
Scientists have synthesized a new compound that ‘mimics’ exercise - fraqed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/07/27/scientists-have-synthesized-new-compound-that-mimics-exercise-could-a-workout-pill-be-far-behind/?wprss=rss_homepage
======
reasonattlm
The real takeaway from this research is that AMPK manipulation in the manner
demonstrated here is categorically not an exercise mimetic because it does
nothing in healthy individuals. A real exercise mimetic would extend median
life span, since that's what exercise does in mice.

Other strategies that end up showing altered AMPK levels along the way have
been shown to extend life and improve health in laboratory species. It is very
complex, and researchers are very far from understanding how even very
reliable and straightforward ways of slowing aging work. E.g. calorie
restriction. Studied for a century, no comprehensive explanation of how it
works yet.

This, along with tiny beneficial effects, is the reason we should largely
ignore all of these efforts to throw drugs at metabolism in the hopes of
lengthening healthspan. It is a grand waste of time, because even if
wondrously successful the best you could hope for in the next few decades is
something that is outperformed by actually exercising or practicing calorie
restriction.

What a waste of billions of dollars that will be. Yet that's what is going to
happen, judging by the willingness to fund this sort of work. It is like the
research and development community has learned nothing from the outcome of
fifteen years of sirtuin research.

If we want to see radical life extension in our lifetimes, it is going to come
from SENS and the like, deliberate targeted efforts to repair specific aspects
of biochemical damage that cause cell and tissue dysfunction. Not random drugs
mined from the natural world, but elegantly engineered biotechnologies that do
exactly what they are intended to do. You might look at allotopic expression
of mitochondrial DNA for example, as developed by Gensight at the moment (
[http://www.gensight-biologics.com/](http://www.gensight-biologics.com/) ).
The problem is identified, and a precise fix applied to cells via gene therapy
to make exactly the problem and only the problem go away.

That is the future of medicine. Yet the regulations and inertia behind the old
drug development pipeline is very resistant to change. We'd better hope that
the disruption represented by Gensight and other similar efforts takes hold,
because we're going to age and suffer just like our parents and on pretty much
the same schedule if it doesn't.

~~~
bengarvey
"by actually exercising or practicing calorie restriction"

Ever study I've read about has shown that while calorie restriction works in
mice, it has no effect in humans.

~~~
intrasight
>has no effect in humans This is true in practice for most people. "Calorie
restriction" is a misnomer. It should be called "calorie unavailability".
Research has show that if the food is there in your fridge but you choose not
to eat it, you don't get any benefits. The body and mind have to believe it is
starving.

~~~
sleeping_pills
That's very interesting actually. Do you have any links/references for this
research?

------
booop
Don't have much to say about how the compound affects your metabolism, but I'm
weary of any kind of 'workout pill'. For years I too hoped that were would be
some machine or pill that would automatically get me ripped without having to
put in the conscious effort. However, once I finally got into the habit of
exercising, I think what was more valuable than the results on my body was the
habit of pushing myself to the limit every time and going beyond my comfort
zone. It's something that touches everything you do.

------
scottlocklin
If y'awl exercised, you'd know that meat heads have been fiddling with things
which do this for ... decades. Almost a century if you count DNP.

[http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=146743673&pag...](http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=146743673&pagenumber=1)

~~~
xacaxulu
It's "y'all" thank you.

~~~
gadders
If there are more than five readers, shouldn't it be "All y'all"?

------
tunesmith
It talks more about losing weight than gaining muscle mass, not sure if it's
purported to help with that side of things.

------
fauigerzigerk
Mice again. Maybe someone can answer my naive but serious question: How many
cures that were tested on mice turn out to work in humans?

~~~
robotkilla
> Among the many advantages to using the mouse as a model organism, the most
> important is their striking similarity to humans in anatomy, physiology, and
> genetics. Over 95% of the mouse genome is similar to our own, making mouse
> genetic research particularly applicable to human disease.

[http://research.jax.org/mousegenetics/advantages/advantages-...](http://research.jax.org/mousegenetics/advantages/advantages-
of-mouse.html)

------
niutski
I failed to get my hands on the actual research paper so I'm relying
completely on the article's description of the study. To my unscientific eye
it seems that the only thing altered between the control group and the test
group was diet. Both were given "Compound 14". The test group that was fed a
high fat diet showed better results. Claiming that it's thanks to "Compound
14" seems a little bit unscientific. What I would like to know is: 1) What did
the normal diet look like? 2) What would the results be like if both the
control and the test group were fed the exact same diet from birth? 3) What
are the researchers' biases? 4) Who is funding the research?

