The real takeaway from this research is that AMPK manipulation in the manner demonstrated here is categorically not an exercise mimetic because it does nothing in healthy individuals. A real exercise mimetic would extend median life span, since that's what exercise does in mice.<p>Other strategies that end up showing altered AMPK levels along the way have been shown to extend life and improve health in laboratory species. It is very complex, and researchers are very far from understanding how even very reliable and straightforward ways of slowing aging work. E.g. calorie restriction. Studied for a century, no comprehensive explanation of how it works yet.<p>This, along with tiny beneficial effects, is the reason we should largely ignore all of these efforts to throw drugs at metabolism in the hopes of lengthening healthspan. It is a grand waste of time, because even if wondrously successful the best you could hope for in the next few decades is something that is outperformed by actually exercising or practicing calorie restriction.<p>What a waste of billions of dollars that will be. Yet that's what is going to happen, judging by the willingness to fund this sort of work. It is like the research and development community has learned nothing from the outcome of fifteen years of sirtuin research.<p>If we want to see radical life extension in our lifetimes, it is going to come from SENS and the like, deliberate targeted efforts to repair specific aspects of biochemical damage that cause cell and tissue dysfunction. Not random drugs mined from the natural world, but elegantly engineered biotechnologies that do exactly what they are intended to do. You might look at allotopic expression of mitochondrial DNA for example, as developed by Gensight at the moment ( <a href="http://www.gensight-biologics.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gensight-biologics.com/</a> ). The problem is identified, and a precise fix applied to cells via gene therapy to make exactly the problem and only the problem go away.<p>That is the future of medicine. Yet the regulations and inertia behind the old drug development pipeline is very resistant to change. We'd better hope that the disruption represented by Gensight and other similar efforts takes hold, because we're going to age and suffer just like our parents and on pretty much the same schedule if it doesn't.
Don't have much to say about how the compound affects your metabolism, but I'm weary of any kind of 'workout pill'. For years I too hoped that were would be some machine or pill that would automatically get me ripped without having to put in the conscious effort. However, once I finally got into the habit of exercising, I think what was more valuable than the results on my body was the habit of pushing myself to the limit every time and going beyond my comfort zone. It's something that touches everything you do.
If y'awl exercised, you'd know that meat heads have been fiddling with things which do this for ... decades. Almost a century if you count DNP.<p><a href="http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=146743673&pagenumber=1" rel="nofollow">http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=146743673&pag...</a>
I failed to get my hands on the actual research paper so I'm relying completely on the article's description of the study. To my unscientific eye it seems that the only thing altered between the control group and the test group was diet. Both were given "Compound 14". The test group that was fed a high fat diet showed better results. Claiming that it's thanks to "Compound 14" seems a little bit unscientific.
What I would like to know is:
1) What did the normal diet look like?
2) What would the results be like if both the control and the test group were fed the exact same diet from birth?
3) What are the researchers' biases?
4) Who is funding the research?
This sounds like a great enabler drug! You can eat more junk food and not gain more weight, even if you don't exercise, as long as you take this pill! If this does ever get sold as a pill, it may make billions for the people selling it, the junk food companies, and other drug companies that will benefit from the side effects this does not completely eliminate from your poor diet and lack of exercise, not to mention the side effects the pill itself will have. I can't wait!
Bravely we move towards the day where we can just eat, eat and eat all day while staying alive to eat more!<p>But why not start working on an implant that stimulates our pleasure centers directly, at the push of a button and omit the eating part altogether! We'd not even have to lift our arm to our mouths! Just get a Soylent drip feed!<p>The future looks bright!
Full text of the paper is here:<p><a href="http://www.cell.com/chemistry-biology/fulltext/S1074-5521%2815%2900234-3" rel="nofollow">http://www.cell.com/chemistry-biology/fulltext/S1074-5521%28...</a>
Why do we need a substitute to a healthy, balanced life? I'm sure its an amazing piece of science, but how is this better than being physically active? As a person who exercises, am I supposed to be considering this instead of my current lifestyle? And if not - if it wouldn't be a better option for me - then how could it be a better option for anyone else?<p>I'm genuinely bewildered. What is this for?
80% of people with type 2 diabetes are that way by choice. They chose to be obese. (Only 20% of type-2 diabetes isn't caused by obesity.)<p>99% of obese people are obese by choice. (The 1% that aren't are people who lack the mental ability to control their food intake.)<p>I hope we never spend the public's money on this.
This is obviously going to be a hot topic as we understand more and more of the mechanisms behind our biology.<p>Another to look into is BAIBA, which we recently covered on our blog. <a href="https://blog.priceplow.com/baiba" rel="nofollow">https://blog.priceplow.com/baiba</a><p>The social implications of this get very scary when you look at it down the road. If we crack the code and really don't need to work out to stay fit some day, it would change a LOT in terms of mate selection, to say the least. Not sure how soon it will actually happen though.