Scientists Create Pill to Mimic Effects of Exercise

No, it isn't a pill for couch potatoes, but scientists are working on a pill that could mimic some of the effects of exercise, according to an article in Cell Metabolism.

The goal, researches say, is to help the elderly or others who have trouble exercising, such as people suffering obesity, type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, Quartz.com reports.  The medication also could be helpful for people with spinal cord injuries.

"We've created an exercise blueprint that lays the foundation for future treatments, and the end goal is to mimic the effects of exercise," Dr. Nolan Hoffman, an author of the study, told Quartz. "It's long been thought that there were many signals elicited by exercise, but we were the first to create this map and we now know the complexity."

"We have recognized the need for exercise pills for some time, and this is an achievable goal based on our improved understanding of the molecular targets of physical exercise," co-author Ismail Laher told Science Daily.

"Clearly people derive many other rewarding experiences from exercise – such as increased cognitive function, bone strength, and improved cardiovascular function," Laher said. "It is unrealistic to expect that exercise pills will fully be able to substitute for physical exercise – at least not in the immediate future."

Since no drug could safely provide all the positive effects of exercise, scientists are targeting those most significant to better health.

Researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Copenhagen worked together on the study, which looked at how cells are affected by exercise.

Four healthy men donated samples of their muscle before and after vigorous exercise.

Hoffman said it would be at least a decade before such a drug was available to the public.

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