Tip: Beware of false product claims

It's nice to be wanted. Unless it's for the wrong reasons.

Companies for years have largely disregarded older people and concentrated their efforts on the 18-49 demographic. Outside of dentures and Depends, many companies didn't want their products associated with the over-50 age group. But in a sour economy, businesses are realizing the gray-haired crowd is loaded with green.

Some companies, however, are making false, misleading or exaggerated claims about their products, says Colin Milner, chief executive of the International Council on Active Aging. The Vancouver, Canada-based trade association partners with companies and professionals in the retirement, assisted-living and fitness fields to promote a "wellness" approach to aging.

Milner has coined the term "graywashing" to describe the practice of marketing inappropriate or ineffectual products to older people. The word is an outgrowth of the term "greenwashing," which is used to describe companies that say their products are "environmentally friendly" when, in reality, they are not. Like brainwashing, graywashing is an attempt to make a person believe something that is not true through the use of distortions and half-truths.

"There are multiple ways of graywashing," Milner says, "and most, if not the vast majority, of the claims that are being made are false." Milner says consumers who buy cosmetics or dietary supplements because they are marketed as anti-aging products are wasting their money because they do not stop or reverse aging. "If you're 65, you're not going to be 64 because you put on wrinkle cream," he says. Milner acknowledges that some products provide short-term cosmetic improvement -- and an even shorter-term psychological boost -- but he is concerned the marketing implies that older adults are damaged goods, and they are being graywashed into buying a largely ineffective product.

Milner sees a bigger problem with dietary supplements. He says health claims of most supplements are not backed by science. Worse, some supplements may react adversely with prescription medications.

So what should an older person do? Milner is an advocate of "active aging," meaning you accept getting older but do everything you can to maintain a good quality of life. Instead of popping supplement pills and undergoing cosmetic procedures, try eating a healthy diet, exercising and stimulating your mind through activities you find interesting. You won't turn back the clock, but you'll go forward in better shape.