Obesity: Is there a pill to lose weight and replace sport?
updated the 14 July 2015 à 18:32To fight against the obesity epidemic, American researchers are working on a pill to convert white fat to brown fat. However, the media didn’t hesitate, incorrectly, to announce the imminent arrival of a medicine capable of replacing the need for sport altogether.
Impossible to deny, researchers are being overtaken by the galloping obesity epidemic. Messages like “eat better” and “move more” are not easily adopted as their intended meanings are not easily decipherable and not always effective. Which is why it is exciting to know that scientists assert to having found a new way to fight the kilos. According to a study from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute*, the authors claim it would be possible to convert cells that produce white fat (which is stored) to brown fat (which can be transformed into energy and spent by the body). If the researchers succeed in cementing this discovery to develop a medicine, this could result in a significant weight loss pill for those who need it. The only problem is that this good news was hijacked to announce the birth of another pill that’s capable of replacing sports altogether!
SPORT FIGHTS AGAINST OBESITY
Through the magic of marketing, a miracle product was disguised as a medical wonder. By distorting reality, there’s the impression that we could soon spend the day on our sofa or in front of our computer without gaining any weight whatsoever. Even if it looks like science-fiction, it may perhaps be possible. But do not get carried away: the sedentary lifestyle is not compatible with good health. No medicine can compete with sport and replace the benefits of physical activity. Simply because no pill can simultaneously lower cholesterol, blood pressure, the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. It is also impossible for a single molecule to prevent the risks of cancer, cure anxiety and depression or regulate sleeping disorders. Seriously, no pill will exempt you from doing sport.
So put on your sneakers and play some sport!
Source: White-to-brown metabolic conversion of human fat cells by JAK inhibition, Nature cell biology, December 08th, 2014.
Maureen Diament
