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'Exercise-In-A-Pill' Boosts Athletic Endurance By 70 Percent, Study Finds (sciencedaily.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Science Daily: Salk Institute scientists, building on earlier work that identified a gene pathway triggered by running, have discovered how to fully activate that pathway in sedentary mice with a chemical compound, mimicking the beneficial effects of exercise, including increased fat burning and stamina. The study, which appears in Cell Metabolism on May 2, 2017, not only deepens our understanding of aerobic endurance, but also offers people with heart conditions, pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes or other health limitations the hope of achieving those benefits pharmacologically. Previous work by the Evans lab into a gene called PPAR delta (PPARD) offered intriguing clues: mice genetically engineered to have permanently activated PPARD became long-distance runners who were resistant to weight gain and highly responsive to insulin -- all qualities associated with physical fitness. The team found that a chemical compound called GW1516 (GW) similarly activated PPARD, replicating the weight control and insulin responsiveness in normal mice that had been seen in the engineered ones. However, GW did not affect endurance (how long the mice could run) unless coupled with daily exercise, which defeated the purpose of using it to replace exercise. In the current study, the Salk team gave normal mice a higher dose of GW, for a longer period of time (8 weeks instead of 4). Both the mice that received the compound and mice that did not were typically sedentary, but all were subjected to treadmill tests to see how long they could run until exhausted. Mice in the control group could run about 160 minutes before exhaustion. Mice on the drug, however, could run about 270 minutes -- about 70 percent longer. For both groups, exhaustion set in when blood sugar (glucose) dropped to around 70 mg/dl, suggesting that low glucose levels (hypoglycemia) are responsible for fatigue.

118 comments

  1. Oh Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe now I'll get that sub 2-hour marathon PR.

  2. great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure all the drug cheats in sports etc will be grateful for the help given by this work..
    Although it does help explain folk with metabolisms like mine..
    I used to be able to take in massive amounts of calories (22k per day),work most other folk into the ground and had insulin reactions that seemed to leave drs scratching their heads...

    1. Re:great by Viol8 · · Score: 4, Informative

      22K per day? Yeah, sure. You and the other elephants in the enclosure, right? The most the human gut can absorb per day is roughly 6K to 8K which is why a lot of people who do extreme expeditions still lose weight despite eating high calorie food almost non stop.

    2. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you can actually eat 22k callories per day, but you will just excrete 14K of those.

    3. Re:great by Viol8 · · Score: 1

      If you ate nothing but butter & chocolate maybe.

    4. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you not?

    5. Re:great by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2

      The most the human gut can absorb per day is roughly 6K to 8K

      This might depend on conditioning. I used to know people into extreme cycling events (Tour de France, etc.) and they would target about 12K, including an entire box of donuts before breakfast. But that's after months of training.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    6. Re:great by ausekilis · · Score: 1

      All I've had to day is like 6 gummy bears. And some scotch.

    7. Re:great by asylumx · · Score: 2

      but you will just excrete 14K of those

      So what you're saying is the OP is full of shit? <rimshot />

    8. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Normal gummy bears or pot gummy bears?

    9. Re:great by rjstanford · · Score: 1

      Since he didn't include cheetos, I'm going to assume the normal ones.

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    10. Re:great by HiThere · · Score: 0

      Chocolate isn't high in calories. You're probably counting the fat that they blend it with, so the chocolate is redundant. I suppose cocoa butter is a bit different from regular butter, though.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  3. Ha! You need some KRANK! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And you will be 700% better, Stronger, FASTER, for LONGER!

    And then notice everyone around you has been taken over by an alien.

    And then think Trump really makes sense after all.

  4. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    you could read a bit further.

  5. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    that was the old study. you should have finished.

  6. What's The Catch? by mentil · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm wondering why that genetic pathway isn't active for all mice, but suspect it's because they don't live as long during a famine. I also wonder why mice evolved to be able to run for 160 minutes straight, considering they tend to move in bursts, and hide.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    1. Re:What's The Catch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have to be a mouse.

