Online Age Quiz Is a Window for Drug Makers

Americans yearn to be young. So it is little wonder that RealAge, which promises to help shave years off your age, has become one ofthe most popular tests on the Internet.

According to RealAge, more than 27million people have taken the test,which asks 150 or so questions aboutlifestyle and family history to assign a “biological age,” how young or oldyour habits make you. Then, RealAge makes recommendations on how to get “younger,” like takingmultivitamins, eating breakfast and flossing your teeth. Nine million of those people have signed up to become RealAge members.

But while RealAge promotes better living through nonmedical solutions, the site makes its money by selling better living through drugs.

Pharmaceutical companies pay RealAge to compile test results of RealAge members and send them marketing messages by e-mail. The drug companies can even use RealAge answers to find people who show symptoms of a disease — and begin sending them messages about it even before the people have received a diagnosis from their doctors.

这会让药品和医疗服务的消费者变得更加英明一点，不会被医生推着走。而我说的一个wikidoctor就是基于使人更英明的。