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Virginia Tech drug researcher develops 'fat burning' molecule that has implications for treatment of obesity (Science Daily)
"Obesity is the biggest health problem in the United States. But, it is hard for people to lose weight and keep it off; being on a diet can be so difficult. So, a pharmacological approach, or a drug, could help out and would be beneficial for all of society," said Webster Santos, professor of chemistry and the Cliff and Agnes Lilly Faculty Fellow of Drug Discovery in the College of Science at Virginia Tech.
Santos and his colleagues have recently identified a small mitochondrial uncoupler, named BAM15, that decreases the body fat mass of mice without affecting food intake and muscle mass or increasing body temperature. Additionally, the molecule decreases insulin resistance and has beneficial effects on oxidative stress and inflammation.
The findings, published in Nature Communications on May 14, 2020, hold promise for future treatment and prevention of obesity, diabetes, and especially nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a type of fatty liver disease that is characterized by inflammation and fat accumulation in the liver. In the next few years, the condition is expected to become the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.
Mitochondrial uncoupler BAM15 reverses diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance in mice (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16298-2) (DX)
Mitochondrial uncoupler BAM15 inhibits artery constriction and potently activates AMPK in vascular smooth muscle cells (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2018.07.010) (DX)
BAM15‐mediated mitochondrial uncoupling protects against obesity and improves glycemic control (open, DOI: 10.15252/emmm.202012088) (DX)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Barenflimski on Saturday June 13 2020, @01:11PM (7 children)
If this stuff worked, I'd use it like salt in a shaker on every meal.
There are many combinations of factors that make us bigger. Number one for me is access to places to exercise.
Here is just one example.
My town leadership would tell you we have a great trail system. They'd refer you to the gym we built 20 years ago and the workout rooms. They'd give you pamphlets about the many classes you can take. They'd show you the beautiful pool.
What I'll tell you is that in reality they close the parks at dark. They charge for the gym which is only open 2 hours outside of regular business hours. If you cant workout between 6pm and 7pm at the gym you can't use it. In the winter the trails are closed after work as its dark at 4:30pm. Lots of our families don't have money to pay for exercise. Kids studying late can't go out after 9pm to exercise as it's a curfew violation. Break any of these rules and you're going to have to talk with the police and address the court once you get your ticket.
The amount of time one can spend outside freely is extremely limited today. For most families in my community, exercise just isn't accessible unless it is a dedicated activity. Where we used to get exercise in our daily routines just by walking out the front door, those opportunities just don't exist or are extremely limited by the physical and punitive environment we've created. We'll pave new roads and spend $50k on a mile of road that is used by 2 cars a day without thinking twice, but just try to get a new park with a $1k jungle gym that doesn't need to be plowed or repaved. On top of that, my situation here is much better than many who have no trails and no gyms and are stuck in a concrete jungle surrounded by highways and other main roads.
Unfortunately, here in the United States, we treat all of our societal ills with pills. I have not once seen our government try to implement a change to the structure of our cities and towns to help with depression and anxiety. I have not once seen our communities try to suggest people adjust their daily schedules to permit everyone to be more healthy in their daily routines. I've yet to see anyone actually try to limit cars to promote bicycles and walking.
Instead of holistically changing how we all live and addressing these things together, pills give the illusion of giving each person their own free choice. If you can't commit to a 2 hour a day routine outside of work between 5pm and 7pm, then your other choice is to take a pill. This is the same choice we give the almost 20% (ADAA [adaa.org]) of the population that is clinically depressed in this country. Sad? Can't move? You can choose to take this pill then and help yourself.
So, as sad as it is and as obvious as I think it is to begin to address these things without pills, most people are going to say, "Gimme the salt shaker full of BAM15 and my anti-anxiety meds and throw in another TV dinner!" while they wave the flag and explain to you how this is their choice. In other words, with nothing else changing, this might be folks best opportunity to deal with the ills of modern living.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Saturday June 13 2020, @03:24PM
> Number one for me is access to places to exercise.