    2. Re:What's The Catch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's a mouse thing. You wouldn't understand.

    3. Re:What's The Catch? by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

      I'm wondering why that genetic pathway isn't active for all mice, but suspect it's because they don't live as long during a famine.

      Overall, it probably uses more energy to keep that pathway active.

    4. Re:What's The Catch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You should look up video of a mouse escaping a deep drop trap. The little animal repeatedly jumped vertically almost ten times its own length for tens a minutes a time ... and then got back on the roll, fell in again, jumped again ... and escaped by the end of video. So, they may not run long distances, but they jump a lot for their survival.

    5. Re:What's The Catch? by beelsebob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because being able to shed weight easily isn't evolutionarily advantageous. In general, until extremely recently, and only in humans, the problem has been "how do you store enough energy", not "how do you not store this energy".

    6. Re:What's The Catch? by greythax · · Score: 1

      Because foraging for small bits of food in a large field is a lot of cardio. They evolved a long time before houses.

  7. GW1516 @ wikipedia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Let me wikipedia that for you... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GW501516

    "GW501516 (also known as GW-501,516, GW1516, GSK-516 and on the black market as Endurobol[1]) is a PPAR receptor agonist that was invented in a collaboration between Ligand Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline in the 1990s, was entered into clinical development as a drug candidate for metabolic diseases and cardiovascular diseases, and was abandoned in 2007 because animal testing showed that the drug caused cancer to develop rapidly in several organs.

    In 2007 research was published showing that high doses of GW501516 given to mice dramatically improved their physical performance; the work was widely discussed in popular media, and led to a black market for the drug candidate and to its abuse by athletes as a doping agent. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) developed a test for GW501516 and other related chemicals and added them to the prohibited list in 2009; it has issued additional warnings to athletes that GW501516 is not safe"

    It shouldn't be a surprise that doping improves performance and is bad for you...

    1. Re:GW1516 @ wikipedia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mike Arnold wrote a piece on GW501516 http://www.ironmagazine.com/2015/gw-501516-the-original-fat-burning-performance-enhancing-sarm/

  8. Run Longer, die sooner... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    So, I now can run longer and die sooner?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    GW501516 (also known as GW-501,516, GW1516, GSK-516 and on the black market as Endurobol[1]) is a PPARÎ receptor agonist that was invented in a collaboration between Ligand Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline in the 1990s, was entered into clinical development as a drug candidate for metabolic diseases and cardiovascular diseases, and was abandoned in 2007 because animal testing showed that the drug caused cancer to develop rapidly in several organs.

    In 2007 research was published showing that high doses of GW501516 given to mice dramatically improved their physical performance; the work was widely discussed in popular media, and led to a black market for the drug candidate and to its abuse by athletes as a doping agent. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) developed a test for GW501516 and other related chemicals and added them to the prohibited list in 2009; it has issued additional warnings to athletes that GW501516 is not safe.

    1. Re:Run Longer, die sooner... by Jzanu · · Score: 0

      Slashdot - news for out of shape and out of date drug addicts who will get cancer soon enough.

    2. Re:Run Longer, die sooner... by StoutFiles · · Score: 0

      Yeah, everyone keeps ignoring that doing drugs for short term gains creates long term problems.

    3. Re:Run Longer, die sooner... by ET3D · · Score: 1

      Disclaimer: You'll get cancer if you're a rat. Which I assume some Slashdot readers are.

    4. Re:Run Longer, die sooner... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Funny

      Disclaimer: You'll get cancer if you're a rat. Which I assume some Slashdot readers are.

      The leading cause of cancer in rats, is lab scientists. If you are a rat, you'd best be staying away from them.

