“Exercise in a pill” could offer solution for at-risk people:
Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have identified unique molecular signals in the body that could hold the key to developing a supplement capable of administering the health benefits of exercise to patients incapable of physical activity.
The molecular messages are sent to our brain and potentially our eyes immediately after we exercise.
The ANU team is conducting research to better understand what impact these molecular messages have on retinal health, but also the central nervous system and eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).Associate Professor Riccardo Natoli, Head of Clear Vision Research at ANU, says the molecules could potentially be hijacked, recoded and "bottled up" in a pill and taken like a vitamin.
"The beneficial messages being sent to the central nervous system during exercise are packaged up in what are known as lipid particles. We are essentially prescribing the molecular message of exercise to those who physically aren't able to," he said."We think that as you age, the ability to communicate between the muscles and the retina starts to be lost. Similar to taking supplements, maybe we can provide genetic or molecular supplementation that enables that natural biological process to continue as we age.
"Our goal is to figure out what these molecules are communicating to the body and how they're communicating."
Journal Reference:
Joshua A. Chu-Tan, Max Kirkby, Riccardo Natoli. Running to save sight: The effects of exercise on retinal health and function, Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology (DOI: 10.1111/ceo.14023)
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @06:51AM (6 children)
Would that include the obese?
(Score: 2) by Kell on Thursday December 02 2021, @08:31AM (3 children)
I think they mean patients at risk of retinal degeneration who may be unable to exercise due to mobility issues... but that doesn't make for a catchy click-bait headline.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 2) by Username on Thursday December 02 2021, @09:10AM (2 children)
Yeah, that was a lot of words to tell me that moving my legs exercises my eyes.
Like all things that makes people stronger, this will be illegal in no time. Everyone needs to be equally weak as the weakest person.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @02:58PM
There's a reason for that. None of those things has been safe in doses large enough to cause it. If we get something that is safe in high enough doses to cause this effect, we'll have to see what happens, but chances are that it would be approved.
Bottom line is that the only method of improving your physique involves diet and exercise. And that's likely to continue rather indefinitely as improving your muscles involves not just the actual muscles, but the nervous and circulatory systems as well.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday December 03 2021, @04:35PM
There's something all you Harrison Bergeron types forget: you, by and large, are not prime specimens of humanity. You're not even above average. Were some nightmare equalization scenario of that sort to come to pass, you would be one of the ones pulling down the baseline.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Thursday December 02 2021, @09:39AM (1 child)
And the paralyzed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @04:10PM
There have been stress-test in a pill processes for years. Some use it to qualify the vulnerable before a high-risk procedure.
You feel like you've had a workout, even though you haven't moved.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Username on Thursday December 02 2021, @09:18AM (2 children)
The pill only wears a yarmulke and not a hoiche.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @10:33AM (1 child)
Or kalimavkion vs. biretta if you take your pills over bacon and eggs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @01:54PM
Or mitre if you are unable to move except along a diagonal.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Opportunist on Thursday December 02 2021, @10:44AM (9 children)
I mean, if you can get exercise without wasting the associated time usually allotted for it, why not just use it generally?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @02:03PM (6 children)
At the risk of being mistaken for apk, I would answer, "Yes, let us all take new untested and unproven medications with unknown long term effects, and let the chips fall where they may."
--
Will these pills give me man-boobs?
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday December 02 2021, @02:55PM (4 children)
"Long term effects" usually show up pretty quickly, despite their name. Something having a long term effect generally means that the onset will be rather quickly, but has a lasting effect.
A different case is the effect of long term use. That's a completely different beast. But please let's not muddle the waters here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @03:05PM (3 children)
Sometimes they do, not always. That's why it's so important to have longitudinal studies done on new treatments as it can take years for some of the more subtle signs to show up.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday December 02 2021, @03:34PM (2 children)
The signs usually present themselves early, but it sometimes can take time to connect them to a problem.
As stated above, our body reacts to a new stimulus pretty early on, the key question is whether we notice that initial reaction. And of course if prolonged exposure happens.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 03 2021, @05:40PM (1 child)
early like the DDT toxicity / bioaccumulation effects?
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Friday December 03 2021, @10:05PM
Bioaccumulation as in, say, prolonged exposure?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 03 2021, @02:08AM
Call it a vaccine. That usually works.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 02 2021, @03:01PM (1 child)
Exercise hardly takes any time if you're using compound motions. Honestly, an hour or two a week will do a lot more than most people realize in terms of improving muscle tone and general fitness. We evolved to run like hell for short periods of time and that's enough to get most of the exercise your cardio-vascular system needs. For the rest of it, squats, push ups, pull ups, sit ups, hand stand push ups and squats will hit basically every muscle in the entire body and you can do that in a pretty short period of time.
The main reason why people think that you need a bunch of time, is because there's little profit to be had from teaching people how to do this stuff right.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Friday December 03 2021, @07:25AM
So if that pill costs less than an hour of my time, it would be more sensible for me to take the pill and work an hour than to work out.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday December 02 2021, @04:25PM
I won't believe these findings unless the researchers working on the project are shredded. If I was confident in an exercise pill I was researching, I would never be able to motivate myself to go to the gym, but rather might slip some pills in my pocket.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 03 2021, @02:05AM
"The molecular messages are sent to our brain and potentially our eyes immediately after we exercise. "
The only message sent to my brain after I exercise is "Thank god the idiot stopped before the heart exploded."