Pill?

October 1st, 2022| Topic: RaMbLeS | 2

Talking of ants and not being a sluggard ….

Good news for those of us who decided—quite reluctantly—that we needed more exercise! Well, we do. But not in the way we thought we did: running like hamsters and generally behaving wildly, sweating and panting, in garments of “athleisure” (with fancy names like Lululemon, Lucy, Lorna Jane, Gap Body, and UnderArmor). Finally, good news for us who hated that kind of working out (though we did love looking like we were working out).

The prestigious journal Nature has come to our rescue with “An Exercise-Inducible Metabolite that Suppresses Feeding and Obesity,” published a couple of months ago by a group of researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, University of California Berkeley, and other centers in the Netherlands, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.

Basically, a hunger-pill is on the horizon!

Said lead author Prof. Yong Xu from Baylor:

Regular exercise has been proven to help weight loss, regulate appetite and improve the metabolic profile, especially for people who are overweight and obese. If we can understand the mechanism by which exercise triggers these benefits, then we are closer to helping many people improve their health.”

And Dr. Jonathan Long of Stanford, co-author, in a university press release:

We’re all generally aware that exercise is beneficial. It’s good for body weight and glucose control. But we wanted to take a look at that concept in more detail—we wanted to see if we could dissect exercise in terms of molecules and pathways.”

In other words, exercise is good stuff, but what exactly during exercise makes it good?

To answer this question, a battalion of mice was put to work, scampering on treadmills.

And the outcome: Lac-Phe (or N-lactoyl-phenylalanine) was the most significantly induced molecule during exercise that can suppress feeding and obesity. It is apparently synthesized from lactate, a byproduct of strenuous exercise, and an amino acid, phenylalanine.

In non-exercising lab rodents fed a high-fat diet, a high dose of Lac-Phe halved food intake over a period of 12 hours compared to a control group. It also didn’t affect their movement or energy expenditure. And when administered to the mice for 10 days, Lac-Phe reduced consumption and body fat and improved glucose tolerance. It was as if they had exercised!

Interestingly enough, the team also found robust elevations in plasma Lac-Phe levels following physical activity in racehorses and humans. Data from a human exercise group showed that sprint exercise induced the most dramatic increase in plasma Lac-Phe, followed by resistance and endurance training.

Prof. Xu concluded:

Our next steps include finding more details about how Lac-Phe mediates its effects in the body – including the brain. Our goal is to learn to modulate this exercise pathway for therapeutic interventions.”

To that, I say: “Woo-hoo!” No more kettlebells, dumbbells, and barbells, stationary bikes, rowing machines, and bench presses, treadmills and ellipticals, resistance bands and medicine balls, and mention of glutes, hams, quads, and abs. Begone!

Instead …

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?
Run in such a way that you may win.
Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.
They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim;
box in such a way, as not beating the air;
but I discipline my body and make it my slave,
so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24–27

SOURCE:
Study Finds; Nature