A diet pill that mimics exercise is one step closer to becoming a reality.

The search for a diet pill This is not something new. For many years, scientists have tried to satisfy one of the greatest requests of the population: lose weight without dieting or exercising. It should be noted that we are talking about scientists, not religious communities, so miracles should not be expected. Well, perhaps not religious communities. The main thing is to make it clear that healthy eating and exercise They have many benefits beyond the simple fact of losing weight. However, in some cases it may be very useful to accompany it with drugs like the one just described by a group of scientists from Saint Louis Universityin the United States.

Most weight loss drugs available or under investigationbased on loss of appetite. If a person taking it eats less, they will obviously lose weight. But this has quite a few disadvantages. On the one hand, one of the most commonly used drugs for this purpose is semaglutidealso used in treatment type 2 diabetes to control glucose levels. The population is so obsessed with taking diet pills that there is a shortage of this medicine in some places, with all the attendant consequences for those who need it most. In addition, they usually have very unpleasant side effects at the digestive level. For this reason, scientists have proposed another option that does not target the appetite, but rather forces the body to eat. think What do the exercise.

It should be noted that this is not the first time a diet pill has been proposed based on this premise, although none have gone on sale. This gave very good results in mice, so it’s still in its infancy. But it does something very important: it mimics exercise and is not just for weight loss. It can also increase muscle mass and is even thought to help. prevent cardiovascular diseases.

A weight loss drug that deceives the body

This drug, which is not actually a diet pill yet, is a compound called SLU-PP-332. Its effectiveness is based on the fact that, once in the body, it acts on ERRORa group of proteins that They intensify during exercise.

They are famous for many reasons. For example, they were recently discovered to be responsible for the pancreas does not digest itself. They play a very important role in the proper functioning of the mitochondria of pancreatic cells. Mitochondria are cellular organelles in which reactions occur that provide the body with energy. Therefore, if they do not function properly, the cells have to obtain energy in another way. And in the case of the pancreas, it was observed that if ERR is inhibited, it initiates the process self-digestion. Not recommended, of course.

But this is not the only role of ERR. These proteins have also been observed to interfere with the regulation of genes involved in processes such as gluconeogenesis, fatty acid metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation or thermogenesis of brown adipose tissue.

In other words, they interfere with a large number of processes, especially related to glucose and fat metabolism. It is activated during exercise, helping muscles get the energy they need. But also burning fat stores for more energy

Therefore, if the ERR organism is tricked into acting in the same way as when education, you can get a very interesting diet pill. This is the hypothesis that these scientists have been working on, with very encouraging results.

So far only in mice

This study consisted of two stages. It was initially tested to see what happened when the drug was injected into mice with what is believed to be normal weight. It was clear that his running efficiency had improved significantly. Therefore, when doing exercises It seemed like they had been training for a long time before this.

But what happens if the drug is used on obese mice? In the second part we worked with two groups of mice. They all received the same diet and performed the same physical activity. The difference is that one of them received the drug twice a day but the other one doesn’t.

Thus, it was seen that those treated with SLU-PP-332 They lost 12% of their body weight and gained 10% less fat. than unprocessed ones. Therefore, not only his physical condition improved. They also lost weight.

The long road to diet pills

It still needs to be expanded a bit before this drug can be used in humans. This would be very interesting for all types of patients, but especially for old peoplewhich are sometimes a little more resistant to physical stress.

On the other hand, we must remember that at the moment the drug is administered through injectionso it will have to be reformulated to be able to convert it into diet pill.

In addition, the study authors want to test whether it can be used to treat heart failure. If this happens, it will be a bomb. But we cannot imitate this exercise yet: we need to practice it. Since there will be benefits that no pill can imitate, it’s best create a habit.