Pill for couch potatoes

HEALTH

Researchers are testing a drug that promises to help people improve their fitness - without breaking a sweat.

After years of seeking a way around sweating it out at the gym, US scientists say they are working on a pill that will give the positives of exercise without a person actually working out.

Mice that were tested with this drug ran 44 times farther, and for significantly longer, than their untreated competitors.

There are in fact two pills, named AICAR and GW1516, which are said to benefit the gene which builds muscle in our body, resulting in increased stamina and even loss of some body fat.

More than being a dream pill for couch potatoes and sportspersons, this new product has been pegged on providing a replacement for exercise, one which is proven to be beneficial for medically impaired persons, for example those who suffer from diabetes and other muscle-wasting diseases.

Though reports suggest the pill would have an effect in humans similar to what has been observed in mice, serious side effects, if any, will become known only once the research has actually been coherently transferred to humans.

If such a pill sounds too good to be true, there is also a downside, which is the potential misuse of such a pill in the sports industry.

Lead researcher Professor Ronald Evans, of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Salk Institute in California, steps in to put such fears to rest. He has been quoted in reports claiming that a consequent test has been designed which can detect these drugs in the blood and urine of sportspersons.

With a sudden rush for more information on this pill by sportsmen, escalated by the upcoming Beijing Olympics, the test in question has been forwarded to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which, for its part, is working to get a test ready for humans in time for the Olympics.

Reports indicate that researchers are also looking at working on the drug further so it can help some patients shed weight, thus preventing heart diseases, and improve the fitness of those who have been bedridden.