The American Medical Association took a bold step recently and came out against anti-aging hormones. Apparently their beef with the stuff is that they don’t actually, ya know, work.

At their annual confab in Chicago on Monday, AMA delegates took a break from golf and adopted a new policy on products such as human growth hormone (HGH), testosterone and other hormones that are often used as aging remedies.

The AMA claims that hormones are not just ineffective in battling Father Time — some of them are actually dangerous. For instance, the AMA says evidence suggests long-term use of HGH can present more risks than benefits. Risks include diabetes and swelling, the AMA said.

I don’t know about that, but I speak from experience when I say that high levels of testosterone are dangerous. For those of you who skipped junior high biology (or who went to school in Oklahoma) testosterone is the primary male sex hormone. It’s the stuff that gives men deep voices, beards, and a deep-seated love of breaking things.

Testosterone was directly responsible for getting the snot slapped out of me more than once in high school. I also blame it for the acute case of tennis elbow I developed my senior year — this, despite the fact I never once picked up a racket. And while it never caused diabetes, I can definitely speak to the swelling.

The timing of this news is interesting, because I just saw a website for a doctor who claims that a regimen of bio-identical hormones can stop — or at least slow — the ravages of time.

That’s good, because one effect of aging is a decline in the production of testosterone. This condition is known as andropause and it can lead to loss of energy, depression, and buying a Harley.

The doctor’s site even had an online interactive test to see if you might be low on testosterone. When you click the link, it takes you to the official Scarlett Johansson website. According to the good doctor, if you can look at the site and then stand up without fainting, you’re a couple of quarts low.