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New Drug Convinces Body You Are Exercising
March 6, 2002 8:00 CDT
The ultimate dream of couch-potatoes the world wide may be one giant step closer to being realized: Scientists at the University of Dundee are claiming they may actually have found a way to trick your body into thinking that you are exercising, even when you're not.
The goal of these scientists is not to come up with drugs that will encourage people to reach for the remote instead of the veggie tray. The people they are trying to help are those with Type-2 diabetes, as well as those who cannot get out and exercise because of age or other physical challenges.
The focus of their research has been a system called Activated Protein Kinase, or AMP. First discovered in the 1980s, AMPK is switched on by exercise and it is this which triggers the burning of carbohydrates and fats by muscle, making less available to be turned into fat and stored by the body. Being able to trigger AMPK would allow doctors to fool their patient's body into burning off carbohydrates and fats and thus lead to weight loss, regardless of the patient's level of activity. Insulin is the hormone that stimulates tissues to take up glucose from the blood.
Type 1 diabetes (more common in children) is due to a lack of insulin, whereas the Type 2 form is due to the body failing to respond properly to insulin. The drug metformin is already widely used to treat Type 2 diabetes with much success, although doctors had not been able to identify why the drug worked so well until now. The reason for metformin's success is that it activates the AMPK system.
Professor Grahame Hardie first discovered the AMPK system in the 1908s. He is now working with pharmaceutical companies to develop a new generation of AMPK-activating drugs that may be even more effective than metformin. The incidence of Type 2 diabetes continues to skyrocket among the population, appearing now in younger and younger people-many of whom have no idea they even have it.
Left untreated, type 2 diabetics are at an increased risk for a variety of health care problems, including increased susceptibility to heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney damage and foot amputations.
March 6, 2002 8:00 CDT
The ultimate dream of couch-potatoes the world wide may be one giant step closer to being realized: Scientists at the University of Dundee are claiming they may actually have found a way to trick your body into thinking that you are exercising, even when you're not.
The goal of these scientists is not to come up with drugs that will encourage people to reach for the remote instead of the veggie tray. The people they are trying to help are those with Type-2 diabetes, as well as those who cannot get out and exercise because of age or other physical challenges.
The focus of their research has been a system called Activated Protein Kinase, or AMP. First discovered in the 1980s, AMPK is switched on by exercise and it is this which triggers the burning of carbohydrates and fats by muscle, making less available to be turned into fat and stored by the body. Being able to trigger AMPK would allow doctors to fool their patient's body into burning off carbohydrates and fats and thus lead to weight loss, regardless of the patient's level of activity. Insulin is the hormone that stimulates tissues to take up glucose from the blood.
Type 1 diabetes (more common in children) is due to a lack of insulin, whereas the Type 2 form is due to the body failing to respond properly to insulin. The drug metformin is already widely used to treat Type 2 diabetes with much success, although doctors had not been able to identify why the drug worked so well until now. The reason for metformin's success is that it activates the AMPK system.
Professor Grahame Hardie first discovered the AMPK system in the 1908s. He is now working with pharmaceutical companies to develop a new generation of AMPK-activating drugs that may be even more effective than metformin. The incidence of Type 2 diabetes continues to skyrocket among the population, appearing now in younger and younger people-many of whom have no idea they even have it.
Left untreated, type 2 diabetics are at an increased risk for a variety of health care problems, including increased susceptibility to heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney damage and foot amputations.
