For the most part, people are extremely lazy creatures who find it easier to wrinkle their nose, looking at their gained pounds in the mirror, rather than decide to go to the gym and try to get in shape. Pharmaceutical corporations are well aware of this, so they have been working for several years to create a drug that can replace exhausting training for lazy humanity. It is understandable: I drank the pill and pulled my stomach and sagging sides without any additional stress. Just a fairy tale! And this fairy tale, it seems, will come true sooner or later.
A group of scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Research in California made a very important discovery in this direction. In the process of feeding laboratory mice with a special chemical compound, it turned out that rodents under the influence of the drug are able to run 70% more distance than without it. In fact, we are not yet talking about a pill that replaces the gym. But a way was found to significantly increase the physical endurance of the body. This study continued another project of the team aimed at studying the processes occurring in the body during long runs.
By identifying a chemical that activates a gene that is responsible for resistance to weight gain and responds to insulin produced in long distance runners, scientists were able to use this knowledge to create a unique drug. The compound reprogramming the body's metabolic processes allowed mice, which could previously run for 160 minutes, to hold out in a given rhythm for 270 minutes. The gain of more than 100 minutes amazed seasoned scientists. For a person, to increase the load during training so much, it would take more than one week of hard work. And the mice just took the "medicine" and became professional runners.
Another important discovery of scientists was the fact that burning fat in the body under stress is not at all a consequence of replenishing ending endurance, but just a compensatory mechanism for maintaining glucose, which is so important for the proper functioning of the brain. It is glucose savings that can dramatically increase endurance. Researchers at the Salk Institute are now working to create another drug. This time, they plan to boost fat burning by activating the desired gene, while suppressing another gene responsible for burning carbohydrates for energy. Simply put, their future drug will allow the body to draw energy directly from body fat, without resorting to additional physical activity. And this is already much closer to the dream of humanity than some kind of "endurance amplifier".
The pills, on which the research team is working, in the future will be able to help not only lazy people with extra pounds, but also, for example, patients with type 2 diabetes, partially paralyzed patients, whose muscles gradually atrophy, and many other people. But so far this is just a scientific project, which is still far from being implemented.
SERGEY GRAY