      Cigarettes are downright healthy, compared to lab scientists.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    5. Re:Run Longer, die sooner... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Amusing, but the leading cause of cancer in rats is being a rat. Rats have very high mutation rates, which is why it's so difficult to eradicate them: a few in a population will probably be immune to whatever poison you try and will pass on the immunity to all of its offspring. The down side of this is that the ones that avoid poison and predators all die of cancer soon after.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:Run Longer, die sooner... by rpresser · · Score: 1

      I thought the leading cause of cancer in rats was scientists.

    7. Re:Run Longer, die sooner... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Killjoy!

      I liked the sensationalist headline better.

      A future in which people didn't have to strain and risk injury several days a week, in order to stay healthy, would be so awesome. Pop a pill, maybe do some token training on weekends, and have a perfect body! Our lives are finite, time is precious, transhumanism wins.

      Oh well, maybe our great grandkids will get it. We sure won't.

    8. Re:Run Longer, die sooner... by martinfb · · Score: 1

      Yep! The longer you run, the sooner you get there!

      --


      Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
  9. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, your reading comprehension shows you'd be a perfect fit for slashdot editing. Or maybe you got tired and couldn't finish reading the summary. I hear there's a pill for that.

  10. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by ET3D · · Score: 4, Funny

    Next study would be how to activate genes for reading endurance. Some people just can't go the distance.

  11. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Khyber · · Score: 0

    I read the entire summary, the article, and the fucking study. And the summary got it right. The headline did not.

    This shit doesn't magically boost your endurance. Only actual training does that. This compound activates the genes that will allow you to do that if you've got a trained body. If you don't have a trained body - sorry, your ass isn't turning into Saitama with this drug.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  12. Amphetamine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amphetamine boosts endurance by 1000%.

  13. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

    You apparently have the reading comprehension of the mice.

    Mice on the drug, however, could run about 270 minutes -- about 70 percent longer.

    Second-to-last sentence of the summary, you illiterate shit face.

  14. 30 by dohzer · · Score: 2

    So instead of being able to run 30 metres before collapsing, I'll be able to run around 50?

    1. Re:30 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Run"... lol

    2. Re:30 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You joke, but this will likely result in someone knocking 2-3 seconds off of the 400m world record in the next 50 years.

    3. Re:30 by wasteoid · · Score: 1

      If you take the Dash action, you can run 60 metres per turn.

    4. Re:30 by hey! · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I know this is a joke, but having been there, done that, and having the arthritic knees (currently asymptomatic) to prove it, I'd like to attest that it's not really that hard to dig yourself out of that hole.

      Scientific research has shown that exercise, like everything else, has diminishing returns. At any given point, most of the health benefits of adding more exercise to your routine come in the next twenty minutes per week you add. The bad news is that it takes incredible dedication to be super-healthy; but the good news, if you aren't exercising at all, is that it's quite easy to be a lot healthier than you are now.

      As for running 50 m, that's not health, it's fitness which are two different things. If I read the summary right, the pill in question gives some of the health benefits of exercise without exercise but not the fitness benefits.

      Fitness is an adaptation of your body to the stress it "expects", so the trick isn't doing huge volumes of exercise, it's getting the intensity right. So if you want to adapt your body to running 50m, run at the pace you want to set for 50m, and drop back to walking until you've recovered and do it again. It doesn't matter if you can only run for 10m before you give up, you're telling your body it has to adapt to that level of effort. Again you don't have to put huge amounts of time and suffering into it, but there is some suffering.

      The key isn't volume; it's consistency. You don't have to run 10km a day; 2km every other day is just as good unless you're training for a 10k race.

      Anyhow, a lot of the attraction of a pill is that you wouldn't have to spend countless hours at the gym to get healthy, but the fact is you don't need that even without a magic pill. There are reasons to go to the gym but health isn't one of them. Anyhow, if you deduct the amount of time some people at the gym spend on their smartphones, they might as well stay home.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    5. Re:30 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are reasons to go to the gym but health isn't one of them

      Oh, yes, it is.

