Good news for Bloggers. There may be a pill that lets them watch their computer screen and get their exercise, too—without moving a muscle.
Scientists have found a drug that mimics the effects of a workout by, among other things, increasing the body’s ability to burn fat.
It tricks the muscles into believing they’ve been exercised. Says Ronald Evans, a developmental biologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, in La Jolla, Calif., and co-author of a study published in Cell. “It proves you can have a pharmacologic equivalent to exercise.”
In addition to supercharging stamina, the drug, called AICAR, may also be useful in treating debilitating muscular disorders such as muscular dystrophy as well as metabolic diseases such as diabetes, because it also appears to help the body use and remove sugar from the blood more effectively.
The key to this transformation is a protein called PPARdelta, which Evan’s team previously showed could create so-called high-endurance marathon mice. another expirimental drug that targeted only PPARdelta had some metabolic benefits, including lowering fatty acids and blood sugar.
Warning athletes! Evans has developed urine and blood tests designed to detect the drug.
Read the full article here:
Scientific American
Things change fast in the world of Science. It was only about a year ago that one of the major online weight loss websites was discussing the possibility of an exercise pill.
The following hypothetical discussion took place on the Diet Blog in September, 2007 and was in regard to “what if” an exercise pill were to be invented?
From a writer named Crabby McSlacker:
Don’t get excited, scientists haven’t invented one yet. But how many times have you heard that if they could put exercise in a pill it would be a miracle drug because of all incredible health benefits exercise provides?
It’s an interesting mental exercise to pretend that it’s already happened. Suppose there was now a pill that could burn the same number of calories, build the same muscles, and provide all the same health benefits as any amount of exercise you could do.
How much exercise would you get?
* Would you ever go to the gym again?
* Would you keep doing your favorite run every day? Walk it instead? Or stay inside and relax with a good book?
* Would you still stroll the neighborhood streets just to see what’s going on? Or would you just wave to your neighbors from the inside of your car?
* Would you go on a pretty nature hike that was a mile long? Ten miles long? Or go to a movie instead?
Read the Diet Blog article about the exercise pill.
Subscribe to this New Exercise Pill Blog to find the latest news.
Penny
