Miracle Weight Loss In A Pill?

The holy grail of drugs for a pharmaceutical company would be to finally discover a compound that mimics the metabolic effects of exercise on metabolism. It appears they are getting much closer. Exercise in a pill, or exercise in a bottle, all promising to cause massive weight loss, have been promised by various supplement companies for years. They were of course scamming people, but I digress… Back to this new research. The research is mice so far, but interesting and worth keep an eye on. However, it should be noted, plenty of drugs and other compounds have worked great for weight loss in animals only to find they don’t work in humans. The drug is called:
5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-D-ribofuranoside (AICAR), and research is on going.

Finally, you will also note the report below talks about the compound Resveratrol, found in grapes. I have some interesting comments about Resveratrol in a prior news letter found here: http://www.brinkzone.com/articledetails.php?aid=121&acatid=8
Here’s the report ….
Exercise In A Pill
Drugs show promise in mice. Those that took the meds had less fat, could run farther, study saysNEW YORK – Here’s a couch potato’s dream: What if a drug could help you gain some of the benefits of exercise without working up a sweat?
Scientists reported Thursday that there is such a drug — if you happen to be a mouse.
Sedentary mice that took the drug for four weeks burned more calories and had less fat than untreated mice. And when tested on a treadmill, they could run about 44 percent farther and 23 percent longer than untreated mice.
Just how well those results might translate to people is an open question. But someday, researchers say, such a drug might help treat obesity, diabetes and people with medical conditions that keep them from exercising.
“We have exercise in a pill,” said Ron Evans, an author of the study. “With no exercise, you can take a drug and chemically mimic it.”
Evans, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute reports the work with colleagues in a paper published online Thursday by the journal Cell.
They also report that in mice that did exercise training, a second drug made their workout much more effective at boosting endurance. After a month of taking that drug and exercising, mice could run 68 percent longer and 70 percent farther than other mice that exercised but didn’t get the drug.
Both drugs have been studied by researchers for other uses. The no-exercise drug is in advanced human testing to see if it can prevent a complication of heart bypass surgery.
Evans noted the drugs might prove irresistible for professional athletes who seek an illegal edge. He said his team has developed detection tests for use by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Evans said he has no financial interest in either drug or the test.
Drug had been studied for anti-aging effects
Resveratrol, a substance being studied for anti-aging effects, has also been reported to enable mice to run farther before exhaustion without exercise training. But the drugs in the new study appear to act more specifically on a process in muscles that boosts endurance, the researchers said.
Still, it takes more than just altered muscles to turn a sedentary mouse into a distance runner, Evans said, and “honestly, I just don’t know how that happens. Whether it would happen in a person, I don’t know. I think it’s a small miracle it happened at all.”
In fact, Evans said that when the experiment with sedentary mice was suggested by an outside scientist who was reviewing the lab’s research, “I didn’t think it was going to work.”
The no-exercise drug is called AICAR. Previous experiments suggest that it might protect against gaining weight on a high-fat diet, which might make it useful for treating obesity, Evans said. But it would have to be taken for a long time, he said, so its safety in people would have to be assured.
Experts who study muscle agreed that a drug like AICAR may prove useful someday in treating obesity and diabetes. Many drug companies are working on such drugs in diabetes because in animals, AICAR stimulates muscles to remove sugar from the blood, noted Laurie Goodyear of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.
Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25949447/

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8 Comments
  1. Darcy Grant 16 years ago

    here is a weight loss timing question for first thing in the morning,
    which one should be done first???
    A – Rapid cuts (on a empty stomach)
    or
    B – oatmeal with protien shake
    (i am out the door before 6am
    work 7-3:30 with breaks at
    9:30 – 12:30 – 2:30)
    early supper 4:30(wife goes to work then)
    workouts from 7 – 9 pm on average

  2. Tommy McInnis 15 years ago

    My concern, as I read your post and then the research on 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-D-ribofuranoside (AICAR), is the risk of NIDDM (non insulin dependent diabetes). Zyprexa is a psychotropic drug, and some patients who have taken it have developed NIDDM. The research shows that the above mentioned compound plays havoc with the glocose processes, and that could be dangerous in an otherwise healthy individual, as it effects the Hepatic function (liver). I think more time needs to be spent on this compound in the lab. Excersize and proper diet are usually the best way to stay fit.

  3. Bruce 15 years ago

    You made some good points there. I’ve been searching on this and found most people will agree with your blog.

  4. Great stuff. Nice to read some well written posts. A long way between them.

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