In today’s busy world, many people find it hard to make time for exercise. Now, scientists may have discovered a way to help people get some of the benefits of exercise—without actually moving a muscle.
Researchers at the University of Florida are testing a new medication called SLU-PP-332 that could help the body burn more energy and lose weight, just like it does during physical activity. This could be life-changing for people who struggle with their weight or have health conditions that make it hard to exercise.
The lead scientist, Thomas Burris, and his team created this pill to do something different from other weight-loss drugs. Most medications on the market either reduce appetite or increase the number of calories your body burns by speeding up your metabolism.
But this pill works in another way: it makes your body act like it’s exercising even when it’s not. In simple terms, it tricks your body into using energy the way it would during a workout.
Here’s how it works. Inside our bodies are proteins called ERRs. These proteins are most active when we’re using a lot of energy—like when we’re running, walking, or even thinking hard. They help our muscles, heart, and brain use energy more efficiently.
But until now, scientists couldn’t figure out how to switch these proteins on with a pill. SLU-PP-332 finally does that. It activates ERRs, helping the body burn more energy, even when resting.
So far, the researchers have only tested the pill on mice, but the results have been impressive. The mice didn’t eat less food or exercise more than usual. Yet, they lost 12% of their body weight in one month and had much less body fat.
Even more surprisingly, they could run nearly 50% further than before, showing better endurance and energy use. The treated mice gained ten times less fat compared to untreated mice.
This discovery is especially important now, as more people around the world struggle with obesity and diseases linked to weight, such as type 2 diabetes. Some medications, like Ozempic, have become popular because they help people feel less hungry.
But SLU-PP-332 is different. It doesn’t change appetite. Instead, it changes the way the body uses energy, making it a new tool in the fight against weight gain and poor metabolism.
There’s also another big potential benefit: preserving muscle. As people get older or lose weight quickly, they often lose muscle as well. This pill could help people lose fat while keeping their muscles strong, something that’s hard to achieve with diet alone. It may also help people who can’t exercise due to injury, illness, or disability.
However, it’s important to remember that this pill is still in the early stages of development. The researchers are working to improve it and test it further in animals before it can be tried in humans. They also need to make sure it doesn’t cause harmful side effects. Only after many more studies will it be ready for public use.
Even so, this research gives new hope. If SLU-PP-332 continues to show good results, it might one day become an easy-to-take pill that helps people stay fit and healthy, even when regular exercise isn’t possible.
This “exercise pill” isn’t meant to replace all the health benefits of actual physical activity, like stronger bones and better mood. But it could be a helpful option for people who have few alternatives. It could make the goal of managing weight and staying healthy easier and more realistic for millions of people.
The full results of this research have been published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
If you care about weight loss, please read studies that hop extract could reduce belly fat in overweight people, and early time-restricted eating could help lose weight.
For more health information, please see recent studies that Mediterranean diet can reduce belly fat much better, and Keto diet could help control body weight and blood sugar in diabetes.
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