  15. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now don't you feel good about yourself? You swore at a total stranger over a topic you don't really care much about.

  16. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And you posted anonymously on your own thread because you knew you'd look petulant if you didn't. Bet you feel even better!

  17. Presumably because... by Viol8 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... they didn't evolve it as mice, it was already there when they evolved INTO mice and it presumably doesn't reduce their survivability (and even may help on rare occasions) so natural selection hasn't removed it.

    1. Re:Presumably because... by erapert · · Score: 1

      ... it was already there when they evolved INTO mice ...

      [citation needed]

      ... it presumably doesn't reduce their survivability (and even may help on rare occasions) so natural selection hasn't removed it ...

      [citation needed]

    2. Re:Presumably because... by chihowa · · Score: 1

      Occam's Razor. Your turn.

      (He said "presumably", so he's presenting a hypothesis not a fact.)

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    3. Re:Presumably because... by erapert · · Score: 1

      Occam's razor isn't evidence.

      Yes, "presumably" means he isn't presenting the part about survivability as fact. You win this one.

      Score one for you; your turn.

    4. Re:Presumably because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since the pathway exists in both humans and mice it is simple to assume that it exists in a common ancestor of both. It is a reasonable assumption and therefore should not require extraordinary evidence to support. If you said it wasn't from a common ancestor that might actually require more evidence for support.

    5. Re:Presumably because... by erapert · · Score: 1

      Science and truth aren't about "reasonable assumptions".

  18. People forget theres no such thing as a free lunch by Viol8 · · Score: 2

    If natural selection could have found a way of dramatically increasing our stamina and/or strength without reducing our lifespan or causing other issues that reduce our breeding ability then it would have almost certainly been included in our gene pool. The fact that after millions of years it hasn't tells you a lot.

    Eg: steroids will make you far stronger for a given amount of exercise compared to not taking them, but look at the huge list of (sometimes fatal) side effects. Ditto almost all other performance & strength enhancing drugs.

  19. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you could read a bit further.

    Evidently not.

    Maybe he got tired?

  20. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by religionofpeas · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If natural selection could have found a way of dramatically increasing our stamina and/or strength without reducing our lifespan or causing other issues that reduce our breeding ability

    You don't even have to look for really nasty side effects. Most likely the steady state energy consumption of the body goes up when fitness is enhanced. Given a limited food supply, there's an optimum point on the fitness/energy curve. I assume the natural mice are already close to that optimum. When the environment changes, the optimum may shift, and the metabolism can quickly adapt, because the pathways are already there.

  21. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Imrik · · Score: 4, Informative

    For the majority of our time on earth we have been subject to limited food supplies. People in first world countries are now at a point where they are able to regularly eat more than their bodies naturally burn, usually unintentionally. If we could teach our bodies this, we would be able to make better use of the available energy. Now, whether this drug is a safe way to do that is an entirely different issue.

  22. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by michelcolman · · Score: 2

    He should take one of those pills.

  23. NOW add stamina to my knee joints by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I can run a marathon. joint pain is my limiting factor.

  24. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by dreamchaser · · Score: 1

    Your reading comprehension skills are obviously lacking, or your are lying about reading the whole thing. Longer use of the drug produced results. No, it isn't a replacement for exercise and training, but it could be a huge boon to people who can't work out due to physical limitations. You should probably cut your losses and move on.

  25. I always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...what what is those Starcraft marine stimpacks that caused them to say: "Ah! That's the stuff!"

  26. Mice lives matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Study finds mice are susceptible to a variety of issues introduced by meddling human scientists.

  27. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    There's a pill for getting tired? Like a sleeping pill? That sounds amazing!

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  28. Be careful what you wish for... by odinjurkowski · · Score: 0

    The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly.

    1. Re:Be careful what you wish for... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      “My candle burns at both ends;
      It will not last the night;
      But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
      It gives a lovely light!”

