When injected separately, neither lactate nor phenylalanine alone affected appetite, and Lac-Phe administration didn’t influence how lean mice on a low-fat diet consumed food. It didn’t influence the mice’s movement patterns. When administered to the mice for ten days, Lac-Phe reduced total food intake and triggered weight loss (from reduced fat deposits), as well as improved glucose tolerance. A high dose of Lac-Phe suppressed food intake by about 50 percent over 12 hours compared to a group of control mice without Lac-Phe injections over the same period. To figure out Lac-Phe’s function, the scientists injected the metabolite into mice who were obese due to a high-fat diet. Lactate is produced during strenuous exercise and is responsible for exercise’s “afterburn,” while phenylalanine is an essential amino acid and one of the building blocks of protein. Lac-Phe is a combination of the substances lactate and phenylalanine. Then, the team studied the mice’s blood circulation and discovered that one metabolite increased the most: Lac-Phe. To elucidate the mechanisms at play, scientists first put mice on tiny treadmills and had them complete a relatively intense bout of running. How they did it - Scientists know exercise is one of the most powerful ways to stay healthy, but they aren’t sure how, metabolically, working out helps. Obesity is linked with various health outcomes, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. are considered obese according to the BMI scale, and another 30 percent are overweight. Xu also argues it could be potentially lifesaving as more than 40 percent of individuals in the U.S. It would help those with limited abilities due to age or certain health conditions. “I can always come up with excuses not to go to the gym.”Īn exercise pill would help more than those like Xu who struggle to get off the couch or desk chair. “I can run, but it’s hard for me to keep doing that kind of routine every day,” Xu tells Inverse. The scientist admits he can be “a bit lazy,” often preferring to stay working in front of the computer day after day. Why it matters - For Xu, the study stems, in part, from personal frustration. But better understanding the effects of Lac-Phe in the body is a crucial milestone at the beginning of a very long journey, he says. “The ultimate goal is to work around the molecule and one day, be able to come up with a practical way or pill that could be used to treat obesity or help people get the benefits from exercise without actually doing it,” Xu tells Inverse.Ĭurrently, we’re still “pretty far away” from that reality, Xu adds. Taken together, the data suggest Lac-Phe, which has been previously linked to exercise’s “afterburn,” is a key molecule regulating food intake and might be harnessed to not only better understand the upsides of movement but eventually develop the highly coveted exercise pill. By studying mice, racehorses, and a group of exercising humans, the researchers pinpointed a pivotal molecule induced by exercise that may regulate appetite and weight loss: Lac-Phe, or N-lactoyl-phenylalanine. What’s new - In a recent study published in the journal Nature, the team developed a therapy to confer physical movement’s health-promoting effects. Xu is a professor of pediatrics, nutrition, and molecular and cellular biology at Baylor College of Medicine. That’s the pipe dream scientist Yong Xu and his colleagues have been chasing to help those who can’t or won’t work out.
What if there was a pill that induced the positive metabolic effects of exercise - no weight training, sweat sessions, or HIIT workouts involved?
Still, some people miss out on these life-changing benefits due to physical limitations, while others struggle to make time to hit the gym. It boosts brain health, mood, metabolism, muscle strength, and longevity. Based on the data, exercise is as close to a miracle drug as humans have got.
0 kommentar(er)