------
INTPnerd
This sounds like a great enabler drug! You can eat more junk food and not gain
more weight, even if you don't exercise, as long as you take this pill! If
this does ever get sold as a pill, it may make billions for the people selling
it, the junk food companies, and other drug companies that will benefit from
the side effects this does not completely eliminate from your poor diet and
lack of exercise, not to mention the side effects the pill itself will have. I
can't wait!

~~~
simplexion
Not sure why this comment is being down-voted. It is an easy out for obese
people to continue on their over-consumption of food which could lead to other
problems.

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snake117
Even though this compound has a lot of potential to help those in need, I can
see this being marketed as the new Hydroxycut.

~~~
Igglyboo
If this compound truly does "mimic exercise" it would change the world. The
average lifespan would skyrocket and we could be so much more efficient due to
overall health and almost no time wasted for exercise.

------
teekert
Bravely we move towards the day where we can just eat, eat and eat all day
while staying alive to eat more!

But why not start working on an implant that stimulates our pleasure centers
directly, at the push of a button and omit the eating part altogether! We'd
not even have to lift our arm to our mouths! Just get a Soylent drip feed!

The future looks bright!

------
sanxiyn
Full text of the paper is here:

[http://www.cell.com/chemistry-
biology/fulltext/S1074-5521%28...](http://www.cell.com/chemistry-
biology/fulltext/S1074-5521%2815%2900234-3)

------
fineline
Why do we need a substitute to a healthy, balanced life? I'm sure its an
amazing piece of science, but how is this better than being physically active?
As a person who exercises, am I supposed to be considering this instead of my
current lifestyle? And if not - if it wouldn't be a better option for me -
then how could it be a better option for anyone else?

I'm genuinely bewildered. What is this for?

~~~
david-given
Because there are only 24 hours in a day?

Exercising takes a _really long time_. If I wanted to be physically active, I
need to allocate a big chunk of my day towards exercising, which means I need
to give up something else --- something I actually enjoy.

One thing that physically active people tend not to realise is that not
everybody finds exercise enjoyable.

I am not particularly unfit; I do various physically active things; but for
me, regular exercise is _horrible_. I find it an utterly miserable experience;
uncomfortable in every possible way, and worst of all, incredibly boring. And
it never gets better. A while ago I made myself train up and enter a 10km
race, and completed in a reasonable time. As I progressed, the only thing that
changed was that I was capable of prolonging the discomfort for longer. That's
a negative feedback loop! I was so glad when I actually completed the race and
could finally _stop_.

I am so, so jealous of people who actually _enjoy_ doing this crap.

So if there's a side-effect free way of getting the health benefits of
exercise without having to put up with an hour a day of tedium and lactic acid
reaction, that would be _amazing_.

</vent>

~~~
gadders
Maybe you haven't found the right exercise? I'd rather stick needles under my
fingernails than go for a jog, but happily spend 90 mins+ 4 times a week
strength training.

Or maybe a sport might be more fun? Tennis, ulimate frisbee etc.

~~~
david-given
Competition sports I find a complete turnoff --- as soon as I find myself
facing off against anyone else I instantly lose interest. (It comes from very
bad experiences of mandatory exercise at school which basically taught me that
I always lose.) I've tried weight training --- spent six weeks doing ~45 a day
when my local gym had a special offer. That was even more ghastly; I'd find
myself watching the clock desperately wanting it to be over.

The point I'm making is that exercise _is not fun for me_ , and while I
appreciate the effort, attempts to persuade me otherwise are doomed to
failure. (The endless, banal music the gym played didn't help.) What was worse
was that there was no objective way to measure progress so I didn't even know
if it was doing anything.

(That said, I _do_ enjoy hill walking (== hiking), but that's even more of a
time sink and not something I can do on a daily basis. It's also strictly low-
output aerobic.)

~~~
Ended
> What was worse was that there was no objective way to measure progress so I
> didn't even know if it was doing anything.

I agree that not being able to measure progress is horribly demotivating. But
I find the opposite, that exercise is one of the few areas in my life where I
can objectively measure progress. For example:

    
    
      Body weight
      Resting heart rate
      5k run time
      Longest distance run without stopping
      Max weight / number of repetitions / duration for strength exercises
    

These are all objective measurements which can be tracked over long periods of
time and directly correlate with the amount and quality of training that one
does. I have found that this is the best long-term way to motivate myself.

~~~
david-given
Well, only the first two are objective --- the others are all way too
subjective, as they depend horribly on how motivated I am. Even the objective
measures are hugely variable, so in order to get any actual data, I have to
measure trends over months, rather than weeks.

Being told that I need six months' work before anything measurable happens is
not really something I find motivating!