Since I've been locked at home, or shielding as it's called here, due to this damned virus, access to places to exercise is somewhat limited.
Add to that the people on my social media feeds posting about their multi-hour jaunts for their "approved" exercise (my quotes - because it's not approved, they just want to go out to nice places to do their exercise and spread disease), and the nice weather, and the frustration is palpable.
This is why I have got bigger in lockdown/shielding, obviously.
-21lbs bigger in fact.
Yeah, that's a minus - I am a stone and a half lighter through staying at home.
Exercise is something you do, a place is somewhere you go, the two are not related.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @04:09PM (2 children)
When my dad went to high school in urban New Jersey, waaay back in the dark ages, gym class was every day and by high school everyone - every boy, every girl - started each gym class with a one mile run. So if you lived in an apartment and didn't have a safe yard to play in, you still got exercise. If you were too busy taking care of your baby brother or your sick grandmother in the evening, you still got exercise. If you were working in the family restaurant or farm in the evening, you still got exercise. If your teachers buried you in homework and you were too busy to do anything else, you still got exercise. If you lived in a neighborhood with high crime rates and it wasn't safe for you to go outside, you still got exercise. And yes, if you were sitting on your ass from after school until you went to bed watching I Love Lucy reruns, you still got exercise.
There are dozens of reasons we need to bring that back into the education system.
And for the adults, far more jobs had physical labor. There were trucks and forklifts and jackhammers, but far fewer white collar jobs and far fewer automated aspects of blue collar work. And to be clear, manual labor is not a universally wonderful thing - most men in my grandfather's generation were nearly cripples in their 60s from the wear and tear on their bodies from forty years of manual labor. That is, those that were still alive were nearly cripples. A good minority didn't live that long because of lung disease from the work, or alcoholism because they used alcohol to cope with chronic pain.
I'm not sure what the solution is there. My health does suffer because I sit at a desk all day, but my neighbor that does roofing is wracked with joint and back pain and also in treatment for skin cancer.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @05:25PM (1 child)
Take the macho horseshit out of gym class first. A class to exercise is a good idea. I don't need the toxic masculinity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 14 2020, @12:30AM
Absolutely. One of my kids wants to be a gym teacher, and I keep telling him: a gym teacher isn't there for the youth athletes. The youth athletes don't need a gym teacher. The gym teacher is there for everyone else, to help them develop an enjoyment of exercise that they will carry with them through their entire lives.
Most gym teachers don't figure that out.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @06:31PM (1 child)
"If this stuff worked, I'd use it like salt in a shaker on every meal."
I don't think the FDA would approve anything that can't kill you. I hear that in order for anything to get FDA approved you have to be able to overdose and die from it. They have to know what dose will kill a mouse in an experiment. If your experiment resulted in no deaths they won't approve it even if it cured them of many/all health problems.
Since good diet is not something that can kill a mouse (when compared to a bad diet) it can't possibly be FDA approved to treat anything.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @06:44PM
I think that also applies to things like herbs and whatnot. The FDA won't approve it if you can't provide what a lethal dose is and if it's pretty harmless and doesn't hurt any mouse subjects yet miraculously cures many ailments the FDA still won't approve it.
and if it's something new the FDA can prevent it from reaching market or remove it from the market (the DSHEA restricts the FDA from removing products from the market if they have been on the market for so long but new products they can still remove). So this miracle cure, if it's harmless, will never see the light of day.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @10:25PM
You are making it too complicated. Other people are also making it too complicated. Nobody needs to go to a gym or go to special trails to work out.
All you need to burn 300 calories in 30 minutes is a good pair of running shoes and healthy legs.
Or buy a good set of bands for $30, a pull-up bar for $50, and P90X DVDs for $100 and you have a fun, enjoyable, and motivational 5-day whole body workout routine in your home than beats most anything you will get in a gym.