---
title: "American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine"
chunk: 4/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:37:22.791474+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

As with other hormones, hGH levels often decline with age, but this decrease is not necessarily bad. At least one epidemiological study suggests that people who have high levels of hGH are more apt to die at younger ages than those with lower levels of the hormone.  Researchers have also studied animals with genetic disorders that suppress growth hormone production and secretion and found reduced growth hormone secretion may actually promote longevity in those species that have been tested.
The Clinical Interventions in Aging review also stated that although the decreasing levels of the hormone seen in the elderly might reduce quality of life, this change could protect from age-related diseases and cited evidence linking GH to cancer. This concern was mirrored in a 2008 review published in Clinical Endocrinology, which stated that the risk of increasing the incidence of cancer was a strong argument against the use of this hormone as an "elixir of youth" in healthy adults.

== Legal disputes ==

=== Credential dispute ===
The academy's co-founders include Klatz and Goldman, who are licensed osteopathic physicians and have Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degrees (D.O.). However, according to The New York Times, they also received M.D. degrees as doctors of medicine from a university in Belize in 1988, although the paper notes that they had not studied in Belize. In 2009 Klatz and Goldman stated that these degrees involved eight years of medical and surgical training and a year of clinical rotations. The New York Times reported that the Illinois State Board of Medical Registration did not recognize these M.D. degrees, and stated that the Board fined the men for using M.D. after their names. Writing in 2004, The Times stated that Klatz and Goldman "agreed to pay $5,000 penalties for allegedly identifying themselves as doctors of medicine in the state without being "properly licensed"." The Illinois Division of Professional Regulation disciplinary records state that Klatz and Goldman "agreed to cease and desist using the designation "M.D." in addition to the appropriate "D.O." title and fined $5,000. Both physicians did receive degrees as doctors of medicine, but were never properly licensed to use the title "M.D." in Illinois". In 2009, Klatz and Goldman stated that Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation had determined that they are currently:

licensed physicians and surgeons of osteopathic medicine in good standing in Illinois for over 20 years, which allows them to practice and carry out all duties equivalent to what a medical doctor, an M.D., may do in Illinois.
They go on to state that they have "valid M.D. degrees from a recognized medical school". Writing in 2004, the historian Carole Haber put this dispute into context, noting that "like the gland doctors before them, the leaders of the A4M have had their practices and credentials assailed by the medical and legal communities".

=== Regulatory and tort issues ===
Two articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association have stated that the use of growth hormone as an anti-aging product is illegal. However, Klatz and Goldman dispute this, arguing that this use of growth hormone is legal. The United States Department of Justice states that growth hormone is a potentially dangerous drug and its supply "for any use ... other than the treatment of a disease or other recognized medical condition, where such use has been authorized by the Secretary of Human Services" is a felony under the Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990. Similarly, the FDA has stated in a Warning Letter that no growth hormone products have been approved as anti-aging treatments and supply for this use is therefore illegal and an "offense punishable by not more than 5 years in prison". In 2007 The New York Times discussed ongoing federal and state investigations into illegal trafficking of human growth hormone and anabolic steroids, noting that "many of the individuals and companies cited in the indictments have been involved with the academy and its conventions over the years". However, the paper notes that the academy is not accused of any wrongdoing as part of these investigations and quotes Klatz and Goldman as stating that "they barely knew the suspects or the nature of their businesses". A May 2000 article in the Los Angeles Times suggested that, from an examination of the disciplinary records of doctors in California, members of the A4M in this state were approximately ten times more likely to be disciplined than the national average. In the article, Klatz is quoted as commenting that:

When you are out on the frontier, you are going to attract some of the very best people, and some who are ... not the very best. We have had situations where we've had to contact people and say, 'Would you mind affiliating yourself with another organization?' It is an ongoing process, and I think we are attracting better and better doctors.

=== Wikipedia ===
According to lawyers claiming to act for A4M and one or more people involved with it, their clients had initiated "defamation actions in New York and Massachusetts" against Wikipedia editors in 2009.
According to Courthouse News Service, the A4M co-founders Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman are pursuing legal action against the online encyclopedia Wikipedia in New York County Court, seeking damages for alleged defamation.