~~~
personalcompute
One of the things you get to track improvement on with exercise is the ability
to motivate yourself. It is part of you improving your physical and mental
health, not unwanted noise.

For me when I started exercising seriously I started noticing I was
consistently beating my personal bests [1] after about 2 weeks. It doesn't
take 6 months. I even started feeling great from the cardio on Day 1.

[1] Running times over a set distance, and amount of pushups/pullups/situps in
a row. If I actually recovered properly it would probably take even less time
to beat the initial records.

------
anti-shill
do they deliver?

~~~
anti-shill
yes, and then you tip them and say "thank you...come again..."

------
linky123
80% of people with type 2 diabetes are that way by choice. They chose to be
obese. (Only 20% of type-2 diabetes isn't caused by obesity.)

99% of obese people are obese by choice. (The 1% that aren't are people who
lack the mental ability to control their food intake.)

I hope we never spend the public's money on this.

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
> 99% of obese people are obese by choice.

Are you willing to make the same claim about other addicts, smokers,
alcoholics, drug users, sex addicts, and so on and so forth?

In all cases when you perform a behaviour your brain releases chemicals which
make a person feel better, these chemicals which should be associated with
behaviours which improve survival prospects can become addictive (in
particular in a world where we have unnaturally high access to things which
were scarce during our evolution, like rich foods).

Now in the cases of illegal drugs this is the intended effect, and without
argument they're some of the most addictive substances we know of.

But it is utterly absurd to simply dismiss the mental health aspect
(addiction, depression, etc) of obesity and call it a straightforward choice.
It might be a choice to you and I, but by definition we aren't addicts. Just
like with alcohol or sex, we can do it without the need or drive to OVER do
it, addicts cannot...

I do find in recent years and completely against all evidence, bigotry has
come out strongly against people struggling with food addiction. I
legitimately feel like it is nothing more than attacking the mentally ill,
nothing more.

~~~
linky123
You are correct in noting that obese people are "mentally ill." They are not
"diet resistant" nor do they have "slow metabolisms", PCOS, or thyroid
problems.

~~~
meursault334
Massively obese people have "slow metabolisms" after losing large amounts of
weight. This change in their metabolism is independent of changes in lean mass
or body composition[0]. This makes reaching a normal weight much much harder
for them than for people who are a normal weight to stay at a normal weight.

Do you really think that 1/3 of the population is "weak-willed" or has other
moral failings that means that their problem is not worthy of spending public
money on? Solving the obesity epidemic is much harder than people simply
becoming "better" or "choosing" to stop being obese. If this were the case
less than 5% of the population would be obese.

[0][http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3387402/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3387402/)

~~~
strggd
>Do you really think that 1/3 of the population is "weak-willed"

_American_ population -- also extendable to Britain, Scottland, Germany. Not
the world.

If you really think it's an epidemic, then it's a selectively first world
epidemic. Like the 10 plagues. And just as ridiculous.

Calling this a "disease" or "addiction" is moronic. You want to not be fat?
It's not a fucking secret how to not be fat.

[http://pmj.bmj.com/content/49/569/203.short](http://pmj.bmj.com/content/49/569/203.short)

~~~
iN7h33nD
Next time you do something you enjoy. I want you to not do it. Yeah you heard
me, don't do it. Then continue to not do it for six months. After that time
continue to never do it again. That's right never, even if the corporations
market it right into your waiting arms or someone hands it to you with no
effort on your part. I want you to never do it again, oh and by the way we
will all hate you for it and nobody will help you get through this.

Now your probably thinking "Fuck this guy". Guess what, your addicted to
whatever that was. An addiction is an addiction no matter how much your
religiously deny it. To call it a disease is debatable, but unimportant.

Finally, anything that Quacks like a duck and looks like a duck is a duck
right? Well then if lots of people die from a thing, and it is easily linkable
to obesity, than clearly treating it like a plague is justified.

------
heimatau
I'll take four please.

------
MicroBerto
This is obviously going to be a hot topic as we understand more and more of
the mechanisms behind our biology.

Another to look into is BAIBA, which we recently covered on our blog.
[https://blog.priceplow.com/baiba](https://blog.priceplow.com/baiba)

The social implications of this get very scary when you look at it down the
road. If we crack the code and really don't need to work out to stay fit some
day, it would change a LOT in terms of mate selection, to say the least. Not
sure how soon it will actually happen though.