      Edna St. Vincent Millay

  29. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by rpresser · · Score: 1

    You're still a fucking idiot.

    The old study (2007) showed that the drug did not have affects unless coupled with exercise.

    The current study (2017) tried the same drug but gave it to the mice for longer periods.

    This time there were effects, even on mice who were kept sedentary until the endurance test.

    READ IT AGAIN,

  30. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Maybe not. A(n uncited) statement on the wikipedia page says that clinical work was abandoned in 2007 after mice given the drug developed cancer in multiple organs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GW501516

    Also, this all seems to be from 2007.

  31. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure its that simple. Most other animals are subject to limited food supplies but many of them are much stronger and have far greater endurance than us. Where they differ is gestation period and the number of years until an offspring can fend for itself. AFAIK no other animal on earth has to do parenting duties for a given offspring until they're teenagers.

  32. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That isn't how evolution works. All it needs is "good enough". Unless there is a strong selection pressure than normal people can't survive/breed effectively, then there really isn't an advantage.

    Same reason we aren't all super-geniuses.

  33. Re: Human gut limits by laughingskeptic · · Score: 3, Funny

    In the late 80s and early 90s I consumed 8000 calories a day and swam 40km a day during the summers. It was not easy as in addition to swimming 8 hours a day I also had a job and it takes time to eat that much. I'm pretty sure that if I had spent less time working and more time eating, I could have processed more food. It is a good thing I was the boss, because when I was training like this I was pretty much a food guzzling zombie slacker when not in the pool.

  34. Re:The Slashdot sociopaths... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm going to go and eat two animals after reading that post. Because of you.

  35. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by michelcolman · · Score: 1

    Also, this all seems to be from 2007.

    And it's already on Slashdot?

  36. Dang...only 40-50 years too late by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 1

    Why couldn't this have reached phase 3 trials before I was in my teens and couldn't get a date to save my life?

    1. Re:Dang...only 40-50 years too late by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2

      "Chasing women". Those words don't mean what you apparently think they mean.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  37. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    pills to make you happy...
    pills to make you horny...
    pills to make you sleepy...
    pills to make you healthy...

  38. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are we reading the same article?

    In the current study, the Salk team gave normal mice a higher dose of GW, for a longer period of time (8 weeks instead of 4). Both the mice that received the compound and mice that did not were typically sedentary, but all were subjected to treadmill tests to see how long they could run until exhausted. Mice in the control group could run about 160 minutes before exhaustion. Mice on the drug, however, could run about 270 minutes -- about 70 percent longer.

  39. Supplement ALCAR already fixes insulin resistance by Btrot69 · · Score: 2

    I have quit my IT work to become caregiver to my elderly Mom and Dad.
    In the process, I have energized my mind (and theirs) by learning a lot about nootropics (and other) supplements.

    When I tested Acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) on myself, I found it gave me a great energy boost etc, etc.

    Mom and Dad can't exercise and both have type 2 diabetes (one does insulin injections and the other does Metformin/Glipiside pills).
    When started giving ALCAR to them, I found that after a few days their blood sugar levels were repeatedly going too low.

    Then I a hunch, I googled ALCAR and insulin resistance. Here is one of the more scientific articles:
    "Ameliorating hypertension and insulin resistance in subjects at increased cardiovascular risk: effects of acetyl-L-carnitine therapy."
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]

    My mom, who could never keep her sugar under control, just had her A1C tested.
    Her doctor and I were stunned that it came in at 6.1 (excellent for a diabetic).

    Of course ALCAR is a natural supplement that cannot be patented and is very cheap.
    No drug company will invest in an FDA trial to test its safety and efficacy for the treatment of diabetes.
    It will take a long time for American doctors to learn about it, since most of their education comes from drug company reps.

    So -- if you have type 2 diabetes -- I'd suggest you study it, buy it, try it -- and spread the word !

