EXERCISE PILLS: A HARD IDEA TO SWALLOW

A new pill could offer the physical benefits of an active lifestyle, but what about the boost that exercise can give your mental health?

- DR RADHA MODGIL

Keep active and get moving are messages we hear a lot of when it comes to wellbeing advice. And with good reason. Exercise is miraculous.

It is proven medically and scientifically that keeping active has a multitude of benefits. People who take part in regular physical activity have a reduced risk of stroke and heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, dementia, hip fractures and dying early.

And now, researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine, publishing their findings in the journal Nature, have found a molecule produced by the body during exercise that can reduce appetite and obesity.

The research team analysed blood samples from mice who had run on a treadmill and found a modified amino acid called Lac-Phe was produced from lactate and phenylalanine. When obese mice on a high-fat diet were then given Lac-Phe, it reduced food intake by approximately 50 per cent over 12 hours, which was totally unrelated to movement or energy expenditure. Next, Lac-Phe was given to mice over 10 days and the researchers found it reduced food intake, body fat and weight, and improved glucose tolerance. High levels of Lac-Phe is also found in racehorses and humans after exercise, perhaps strengthening the idea that this biochemical response is a regulatory system that has always been present in many species.