skin-whitening line called Flawless White. (More about this in a future issue.)

Continuously growing

Age Miracle was introduced in 2007, and has risen steadily in Filipino consumers’ consciousness. It claims to be No. 2 in the anti-aging segment and is “continuously growing,” according to its brand manager. But Pond’s’ market share in Southeast Asia, the company claims, is more than twice its closest competitor’s. (Skin whitening is still a bigger business here, Yuengtian said.)

Unlike in Thailand, where women tend to pick up anti-aging solutions at a younger age, the bulk of anti-aging consumers in the Philippines are in the 40-plus bracket. Pond’s advises women to begin an anti-aging regimen as early as age 25, which is when the skin’s ability to renew itself begins its decline.

Pond’s has been pouring  money into its masstige lines. (Masstige is a marketing term that refers to mass products aimed at competing with prestige brands, but priced lower than prestige brands though higher-priced than the general mass offerings.) This indicates the market potential of this segment. In three years, said Rajev Shukla, global vice president of Pond’s, the brand had converted 60 percent of its facial moisturizers to masstige.

“The growth rate is double that of the mass range,” echoed Yuengtian. “Normally, masstige lines have the most innovations, since we can invest more in terms of technology. Skin care is an innovation-led category, and consumers really want to try new and advanced products. And since anti-aging is jumping off from merely two percent of the entire face market, it has so much potential for growth.

“With the beauty breakthroughs in the pipeline and the continuing research across the Pond’s Institutes across the world, it is almost certain that Pond’s will bring the anti-aging technologies to greater heights.”

Taking into account Filipinas’ tendency to “try before you buy,” Pond’s introduces here not sachets for its masstige lines, but tiny 10-g jars as trial pack. In March, Pond’s will also introduce a Sensitive formula for its Age Miracle Day Cream in response to women’s clamor for fragrance-free and hypoallergenic formulation.

Age Miracle’s entire range—day and night creams, serum, toners, treatment mask, tinted moisturizers, microdermabrasion kit, intensive cell boosting kit—is now available at department stores, drugstores and supermarkets.

RT @BenVeekay: .@joshtpm Tonight #Newt is that 22 y/o dude trying to convince his buddies there’ll be cooler girls at the next bar.

The following commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet’s guest contributor program, which is separate from the company’s news coverage.

NEW YORK (Trefis) — L’Oreal (PINK:LRLCY) is going to launch a new range of anti-aging creams in 2012 starting with the European and the U.K. market. It faces stiff competition from Estee Lauder(EL) in the prestige anti-aging beauty market. Anti-aging today forms the bulk of the facial skin care market, which itself is the largest beauty segment. The Trefis price estimate of $23 implies an upside of about 10% to the current market price. See full analysis for L’Oreal here . Europe and the U.S. together control more than 60% of the global anti-aging cosmetics market share. The market is expected to be dominated by the cosmeceutical segment growing at a CAGR of around 10%, with popular brands like Clinique developed by Estee Lauder and Allergan. According to Global Industry Analysts, the U.S. market for anti-aging products is expected to grow from around $80 billion in 2011, of which skin care is around $20 billion, to $115 billion by 2015. The fastest growing target segment of the anti-aging market is expected to be 25- to 35- year olds who are progressively more interested in anti-aging products, especially topical skin treatments that are applied directly in the skin. L’Oreal’s anti-aging products in Europe face stiff competition from Estee Lauder, a leading market player in the prestige anti-aging category. Estee Lauder is scheduled to launch its first global anti-age product — Revitalizing Supreme Global Anti-Aging Creme – that is designed specifically for European women, in February 2012. Global anti-age, a fast-growing segment under anti-aging beauty products, refers to a single, complete product that can treat multiple signs of skin aging at one time. Click here to find out how a company’s products impact its stock price at Trefis. Like our charts? Embed them in your own posts using the Trefis WordPress Plugin.>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints

The anti aging and body repair support Breakthrough Milestone formulation for Longevity health from the new “Infinity” brand, which was granted US Patent Pending documentation after years of research and development, is now being marketed world-wide by JDI International‘s MLM division.

(PRWEB) January 16, 2012

The world’s best-kept secrets about anti aging therapies are revealed, pointing to breakthrough milestones involving Longevity health benefits for mankind.

Since time immemorial mankind has been searching for Eternal Youth in one form or another. In the arts, the famous painting embodying the concept is Jim Warren’s master work “Eternal Youth,” exhibited on http://www.artcollectorswebsite.com.