  40. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by mysidia · · Score: 1

    Unless our social habits have artificially reduced our Stamina and/or Strength in the past few hundred years, and this drug somehow does something that counteracts bad habits.

  41. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by mysidia · · Score: 1

    AFAIK no other animal on earth has to do parenting duties for a given offspring until they're teenagers.

    They just have survival, Don't have to live in a complex society with rules, and don't require an education for higher learning and require complicated judgement.

  42. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    AFAIK no other animal on earth has to do parenting duties for a given offspring until they're teenagers.

    This is more cultural than biological. There is the old gym teacher's tale that the body doesn't stop growing until you turn 25; the truth is, there is major body changes about every 7 years until your mid 50's when it slows down a bit. But these changes aren't indication that the body/mind isn't ready until it stops growing as is usually wrongfully assumed.

    The fact of the matter is, if we didn't treat our young as incompetent idiots until they were 25, many of them would be fully muture (mentally, emotionally) by age 8 or so. Kids who have parents that give them credit where credit is due, end up more mature than most 20-somethings with absent parents.

  43. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

    Khyber is completely illiterate, so he's reading the same summary, but he doesn't understand the big words (those with more than 4 letters).

  44. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by hey! · · Score: 2

    Mice reach sexual maturity at six weeks, have a lifespan of about a year over which they will produce as many as a hundred offspring. This makes them almost ideally suited for either artificial breeding or rapid population adaption by natural selection.

    I'll bet if you tracked a wild mouse population, after a couple of successive lean years the average mouse would be measurably more metabolically thrifty. After a few good years the average mouse would be more aggressive in its use of energy. But the tail ends of the distribution would be preserved either way, hedging the population's metabolic bet.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  45. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by pastafazou · · Score: 2

    For the past several thousand years, food supply has been plentiful for most established civilizations, most of the time. Eating more food than what our bodies naturally burn isn't the problem. Our bodies have a complex system of hormones which regulate our appetite, so for the vast majority of people, overeating shouldn't be an issue. However, sugar, flour, and other fast-energy carbohydrates are prevalent in modern western diets, resulting in an obesity epidemic. These carbohydrates are resulting in increased insulin resistance in a large segment of the population, and insulin resistance leads to obesity. There are lots of different factors at play in the current obesity epidemic, but plentiful food isn't one of them. Food was plentiful in the 19th century, and obesity wasn't an epidemic then. There have been several studies which indicate formula feeding babies may be a factor. The war on dietary fat, led by nutrition scientists, caused a huge increase of carbohydrates in our diet. Dietary fat does not trigger an insulin response, whereas carbohydrates do. And insulin is the hormone that triggers fat cells to start storing energy. Cheap grain, finely processed flours, added sugars, and mass production have adversely affected our diet and messed up our body's ability to regulate our weight.

  46. Re: Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Reminds me of a saying from the 60's. I don't need life, I'm high on drugs!

  47. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Viol8 · · Score: 2

    "This is more cultural than biological."

    I disagree. Kids need emotion support whether it comes from a parent or a guardian. Those who don't grow up with it due to the parent(s) being absent or just useless more often than not go badly off the rails or look for substitutes in gang culture with the same result.

    Also its not just mental maturity. Physically a young child wouldn't survive for long in the wild. It would either be eaten, poison itself or die of starvation.

  48. Late to the party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I discovered this pill several years ago: Back then, they called it Mephedrone and it was EPI for running, walking, cycling, partying,dancing pretty much any activity made you feel amazing.

    How I miss it!

  49. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, doing more research, it seems that the mice that got cancer were taking mega doses of the stuff, 200-300x as much as juicers take. Haven't seen any anecdotal evidence of cancer among those taking it, but lots of people saying that it has worked wonders for them. Might get some myself.

  50. Re:Supplement ALCAR already fixes insulin resistan by Btrot69 · · Score: 1

    Fixed the link:
    "Ameliorating hypertension and insulin resistance in subjects at increased cardiovascular risk: effects of acetyl-L-carnitine therapy"
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

    another good article:
    "Oral Acetyl-l-Carnitine Therapy and Insulin Resistance"
    http://hyper.ahajournals.org/c...

