A drug that stimulates muscles to burn fat as they do during exercise has been found to reduce body fat in obese mice. It was developed by researchers in the United States and belongs to a class of treatments known as exercise mimetics, which have been tested mainly in animals and are not yet approved.
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As their name suggests, these compounds under test were designed to provide the benefits of exercise without effort, activating biological mechanisms that are normally activated during physical activity.
Although it seems promising for people with obesity, much more testing is needed before its true risks and benefits are clear. The human body's response to exercise is complex. However, this new drug activates receptors found in tissues with high energy demand, such as muscle, producing effects similar to repeated aerobic exercise.
So, instead of suppressing appetite like Ozempic, animals undergoing this trial burn more energy while resting and can exercise for longer periods of time once they start moving.
Our muscles burn primarily glucose during short, intense exercise and weight training, switching to fatty acids during longer aerobic exercise sessions, such as running.
In a previous study published earlier this year, the drug was shown to increase a specific type of muscle fiber in mice and improve exercise endurance. In this new study, the team wanted to understand more about the compound's effects on muscle.
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The researchers observed that within two hours of administering the drug to mice, it caused the animals' muscles to burn more fat, as occurs with prolonged exercise.
A month later, the effects of this change were noticeable. The mice that took the drug for a month weighed almost the same after treatment as they did before. The animals ate the same amount of food and were no more active than usual, yet their fat was reduced.
In other experiments with obese mice, the animals had a similar reduction in fat after 28 days of treatment, but also an average weight loss of about 12%. They simply consumed more energy while resting.
However, the team's results on glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity – two measurements associated with metabolic diseases like diabetes – were a bit mixed, so more research is needed to get a clearer picture of what's going on there.
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Let's not forget that physical activity offers more benefits than any medication. It boosts mood, strengthens bones, improves sleep, and reduces stress.
The study was published in the Journalof Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