The important poem devoted to the subject of Eternal Youth or Immortality is John Keats’ “Ode to a Grecian Urn” and the famous novel embracing the concept is Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

For years upon years Hollywood insiders have long known that the wealthiest and most famous movie stars and celebrities have spent fortunes and have gone to great lengths to secure “secret” anti aging therapies and skin-care creams to keep them looking wrinkle free, “glamorous” and “ageless” even when some of them were a longtime into their sixties, seventies and even in their eighties and beyond.

Some of those Hollywood insiders were skeptics and unbelievers all along, calling the best-kept anti aging secrets outright “hocus pocus!” But don’t dare tell that to the “ageless glamor queens” or “virile matinee idols” of the silver screen who were busy feeling healthier, looking younger and above all — living longer.

Unless one was personally involved first hand, the whole truth and nothing but the truth of these so-called “miracle” rejuvenations or transformations were never divulged to the public and are still kept highly guarded secrets and strictly confidential to this day.

Keep in mind, we’re talking about Longevity — real life Longevity health — not someone’s superficial skin-deep cosmetic surgery, not diffused camera lenses or key lighting tricks to hide wrinkles, not special effects and not Photo shop software or facelifts. We’re talking about real life Longevity health as it relates to Eternal Youth.

Listed in the ingredients of anti aging and Longevity formulations, one comes across dozens of medical words and terms probably never seen or read before. However, what is important is that the formula works — that the results increase Longevity health — on the surface of the skin as well as inside the physical body.

But now, due to JDI International and its new advanced anti aging formula “Infinity,” (http://www.stemcellvitaminformula.com) for example, people don’t have to be a movie star or a wealthy man or women with unlimited funds to look and feel younger and healthier and to live longer. And they do not have to go to an expensive private spa or a hidden clinic God knows where in Switzerland where fortunes are still being spent for anti aging Eternal Youth therapies.

Until now, many state-of-the-art anti aging and Longevity therapies were out of reach for the average, everyday person and usually whispered about only for the ears and pocketbooks of the ultra-rich. But not necessarily anymore.

Those days of facing needle injections or going under the knife in expensive clinics, spas or hospitals are now numbered because “the times — they are a-changin.’” The long-awaited anti aging and body repair support breakthrough milestone formulation is here and now — from “Infinity,” who holds the US registered patent pending documentation. Longevity is no longer relegated to faces on a painting or to bodies on a Grecian urn or to characters in a novel. Longevity health can now be alive and well inside the human body.

Up until now, no one has had access to this breakthrough Longevity formulation. For the first time, due to scientific stem cell research advancements coming of age and US patent pending certification, one need go no further than to the new bottle of “Infinity” capsules which offers a formula for Longevity health but also offers a the new marketing opportunity around the world. Here’s why:

“Infinity” is JDI International’s over-the-counter anti aging and body repair support formulation just now reaching the international marketplace.”Infinity” is being distributed world-wide at a introductory price lower than those high-prices charged by those “Luxury Longevity Palaces.” A person can become immediately involved as a marketing distributor in JDI International’s MLM organization at http://www.stemcellvitaminformula.com to place orders or to join the marketing organization.

Worth noting is the fact that there are additional opportunities than most people are aware of. Being that JDI International is a Multi Level Marketing company, customers can also earn extra money by marketing “Infinity” and health-oriented JDI products to other people and by building commissions from their down line. See http://www.stemcellvitaminformula.com for further information.

Furthermore, JDI International, a U.S. based stem cell research and nutrition company, is a division of Emergent Health Corp., a public company which is headquartered in King of Prussia, PA. JDI International made global news earlier in 2011 when it introduced the revolutionary World’s First Daily Vitamin with Stem Cell Nutrition Support.

Indeed, it has been a long time coming, but anti aging and Longevity health therapies and treatments and scientific achievements are finally acquiring the plaudits and respect of medical science and research after years of false starts and unjustified, self-interest challenges to its integrity.

Now widely-recognized health-oriented international agencies, organizations, and governments are following and reporting newly-published documentation and developments from around the world of anti aging Longevity and stem cell breakthrough milestones for mankind.

“Infinity” is now available as a welcomed, integral part of one’s daily Longevity health regime.

Members of the Press and Media seeking an exclusive interview should email Stan Zipperman at:

stanzipperman(at)gmail(dot)com

*These statements have not been evaluated by the US Food & Drug Administration.This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

###

Stan Zipperman

(301) 328-4320
Email Information

By Maura Judkis  |  10:04 AM ET, 01/12/2012

New site offers health-conscious consumers high-quality, organic skin care alternatives derived from magnetic clay-based minerals well known for its detoxifying and anti-aging benefits.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 07, 2012

Launch of new website AdamaSkinCare.com features mineral skin care products that utilize the special innate healing properties found in a unique type of edible, magnetic clay called Calcium Montmorillonite. The new site provides health-conscious consumers with an array of natural mineral skin care product options including natural shampoos, moisturizers, natural deodorants, and a popular anti-aging cream.

