Can’t Beat the Real Thing: Don’t Fall Victim to ‘Exercise in a Bottle’ Craze
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Can you imagine taking a dose of exercise with your daily multivitamin? In a million years, right? Well, researchers would have you believe this far-fetched notion could be reality, and sooner rather than later.
This is because researchers have recently developed a drug that when tested on mice apparently “mimics” the effects and benefits one gets from exercise. |
| The drug – dubbed AICAR by researchers – could be the next “super” pill because when it was given to sedentary mice, they were able to burn calories and fat more quickly and more efficiently than mice not given the drug. What’s more, among those mice treated with the pill and then tested on a treadmill, their performance was markedly better than those mice untreated – running farther (44 percent farther) and for a longer period of time (23 percent longer). | |
What’s the upshot to all this? Researchers believe that if the results of taking the drug are in any way similar when tested on humans – which hasn’t been done as of yet – it could revolutionize the way we look at exercise by bottling it and selling it in tablet form.
While I agree the marketing of exercise in pill form would revolutionize how the world looks at exercise, it wouldn’t be a positive development.
First off, as the researchers say, even if the effects are found to be similar in humans, the only way one could actually see results is by taking the pill for a long period of time. So basically in order to lose weight, you have to line the pockets of the yet-to-be-named pharmaceutical giant, and even then, there’s no knowing what side effects might result after prolonged usage.
Remember ephedra? Ephedra was a stimulant found in an array of supplements at your local GNC, online retailer and virtually every other nutrition store throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. It was believed that taking ephedra increased one’s athletic performance, enabling the avid workout fiend to work harder, run farther, and lift heavier. The problem was that it was loaded with side-effects, like increasing one’s heart rate and blood pressure dramatically. Ephedra rendered speed-like effects to its user, causing some to die from heart attacks or strokes (Baltimore Orioles and Minnesota Vikings fans know this all too well).
Thankfully, the FDA did the right thing (this time) and decided to ban the supplement in 2004. While ephedra is no doubt bought and sold today, people do so at the risk of their own lives and their loved ones.
I have no doubt that this drug – if it winds up being marketed to people – will meet the same fate as ephedra. Just as ephedra was initially believed to be safe, it didn’t take long before its true effects were made manifest.
There’s nothing out there that mimics exercise and its benefits as effectively as exercise itself. Not only does it do wonders for you physically, it also does wonders for you mentally. And if the physical benefits of exercise can be put in tablet form – which I don’t believe they can – the mental benefits acquired from exercise cannot be. Don’t fall victim to the hype. Stick with the real thing – nothing beats it.
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Posted: August 4th, 2008 under diet pills, Exercise.
