Sunday, April 29, 2007
US scientists have devised a drug that can switch on a gene to burn body fat, offering hope of an exercise pill. Mice given the drug burned off fat, even when they did not exercise, and were resistant to weight gain despite a high-fat diet.
The ultimate use would be to treat people at risk of obesity-related diseases like diabetes, rather than offer a "no-work six-pack" pill. The Salk Institute team presented their work at Experimental Biology 2007.
First, if it works, or even if it doesn't it would likely be abused by people trying to get an edge. People consume powdered tiger testicle in order to perform sexually. This product will have a black market.
Although this story is great for those who need to lose weight, the story cautions that it would not replace the benefits of excercise. You may burn fat, but cholesterol, and a heart that isn't being worked would not be fixed by the problem. Dropping the weight would make it easier for a person to do those things however.
In our weight conscious culture, if weight ever became a non issue, we would just switch to something else. There is physical beauty, bone structure. This story struck me on this weird angle. People who are overweight are mistreated by society, but it's only because it's easy. We seem to be hard wired this way.
When school uniforms were first mandated in an area I lived in, one of the goals was to stop people picking on each other because they dressed differently and to stop this distraction from the educational experience. Almost immediately, kids started wearing wrist bands, watches, shoes with different laces all to be both cool, and to of course ostracize those who didn't have these accessories.
People often think that if they were skinnier, or if they were prettier, or if they dressed better, people would stop being horrible shits to them, and their lives would be perfect. This is not so. There is always somebody around to try to make you miserable about some aspect of yourself, even if you are in no way to blame for it. Until research started showing that many people were predisposed to being overweight, this was a great way to treat a fellow human being like crap.
Mark my words. If this drug works, there will be something new and highly crucial about ourselves that our peers, our advertisers, and society in general will say about us that attempts to fill us with self loathing.
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