No need to go to the gym - exercise pill on its way!

BerryH

Obviously not true, but that's bound to be the headline the tabloids pick up on! Fascinating research into a hormone that turns white fat into metabolically active brown fat.

New hormone mimics the effects of physical exercise

A group of researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, led by Bruce Spiegelman and Pontus Boström, have discovered a hormone that mimics some of the results of a workout by facilitating the transformation of white fat into brown fat. While the purpose of the former is to accumulate excess calories, the latter is used to produce heat. Irisin, named after the Greek goddess Iris, could one day help address obesity and diabetes. However, there is still a long way to go before the hormone is made into an actual drug.

Irisin occurs naturally both in humans and in mice, and its levels surge with physical exercise. Mice have to spend three weeks running on a wheel for the hormone to accumulate in their blood. For humans, the same happens after ten weeks of systematic exercising. A placebo-controlled study showed that boosting the levels of the hormone artificially in mice may induce some of the benefits that would normally be caused by a workout. The cells of the mice injected with irisin needed more oxygen and burned more calories. Obese mice lost several grams within the first ten days from the injection.

The treatment also had a positive effect on the regulation of blood sugar levels, which links the hormone to diabetes prevention. What's more, Spiegelman's team plans to investigate the potential of irisin to advance the treatment of diseases such as muscular dystrophy and muscle wasting. "We are hopeful, though we have no evidence, that this hormone may embody some of the other benefits of exercise, perhaps in the neuromuscular system," he says.

This sounds very promising, but there is still a lot to be done before an irisin-based drug comes to a pharmacy near you. First, whether or not irisin will have the same beneficial effects on humans still remains to be seen. Second, making it into an actual drug may turn out to be very challenging, as pointed out by MIT professor Harvay Lodish. Adiponectin, a hormone Lodish discovered back in the early 1990s, also seems to play a role in staving off obesity and diabetes. It is correlated with the body mass index (BMI) and it increases the metabolic rate in mice without raising the food intake. Still, so far all the attempts at converting the full size adiponectin protein into a viable drug have failed.

Professor Spiegelman, however, is optimistic. In fact, he's optimistic enough to have set up a separate company, called Ember Therapeutics, to conduct brown fat-related research that includes studies on the effects of irisin. Supported by Third Rock Ventures, the company raised US$34 million in the first round of financing. We do hope that all this money and brain power will eventually lead to a treatment for obesity and diabetes. That said, we do recognize that there might be more to it than just swallowing a pill.

We are far from advocating the medicalization of serious social issues, and we warmly encourage our readers to exercise on a regular basis (at least until the magic pill is out, that is).

http://www.gizmag.com/hormone-mimics-exercise/21150/

vanessaclarkgbr

Oh thank god. Where can I get my repeat prescription ;-)

minnie84

Oh thank god. Where can I get my repeat prescription ;-)

me too lol xx

15in8

I agree, a lot of work needed! I don't think anything will beat hard work and diet. The same hopes were raised when Leptin research first yielded results. But the amount of money being thrown at obesity research is phenomenal, they will eventually come up with a solution, but unless there is a physiological basis for an individual to have a weight that is adversely impacting them, the healthiest way will always be self education and hard work. But it. Is interesting research to follow.

MaximalLife

Somebody is about to make yet ANOTHER fortune off the lazy *kitten* of the world.
I say GO FOR IT!
Take their money!:drinker:

I SALUTE these scammers!

Better you get it than McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC and Burger King.

cafren23

But what would we whine and moan about if we didnt have to be miserable dieting???

AH2013

Somebody is about to make yet ANOTHER fortune off the lazy *kitten* of the world.
I say GO FOR IT!
Take their money!:drinker:

I SALUTE these scammers!

Better you get it than McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC and Burger King.

Harsh, but very true :laugh:

flausa

Better you get it than McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC and Burger King.

But surely this means that they all can get the money!

songbyrdsweet

This is silly. Mice already have plenty of brown fat. This looks like another leptin-injection type of thing. They'll have to test it in primates first and see what happens there before I find this interesting.

BerryH

This is silly. Mice already have plenty of brown fat. This looks like another leptin-injection type of thing. They'll have to test it in primates first and see what happens there before I find this interesting.

Primate testing? Haven't you seen Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes? :laugh:

hnsaunde

This is silly. Mice already have plenty of brown fat. This looks like another leptin-injection type of thing. They'll have to test it in primates first and see what happens there before I find this interesting.

Primate testing? Haven't you seen Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes? :laugh:

Loved all of those movies! I just watched the remake of Planet of the Apes with a very young Mark Wahlberg, yum

c2sky

Somebody is about to make yet ANOTHER fortune off the lazy *kitten* of the world.
I say GO FOR IT!
Take their money!:drinker:

I SALUTE these scammers!

Better you get it than McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC and Burger King.

but wait, they'll STILL go to McDonalds and other fast food places. On a positive note, 2 fast food chains are now out of business in our retirement town, and Hostess filed Chapter 11 last week. So maybe things are turning around health wise. Or is the economy THAT bad?

c2sky

Better you get it than McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC and Burger King.

But surely this means that they all can get the money!

aha, we think alike my friend!