Detox clay homeopathic remedies have been revered by natural health practitioners for its intrinsic capacity to help balance pH and detoxify the skin. Such attributes make this pure, edible clay ingredient instrumental in the quest to naturally combat numerous skin ailments, including red skin, sensitive itchy skin, dry skin and skin breakouts.

“I’ve always believed that the benefits of using alternative medicines that successfully leverage the vast natural healing powers found in nature far outweigh synthetic solutions, which often come with adverse side effects,”AdamaSkinCare.com Founder Gloria Vilchez said. “Simply put, there is no substitute for nature’s pharmacy in the quest for optimum health, which is why we’re so excited to be able to launch this site and offer those patrons with similar philosophies an exciting destination that caters to their everyday skin health and wellness needs – naturally.”

Products offered at AdamaSkinCare.com include: Mineral Moisturizers, Clay Anti-wrinkle Creams, Natural Deodorants, and a healing calming cream for red skin. All of the products on the website are made with herbs as well as the aforementioned signature ingredient calcium montmorillonite, which is also known as Kanwa Clay.

This rare magnetic mineral compound is the most studied clay mineral substance in the world. It is made from geologic tectonic plate activity, volcanic action and river hydrolysis. The clay is a silicate, which is an extremely flat crystal flake that carries a relatively strong net-negative ionic charge. Calcium Montmorillonite silicates have attracted and attached to the potent mineral nutrients in the mountain soils and streams. It adsorbs (ionically attracts through electrokinetics) and absorbs (porous diffusion), drawing in minerals needed to sustain life.

Montmorillonite clay is used in hundreds of products and applications, from cosmetics, to supplements, to medicines, making it ideal for the Adama’s natural skin care line.

AdamaSkinCare.com strives to provide consumers with the purest, chemical-free skin care products that are both safe for consumers and the environment. Adama Skin Care products are produced in a U.S. FDA-certified facility. All Adama Skin Care products are free of parabens, aluminum, sulfates, and are formulated using all natural ingredients – with certified organic ingredients whenever possible. For more information, go to http://www.adamaskincare.com.

###

Mysla Pechardo
Zion Health
650-877-7330 251
Email Information

The buzz around 2012′s must-have anti-wrinkle cream has begun, with a product reportedly set for release by French cosmetics company L’Oréal generating interest in the anti-aging industry.

A report published January 2 by The Daily Mail claims a new line of anti-wrinkle creams which “trick” skin cells into regenerating themselves is expected for release this year.

According to the publication, L’Oréal will use a special type of technology registered as Glycanactif for a product line in which artificial chemicals can mimic natural chemical behavior, penetrating the skin’s surface and stimulating cell regeneration.

“There is still much more to cell signaling and the ageing process, but all the cosmetics we had before were acting on the surface,” explained L’Oréal’s research director Bruno Bernard.

“Now we are able to create a rejuvenating effect on the deeper levels of the skin.”

Meanwhile, Richard Gallo, a professor of dermatology at the University of California in San Diego, described the results of the study into cell regeneration technology as “surprisingly good.”

Gallo told The Sunday Times the technology could have a huge impact on releases from across the beauty industry, although urged a cautious approach.

“There are a number of companies looking into this area. The optimistic side of me says it does have the potential… but the pessimist in me says it might be just another piece of hype,” he warned.

One product developed using L’Oréal’s glycobiology technology to have already made the headlines is Yves Saint Laurent‘s Forever Youth Liberator.

Following its January launch in Europe and Japan with a US unveiling in March, the Forever Youth Liberator line has benefited from parent company L’Oréal’s research into glycans. The new line containing the glycan complex is aimed at women over 30 and comprises a serum, cleansing mousse, lotion, cream, rich cream, eye cream and SPF 15 cream and lotion.

Glycanactif technology looks set to be L’Oréal’s latest anti-aging buzz phrase, following from the 2010 launch of its Youth Code Day Cream, which had been ten years in development and was the brand’s first mass market product based on genomic trials.

(Health.com) — Hanneke Hops wasn’t afraid of dying. What concerned her was growing old and not being able to run marathons, ride horses, or fly planes. So the 56-year-old Hayward, California, woman turned to Alan Mintz, M.D. — a radiologist who founded the Cenegenics Medical Institute in Las Vegas, which specializes in “age management medicine.”

