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New Drug Mimics the Beneficial Effects of Exercise
Zothecula writes "A drug known as SR9009, which is currently under development at The Scripps Research Institute, increases the level of metabolic activity in skeletal muscles of mice. Treated mice become lean, develop larger muscles and can run much longer distances simply by taking SR9009, which mimics the effects of aerobic exercise. If similar effects can be obtained in people, the reversal of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and perhaps Type-II diabetes might be the very welcome result."
Or you know, people could just go outside for a walk.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
If it seems too good to be true...
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I prefer a drug known as SR388, which allows me to latch onto people's faces and drain their energy.
Biology being what it is, it's reasonable to think that the health benefits of exercise are a multi-factor phenomenon and that any one chemical will deliver fewer benefits than the real thing.
Then the odds are that the drug won't be bio-equivalent to the chemical signals released by real exercise and will have side effects as a result.
Soon, there will be two kinds of nerds: Those on SR9009 and those they beat up.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
XtremeShred, Fatbusterone, Buffadrine2000. Additionally they should only market it using annoying popup ads and late night television.
So this is how the population explodes, eh? Well it was going to happen somehow.
Raters gon' rate.
I will probably work great... except for the anal leakage.
Proverbs 21:19
I'm just going to file this in the "Deeply suspicious" file, shall I?
But you all try it, let me know how it goes.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
I love the way the summary talks about the diseases this could help fix.
You know what the Scripps Ranch business types are really thinking: "OMG, we are going to *own* the diet industry!" cha-ching!
Steroids, contrary to the public perception, can be used responsibly and with few health consequences, especially by men, to more easily lose fat and gain muscle.
It's not quite a free lunch, you can't sit on your couch and become Ronnie Coleman, but it will accelerate things.
Oops, sorry. Because we must protect the "integrity" of sports (and the money they bring in) we decided Steroids should be scheduled drugs
They'd probably do the same thing if something like this actually worked.
What makes the fancy scientists think that this will be any different? I've given my wife 5,000 excuses for not going to the gym. They never work.
I always thought exercise mimicked the beneficial effects of drugs.
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
I guess that money I shelled out for an exercise bike to slouch on while I watch Food Network shows was wasted, huh?
When one MUST commute 45 minutes one way, work a ten hour day, commute another 45 minutes - traffic permitting, eat, do chores, etc .. getting proper exercise is challenging to say the least.
I'm a real fitness nut and I have to plan my day pretty carefully and set some strict limits on other people's demands on my time.
It's extremely difficult in technology since the culture is to live to work and live at work - if you're not constantly in front of the computer, then something is wrong with you.
That way I can work on my 6-pack
A drug that tricks the body to respond as if it has been exercising will work on all muscles. Real exercise only works on the muscles that you use. Overuse of this drug would be expected to cause muscle growth where you don't want it. Bulk up those facial muscles.
Sure, in limited cases, this could be great. I'm thinking of cases where people can't exercise, using this in low doses to reduce the length of rehabilitation. Stuck in bed for a month or two due to a car accident? This is for you.
Of course, if it works, it will be abused. Need to get that extra edge for the Tour de France?
It would have the same beneficial effects of SR9009 plus the laundry would always be done.
It must be comforting to "know" that a study must be false by virtue of the fact that you disagree with its conclusion.
Why not? It works for politics.
..And I hear ARod is already being investigated for it.
One of the problems facing astronauts: long periods of microgravity cause bone and muscle loss. I've read science fiction stories where people had to take pills to maintain their bones and muscles; they called them "gravity pills".
If this drug really works, I'm wondering if the astronauts in the space station, future Mars missions, etc. might wind up taking it drug routinely.
Probably a Mars mission will need to have some sort of rotating crew module to produce a gravity-like acceleration, as it will likely require at least seven months for the trip.
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Exercise doesn't make you healthy, it's your body's response to exercise that makes you healthy. Of course it can be simulated.
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
WOOT my face is so muscular now! O yea bustin' walnuts with my nostrils and shit!
get back to your desk
From TFA:
Previous studies on mice lacking Rev-ErbA showed decreased skeletal muscles, metabolic rate, and running capacity. Such mice appeared fated by their genetics to live as couch potatoes.
When Burris' group administered SR9009 to these mice to activate the Rev-Erb protein, the results were remarkable. The metabolic rate in the skeletal muscles of the mice increased significantly. The treated mice were not allowed to exercise, but despite this they developed the ability to run about 50 percent further before being stopped by exhaustion.
So they created some broken mice and then treated them with a drug that reversed what they broke. And, what do you know? The effects were reversed too.
I'd like to see a followup on unmodified mice to see if they also benefit. If Rev-ErbA is already present and active at normal levels, the drug may not do anything.
All we need now is just a sex pill. Then we can sit on the sofa all day updating our facebook status, while having all our needs satisfied popping pills.