  51. You Swam 40 km/day during summers? Not credible. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  52. Re:Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

    Jesus, stop trolling already. Read past the part you keep getting stuck at. Read the following sentences after the one you keep quoting. You're citing the original findings. The very next sentence advises that the study has since been updated, and it turns out longer term intake of the compound does in fact increase endurance.

    --

    Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
  53. Re:Ha! You need some KRANK! by zlives · · Score: 1

    LOL

  54. Re:Supplement ALCAR already fixes insulin resistan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would be careful about "promoting" ALCAR. Certain studies have linked ALCAR to excessive TMAO production which has been linked to heart disease. The connection appears to be the specific "gut-bacteria" that you possess that converts ALCAR to TMAO.

    Current speculation is that the prevalence of this type of gut-bacteria is correlated to levels of red-meat consumption. The more red-meat you eat, the more likely your gut-bacteria distribution favors the conversion of ALCAR to TMAO (probably because red meat has lots of Carnitine in it. If you are a vegan, you probably don't have any of this type of gut-bacteria (then again, a vegan might not experience type-2 diabetes in the first place).

    Not a big fan of dietary supplements, if it works for you, great, but not all people are you and like many drugs, different people respond differently to dietary supplements. There's a reason why adverts for actual drugs are regulated like they are...

  55. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I disagree. Kids need emotion support whether it comes from a parent or a guardian. Those who don't grow up with it due to the parent(s) being absent or just useless more often than not go badly off the rails or look for substitutes in gang culture with the same result.

    Also its not just mental maturity. Physically a young child wouldn't survive for long in the wild. It would either be eaten, poison itself or die of starvation.

    You disagree that length of parental care is cultural because...the consequences of not doing so are cultural.

    Secondly, humans don't live alone. The idea of a human living off the land alone is a myth. Well-trained adults that are subject-matter experts cant live alone away from other forms of support indefinitely. Just look at traditional peoples still living in the world. Tribes often have parental care, as we utilize the term, end at five or six years old. Those children are hunting, fishing, cooking, and building...doing all but one thing the adults do. As soon as estrous starts, that's adulthood at 11 or 12.

    To disagree is to deny science and take a ethnocentric view of the world, calling your own culture and society absolute despite facts.

  56. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Personally, I don't care if it is safe. I managed to lose over half my bodyweight, and my body's reaction to this was to throw my metabolism into a permanent state of fucked up. That's something they never tell you when you're fat and they want you to lose weight: it will invariably an irreparably damage your metabolism. You will forever be the guy who has to count calories and weigh himself every day to maintain his weight, never ordering soda or beer at a restaurant, never again feeling full without also feeling guilty for causing future-you so much extra suffering to undo it.

    Losing weight isn't safe already. I'd gladly risk cancer, which is already something that crop up even if I had the healthiest lifestyle imaginable, to not have to fight my body for the rest of my goddamned life.

  57. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Our bodies have a complex system of hormones which regulate our appetite"

    And like most complex systems they're prone to failure for a wide variety of reasons.

  58. Re:Memo to Fat Fucks: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kill yourself.

  59. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by HiThere · · Score: 1

    It's also true that those tribes have been pushed to the edges, where material for survival is minimal. They've GOT to have everybody working to pull in food. This doesn't mean they wouldn't survive better with less coercion in a less inhospitable environment.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  60. Won't Solve the Redneck Issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was at the grocery store this morning and here is what the fatass in front of me bought:

    48 Packs of Ramen
    12 cans of beenie weenies
    Box of 48 frozen PB&J sandwiches
    Box of frozen pancakes
    Box of frozen sausage biscuits
    2 boxes of hot pockets
    1 gallon of milk
    Miscellaneous other processed foods

    No fruits
    No vegetables

    And we wonder why America is dying and why health care is 15% of our GDP.

