ARS on Twitter
RSS
The Next Infomercial Product
Posted by Duncan on August 1st, 2008
It’ll be on Sci-Fi at 4 o’clock in the morning…
Here’s a couch potato’s dream: What if a drug could help you gain some of the benefits of exercise without working up a sweat?
Scientists reported Thursday that there is such a drug — if you happen to be a mouse.
Sedentary mice that took the drug for four weeks burned more calories and had less fat than untreated mice. And when tested on a treadmill, they could run about 44 percent farther and 23 percent longer than untreated mice.
Just how well those results might translate to people is an open question. But someday, researchers say, such a drug might help treat obesity, diabetes and people with medical conditions that keep them from exercising.
Ofcourse this is gonna get abused. But not necessarily by the professional athletes (especially since they foresaw that and created a test for it), but by the average joe who wants to get ripped and supplement their own workout plan.
And I am seriously curious about the side effects. I wonder what unintended consequences will come from the use of this drug? What complications? I’m going out on a limb here that its going to have to with organ failure, erectile dysfunction.. and blindness…
August 1st, 2008 at 9:48 am
This “drug” changes metabolism. It alters it so calories are burned faster. It also removes certain sugars and other elements from muscle tissues. That would be helpful for diabetics.
The problem with drugs like this is the promise doesn’t equal the hype. Who wants to be ripped and weak? Who wants huge biceps but not be able to lift 50lbs? What good are well muscled legs that cannot endure a two mile run or heck, as with some of these drugs, a 1 mile walk???
Who wants to appear to be healthy but not be?
Muscles NEED exercise, a strenuous workout, in order to function as they are designed to function. Exercise cannot be mimicked. No drug can replace the physical demands placed upon the human body. No drug can replace the increased blood flow that muscles get during exercise; no drug can replace the tearing that takes place as muscles grow and lengthen and strengthen. Steroids may seem to deliver all this, but the stress placed upon the heart when confronted with the actual endurance exercise often kills the person. Also, muscles themselves can release toxins that can cause death, when overused without the buildup of endurance. We used to see violent patients die shortly after being restrained due to this muscle toxin dump into the system. (We as in the medical profession)
Side effects could also include heart failure, kidney failure, liver failure- long before blindness or erectile problems or other problems.