Go humans!
Oh, right...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenfluramine/phentermine
You do all realize that muscles are not the whole story? You need parallel development of capillaries, veins, ligaments, joints, lungs, and bones.
If it doesn't do those, you might end up with huge muscles that tear away from their connections the first time you exert them.
For the average person, muscles are just there to look good, not actually to climb mountains or run farther.
More Twoson than Cupertino
How much you wanna bet it's more about having "cheaters" cutting into the supply of hot ladies he's exercised so hard to get?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I swear this sounds just like a Marvel Comics hero origin story...
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Sounds like how I've heard meth described. I've also heard it's awesome for weight loss too.
Do the mice feel the need to take apart their exercise wheel?
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It's great they've had promising tests in mice, but journalists always go on to make some fabulous claim for how the future wonder cure/thing is right around the corner.
Yes, this is interesting, and maybe there is some good science/medicine that will come out of it - but we're FAR down the road from an exercise pill. I know the article isn't saying it's right around the corner either but it just feels like a lot of speculation and hyperbole at this point.
I know, I know - total Debbie Downer - sorry.
The Digital Sorceress
The process is probably slow enough to allow the rest of the body to adapt. After all, when you exercise, you are just releasing other, natural chemicals to initiate the same process. If you can simply control the release of those chemicals consciously, there is no reason that the effect needs to be different than the results of exercise. In fact, you might well be able to build muscle with less risk of injury from exertion.
I would say the real danger here is that conscious control is not going to be precise and well designed as the body's natural feedback process which might cause chronic issues to appear from uneven development. You could have some of the issues you describe, although I'd expect that they would be significantly less dramatic than muscles ripping themselves apart like that.
Of course, if people like those abusing steroids get their hands on this and abuse the heck out of it, there could be some very... bad... effects.
Muscles don't give you coordination. I know that from experience. You still need to train to be any good at a sport... even plain old powerlifting. Muscles or not, you lift that weight wrong and you will break something.
That said, I would much prefer to have to train only for coordination and not have to worry about keeping weight off and building muscle. It's very time consuming to do that.
Like anything else, you can just buy it over the internet:
http://www.millipore.com/catalogue/item/554726-25MG?cid=bios-C-epdf-1032-1302-RC
We are masses of blood and other fluids integrated with a machinery (bones, muscles, cartilage, and other tissues) that was designed to be moving.
Drugs like that may bring some of the benefits produced by exercise, but ultimately our bodies depend on movement for many functions. For example, bones that are not stressed by exercise become brittle. Cartilage in our spine and joints have no direct blood circulation, but depend on the blood flow of surrounding tissue. Lack of movement deprives cartilage of indirect blood flow.
I doubt that a single drug can replace all the benefits of moving our bodies.
Here's an fact: for many it is not trivial to change careers. It is even less trivial to do so without losing your underwater house and going through bankruptcy in the process.
Someone had to do it.
How about my screwed up shoulder from weightlifting, that I'm currently undergoing physical therapy for?
The physical therapist explained that my issue is usually caused by too much repetitive motion with the arms raised.
So, yes, increased wear and tear.
You can dismiss my firsthand account as anecdotal if you like, but there's also the inference I make from what the PT told me: "your issue is caused, like in other cases, by too much repetitive motion with the arms raised."
--PM
--PeterM
You are looking at this all wrong: I have a 45 minute commute and get exercise too by cycling. Edmonton has a fantastic river valley park so not only is about half the cycle ride through parks but the climb out of the valley helps increase the exercise. Of course being in Canada you can only do this 6-7 months of the year but for the winter there are buses so still no need to drive unless I'm working late. Not only does this get you exercise without taking up a lot of time but it's also saves money (bike maintenance is a lot less than the cost of bus fares or petrol).
I planned it. I didn't do it in one day.
And I still have my underwater house, that I rent out.
Never said it was trivial. Just that it was worth it.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Y'know, I first read that as "now if I can combine that with my vagina and rogain".
I'm not quite sure if hilarity ensued. It certainly gave me pause...
U. Bolt - new world record - 100m running 5.19s - and he will be tested and found clean, but 2 years later .. ROLF..
Please, doping for all and not only the wicked !
Indeed. Nothing +50% is still nothing.
Sounds more like the latest greatest thing for the doping market...
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
They don't, but they're definitely a part of it. That twitchy muscle strength is what gives you the ability to react quickly. Troy Polamalu, the Steelers player, has a workout routine that's based on fast, "explosive" movements with relatively low weights. I've felt that loss of reactive muscles as I get older and still have a lot of the coordination I had, just not the reactive strength to do things as quickly.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
I'd blame it more on the scientists (and their organizations). There are all kinds of self-serving reasons for a lab to convince people they're on the verge of some great breakthrough. I've been hearing about cancer cures 5 years down the road for about 20 years now.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
According to the Nature paper referenced, they think part of the way it works is increased creation of working mitochondria, and increased recycling of nonworking mitochondria.