  61. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    "You disagree that length of parental care is cultural because...the consequences of not doing so are cultura"

    No, I disagree because I'm a parent and have some experience in what kids are like. I suspect you are not.

    "Those children are hunting, fishing, cooking, and building...doing all but one thing the adults do. As soon as estrous starts, that's adulthood at 11 or 12."

    And thats not cultural? The fact that most cultures consider adulthood to be much older than that should tell you something. Primitive cultures use child labour because they have no choice given their way of life.

  62. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by pastafazou · · Score: 1

    And like most complex systems they're prone to failure* for a wide variety of reasons.

    *Citations needed.

  63. GW501516 by boxofrocks · · Score: 1

    Wikipedia says it' causes cancer. Thats why it was dropped.

  64. Acetyl-l-Carnitine is not L-Carnitine by Btrot69 · · Score: 2

    All of those studies concern L-Carnitine.
    The acetylated form, ALCAR, seems to have significant differences, for one, it crosses the blood-brain barrier.

    Since there is such a significant difference in the way vegetarians and meat-eaters repond to L-Carnitine, I'd have to think there is also difference
    between L-Carnitine and Acetyl-l-Carnitine.

    Here is a well-written criticism (from a slightly dubious source):
    https://jonbarron.org/heart-he...

    As far a dietary supplements in general, I agree that the are not usually appropriate for young, healthy people.
    But, when humans start to live longer than their "natural" age, or they've been poisoned by the modern enviroment,
    I think some supplement help is perfectly normal and beneficial.

    I've had remarkable success using various nootropics to restore the mental functioning of both my Mom and my Dad.

    It is also very interesting that many of the substances that I have the most success with are difficult to obtain in the US,
    yet they are inexpensive over-the-counter drugs in most of the rest of the world.
    These include:
      - Piracetam (brand name Nootropil is Europe)
      - Centophenoxine (brand name Lucidril in Europe)
      - Alpha-GPC (an official Alzheimer's treatment in the Netherlands)

    The American FDA was originally supposed to protect the people from dangerous drugs, but there is NOTHING significantly dangerous about those three. (and they are all very effective). Today, the FDA seems to be run by drug companies who's only interest is promoting patented drugs for huge profits.

  65. Do those pills come in chocolate flavour? by zwarte+piet · · Score: 1

    cause I don't like yucky stuff.

  66. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Gondola · · Score: 1

    We may have had mutant humans in the past who were effectively "immortal" but they were primitives who died in childbirth or hunting mammoths or they were peasants who starved to death because of the increased calorie requirements. Sad to imagine.

  67. Re:People forget theres no such thing as a free lu by Reziac · · Score: 1

    From TFA:

    "This study suggests that burning fat is less a driver of endurance than a compensatory mechanism to conserve glucose," says Michael Downes, a Salk senior scientist and co-senior author of the paper. "PPARD is suppressing all the points that are involved in sugar metabolism in the muscle so glucose can be redirected to the brain, thereby preserving brain function."

    It looks like all it does is activate a dormant gene (so to speak) and that its function is to keep you from getting stupid when you're starving. (Lack of glucose to the brain causes brain fog.) Would be interesting to look at this in people on a ketogenic (carb-free) diet.

    --
    ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  68. Re: Holy Fuck Read The Fucking Summary Ed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck off. Clearly somebody invested in the drug too early and is trying to get their money back.

  69. Re: People forget theres no such thing as a free l by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sir, GW501516 is the drug for you!

  70. Re: People forget theres no such thing as a free l by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bingo!

  71. Re: Supplement ALCAR already fixes insulin resista by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Be careful, this stuff magnifies the effect of alcohol by 10

  72. WOW! by martinfb · · Score: 1

    How about that?!
    Another deadly pill for twisted western medicine to make more people sick over!

    --


    Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.