She was prescribed recombinant human growth hormone (HGH), a synthetic version of a pituitary hormone hawked as a miraculous fountain of youth. Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that taking HGH poses serious health risks, Hops — unaware there was any harm — began injecting it into her thigh six times a week.

She never did grow old. Six months later, in 2004, she was dead, her liver full of malignant tumors. While it is impossible to prove that HGH therapy contributed to Hops’s death, the use of HGH has been linked to an increased risk of cancer. (Mintz said at the time of Hops’s death that Hops would not have been treated if he knew she had cancer.)

Today, thousands of physicians are catering to the 78 million baby boomers who are hoping to feel younger, longer — and willing to pay for the privilege. The anti-aging industry is expected to gross more than $291 billion worldwide by 2015.

Health.com: Anti-aging doctors to avoid

The problem is, many of these so-called anti-aging doctors are making empty promises. “They’re one step above snake oil salesmen,” says Steven R. Goldstein, M.D., a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York University School of Medicine. They prey on women who have legitimate medical concerns such as poor sleep, flagging energy, and libido loss, he says, yet they often lack the training required to treat those problems.

Even worse, they peddle therapies — most notably, the unapproved use of hormones like HGH and customized drug cocktails — which are unproven and can even be deadly.

The rise of the anti-aging doc

Once, middle-aged women sought out a gynecologist for menopausal symptoms, or an internist for fatigue. Now a new brand of doctor is promising to treat the above, and deliver much more: better sex, a fitter body, dewier skin.

“They often try to convince people that aging is their fault: ‘If you listen to us, we can fix the problem,’ ” says S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., a research associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago.

Health.com: Why sex is better after 50

Yet aging is a natural process, not a medical condition, and there isn’t any therapy that can reverse it or slow it down, Olshansky says. Official medical associations from the Endocrine Society to the American Medical Association warn against using “anti-aging” interventions.

And while traditional doctors, such as endocrinologists (who specialize in hormones) and geriatricians (who focus on the elderly) are specifically trained to treat age-related conditions such as hormone imbalances, “not all anti-aging doctors have a degree or advanced expertise” in what they practice, Olshansky says.

In fact, anti-aging isn’t a specialty that’s recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties, meaning doctors can’t officially be board-certified in it. Yet it has its own professional society, the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). Founded in 1992, A4M boasts some 24,000 members worldwide and offers a certificate in anti-aging medicine, available to any M.D.

Health.com: Erase 10 years from head to toe

Once a doctor sets up an anti-aging practice, she stands to make major profits. Many age-fighting treatments aren’t covered by insurance, which means the M.D.s prescribing them are paid out-of-pocket, Olshansky says — and that can add up to thousands per patient. At a time when physicians are getting lower and lower reimbursements under managed care, it’s little wonder that doctors of all stripes, from emergency-room medicine to radiology, are flocking to this lucrative new specialty.

Unproven treatments

So how do you know if your doctor is making promises he can’t keep? Here are the top dangers Health’s investigation uncovered:

• Risky hormone therapies. The biggest weapon in the anti-aging doctor’s arsenal is the willy-nilly prescribing of hormones. “The concept is that if you take a 60-year-old woman and duplicate the hormone environment from when she was 20, she’ll feel like she’s 20,” says Nanette Santoro, M.D., director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “It is essentially the idea of drinking the blood of young children.”

It’s also hazardous, because most age-erasing doctors aren’t trained in using these powerful substances. “In this entire field, I’ve only encountered one board-certified endocrinologist,” says Thomas Perls, M.D., an associate professor of medicine and geriatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. “It’s outrageous that people think they can prescribe these toxic hormone soups.”

The main ingredient in that soup is HGH, which naturally declines in our bodies as we age. Anti-aging doctors claim that by boosting HGH levels with injections that can cost $12,000 or more per year, you can reduce body fat, build muscle, improve sexual function, and up your energy.

Health.com: 5 secrets to boost your energy

But “there is no scientific proof of this,” Perls says. “And studies show that increasing HGH levels with drugs predisposes people to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer” — suggesting that the hormone may have been a contributing factor in Hanneke Hops’s death.

In fact, HGH is only FDA-approved for use in a handful of conditions in adults (including adult growth hormone deficiency, which is rare), and it is illegal to distribute a product containing HGH for anti-aging purposes.