That's a useful thing to be able to modify. There are a number of diseases that seem to involve increasing mitochondrial disfunction or decreased numbers of them.
In fact, one of the theories of aging is that the mitochondria stop working so well contributing to senescence because there's less energy for the cell to do routine things like take out the trash (buildup of nonworking protein and other remnants). That's certainly not the whole story on aging, but it's likely a part of it.
This may not work in humans, or even if it does might not lead to an exercise pill, but this is certainly interesting work.
Once the drug is socially accepted, he should get his Tour de France titles back
Exercise that only tones the muscles isn't the most productive. Exercises that do this and integrate body and mind (such as a skilled sport or a martial art) do much more, and I doubt these drugs would accomplish any of that.
John_Chalisque
The belief that thousands of people working for a dozen different companies all work together in secret to destroy our health. That no pharmaceutical company will try to make a fortune selling a cure because they like selling treatments.
You know I'll just drop this https://xkcd.com/808
But... the future refused to change.
Gyms will be out of business unless they become libraries.
Ever occured to you not everybody is a lazy couch potato fat ass and may enjoy the exercise?
Tomorrow is another day...
This post is almost entirely inaccurate. From the article: "An international group of scientists has shown that a drug candidate designed by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) significantly increases exercise endurance in animal models..." So the article is actually stating that it will increase an individuals endurance in order to allow people who normally can not perform exercise, to exercise (i.e. someone with an injury or someone who is overweight.)
It's over 9000!
This might help astronauts who lose muscle tone with extended time being weightless
Greed is the root of all evil.
Considering the side effects that people are okay with these days, a whole lot of people will have to die pretty horribly to keep this from dominating the market.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
develop larger muscles
What about the associated connective tissue? Building big muscles fast is just a recipe for tearing ligaments. These take a lot longer to develop than muscle. As many steroid users demonstrate by bulking up fast and then tearing themselves up pushing too hard.
Have gnu, will travel.
You are believing the government figures. It's considerably higher than that, though I can't give you reliable figures. My guess would be it's around 20%, but that could be either an over or an under estimate, and I don't know by how much.
Government unemployment figures have been admitted to be manipulated to give the desired value since around 1980, so it's probably been happening for a lot longer than that. As election time approaches they will often redefine the way that unemployment is calculated so that they can claim that they've reduced unemployment. (They don't go back and recalculate the historical numbers, so you can't know what the figures really mean.)
You could also look at the way they calculate the money supply. That's another place where they use slippery calculations to make themselves look good to those who care to look at the numbers, with no real way to tie them to anything actual.
OTOH, AFAIK the census bureau produces honest numbers. Despite those numbers being used to define the boundaries of electoral districts.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
This is slashdot. There is no get, especially with "hot ladies". Your argument is invalid.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Would this be useful for people who need to spend prolonged periods in low-g environments? What about people in comas? It seems like this might have a lot of uses beyond just making lazy people look better. Although, I wholeheartedly endorse that plan too.
If I was like you, I would smugly tell everyone that they should telecommute. That any parent that doesn't get to eat lunch with their child everyday is just not trying.
The thing is, there are only so many jobs that people can telecommute to. More jobs could be telecommuting than are, but that decision generally isn't the employees to make. Even if every job that could be telecommuting was, there would still be a need for a large percentage of people to work on-site. The fact that you* and I can telecommute is because not everyone else does.
* I am assuming that you too telecommute given that you can just quit jobs and change careers to get a better work/life balance.
Your therapist must be rich.
Thanks for sharing that, my brother is 4 years older than me too & in many ways leads a much more difficult life than I do, so it hit kinda close to home. He is actually a good example of someone who can't simply quit and move, even though he would surely be better off financially if he was to do so. He its the eldest and of the old school of this meaning he is responsible for caring for his elders & won't move until those he feels responsibility for have passed. There are so many different circumstances that it is naive to believe one person's experiences can be applied to another's.
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
It might be useful for space travel: one of the problems of a zero gravity environment is muscle atrophy and this drug could maybe solve that.
Drink hot water whenever possible.
Casteism
C'mon, you know how this will play out. Not just anybody will be allowed access. What's the difference between a drug that increases your muscle mass without exercise (i.e., the andros & other steroids) and one that increases your aerobic capability? If it actually does work, it'll first be banned by all sports organizations, amateur and professional, and then, like steroids, legally classified as a controlled substance and regulated as tightly as methadone. A result of our Puritan background -- if you don't earn something, you don't deserve it. You know I'm right: Even here, what was the first /. response? "People should just go out and walk instead of taking a drug."
to do absolutely nothing in terms of physical exercise *rolls eyes*...... the other beneficial possibilities of this drug seem to be well worth the effort of further testing and sampling.