The New Exercise Pill: Fact or Science Fiction?

There’s good news coming down the pike for those of us who hate to exercise and love to eat to our heart’s content! Would you believe that scientists are working on an exercise pill that could make us resistant to weight gain and improve our endurance, all without us having to lift a finger?

It seems impossible, but these amazing results aren’t something out of a science fiction movie. They’re actually happening in laboratories today. Right now, only mice are benefiting from this amazing study, but who knows, one day we could be fit without expending any effort!

This amazing discovery is the brainchild of Dr. Ronald Evans, a molecular physiologist with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Evans is also a professor at the Salk Institute’s Gene Expression Laboratory. He recently published the results of experiments using two different drugs, AICAR and GW1516.

Exercise-trained mice demonstrated an increase of 65% in running time and running distance, when administered GW1516. This drug is also being used in a study to enhance HDL levels which would provide humans with greater levels of good cholesterol.

Sedentary mice received the drug AICAR. These are the mice most closely linked to human “couch potatoes.” When they were given this drug, their running time improved by 23% and their running distance improved by 44%! What makes these results even more impressive is the lazy mice improved in both muscle tone and endurance, without ever performing any activity!

Studies have demonstrated that AICAR actually changes the physical composition of the muscles! Muscles that previously were categorized as “sugar-burning fast-twitch fibers” transformed into “fat-burning slow-twitched fibers.” What does that mean to the average layperson? The muscles demonstrated the same changes that occur in athletes trained as distance runners and cyclists!

While you might think these studies are especially appealing to the “couch potatoes” of the world, doctors are most excited about the potential benefits to those people who are unable to exercise. Imagine those who are sedentary, not by choice, but due to joint pain, long hospital stays, and other circumstances that keep them from being active.

Imagine all the incredible potential benefits of the new “exercise pill.” Weight loss, while important, wouldn’t be the most anticipated benefit. Think of all the people that could be helped with a decrease in the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Blood sugar levels could be lowered, adipose tissue could be decreased, and muscle wasting could be eradicated.

Even with all of the amazing benefits that these drugs may provide for our overall health, Dr. Evans noted a potentially negative component to the research. The benefits of these drugs may be irresistible to some professional athletes, in an era when having an advantage equates to big bucks. Because of this, detection tests have been developed for use by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

So, how do these impressive results transfer from mice to humans and how long before we can line up to purchase them? Those questions are still unanswered, but the potential is so great that it’s worth waiting for.


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