Another hot hormone is bioidentical estrogen. For decades, women have relied on synthetic estrogen to relieve menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness. But when the Women’s Health Initiative study on estrogen and progestin therapy was halted in 2002 — due to a possible hormone-related increase in the risk of heart disease, stroke, blood clots, and breast cancer — some doctors touted bioidentical versions, made from soy and yams, as safer (though there’s no proof they’re less likely to raise your disease risk).

Bioidentical creams and pills made by pharmaceutical companies are available via prescription and regulated by the FDA. Still, many anti-aging docs attempt to create their own bioidentical hormone cocktails tailored to their patients’ special needs.

Health.com: Can supplements ease menopause symptoms?

It’s this customization that is most troubling to mainstream doctors. It involves taking a prescription to a compounding pharmacy, where pharmacists mix ingredients as outlined by your physician — and the resulting concoctions are not approved by the FDA. “When the FDA looked at compounded medicines, 43 percent of them didn’t have the things that they were supposed to,” Goldstein says. That means the drug you’re getting may not work — or may have unpredictable side effects.

Whether there’s even such a thing as an optimal hormone level is unclear, notes Cynthia Pearson, executive director of the National Women’s Health Network, a nonprofit group that advocates for women’s health issues: “Women can have very different symptoms at the same hormone levels.”

• Fad diagnoses. One of the newer anti-aging buzz phrases is adrenal fatigue. The theory behind the syndrome is that chronic stress causes a decrease in the production of adrenal hormones, which can cause fatigue and sleep issues.

But while there is a legitimate condition called adrenal insufficiency, which is diagnosed by an endocrinologist using a battery of tests, “adrenal fatigue is a bogus diagnosis,” Perls says. What’s more, the standard treatment — hydrocortisone — can lead to osteoporosis, diabetes, and organ dysfunction, says Jeffrey I. Mechanick, M.D., clinical professor of medicine, endocrinology, diabetes, and bone disease at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Health.com: 11 foods for healthy bones

Heavy-metal toxicity is another trendy diagnosis. The concept: Removing the body’s lifetime build-up of mercury, lead, and other metals can prevent or reverse age-related conditions such as heart disease. This is often attempted through chelation therapy, in which a synthesized amino acid called EDTA is run into patients’ bloodstreams; the EDTA attaches to the metals, which are then flushed out of the body with urine. The process can take 20 to 40 two- to four-hour treatments, at a cost of at least $2,500.

But while chelation therapy may benefit those with heavy-metal poisoning (a rare problem), there’s zero evidence it helps the rest of us. “It’s quackery at its best,” Perls says. “People have died from it.” Case in point: In 2003, a 53-year-old Oregon woman died during her fourth round of chelation therapy. According to the medical examiner, the cause was a cardiac arrhythmia stemming from the EDTA infusion.

• Pill-a-palooza. Forget popping a simple multi-vitamin from the drugstore. “Many anti-aging doctors sell their own lines of nutraceuticals at very high prices,” Perls says. “It’s a profit margin that’s better than what cocaine dealers get.”

Don’t waste your money, says Olshansky: “The vast majority of studies say anti-aging supplements don’t work.” Plus, they’re not required to be FDA-approved before they’re sold, so there’s no guarantee that they’re safe or effective. “We don’t know if they could help, but they could be harmful,” says Winifred K. Rossi, deputy director of the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology at the National Institute on Aging.

Health.com: Mistakes women make in middle age

Age well — and wisely

The good news is, no one is saying that you have to just deal with hot flashes, weight gain, or any other midlife change. Fifty-plus women may not have the biology of twentysomethings, but they can still feel vibrant, healthy, and even sexy.

“Our best advice is not very different from what our mothers told us: Maintain a healthy weight, be active, eat nutritious food, and don’t smoke,” Rossi says. Two key nutrients also help: calcium (get 1,200 milligrams a day, preferably from food; 1 cup of yogurt has 415 milligrams) and vitamin D (aim for 2,000 IU daily in a supplement, since it’s tough to get otherwise), Goldstein says.

Then, make sure you have the right medical team in place. Most women use their OB/GYNs as their go-to, but in your 40s, consider seeing a family-practice doctor or internist, too, says Pearson: “They’re qualified to handle all the routine issues that come up as women hit middle age.”

This back-to-basics approach may not sound as cutting-edge as special injections or souped-up supplements, but it’s time-tested and a lot less costly — for your wallet and your health. “Many of the benefits that are associated with HGH — you can get those with exercise, for free,” says Olshansky. “You don’t have to spend $12,000.”

Copyright Health Magazine 2011

Anti-aging skin care product retailer Mango Madness Skin Care, Inc. has expanded its skin care product line featuring hyaluronic acid for younger looking skin.