PULSE

Some say a new pill does the work of exercise — and real research backs up the claims, though authorities are hesitant to pass it

Want a six-pack? Pop a pill, apparently

Too good to be true? It probably is. Making headlines on the health and fitness pages of publications as illustrious as The New Yorker and The Washington Post recently is the fantastical story of a pill that some are claiming does the work of exercise. Pop it, they say, and you might well have the body of a champion athlete without lifting so much as a feather. While news of this breakthrough in human ingenuity is lapped up by overworked, sleep-deprived, running-out-of-time types with proclivities for get-fit-quick fads and propensities for fake news, there is some real research backing up the promise of this preposterous premise.

THE BACK STORY

For more than a decade scientists have been working on a chemical compound called 516 (GW501516), a nootropic (buzzword of the moment referring to cognitive enhancing supplements) which breaks down fat instead of carbohydrates by altering the signals sent to muscles by genes. Biologist Ron Evans of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California tested the drug on two mice: Couch Potato Mouse and Lance Armstrong Mouse. Both rodents are sedentary, but Couch got fat and greasy sitting around, while Lance, who was fed 516, became a svelte and energetic babe-mouse magnet. Before that, though, chemical biologist at GlaxoSmithKline, Tim Wilson, tested the drug on animals as a treatment for diabetes. It looked promising for a while, until test results came back showing evidence of rapidly developing cancers in a number of organs. The World Anti-Doping

Agency banned 516 in 2009.

HOW IT WORKS

It triggers the chemical reaction at molecular level that initiates weight loss and muscle building — the same process achieved while exercising, just without the exercise. Basically, 516 triggers biochemical changes that take place when people train. Evans is still working on ways to make this process ‘‘safe”.

COULD YOU TRY IT?

Though experimental versions of 516 have been tried by body builders and athletes who’ve been able to get their hands on the drug, conclusive trials on it have not been completed. They can take up to 70 years to reveal side effects. Also, Food and Drug Administration (in America) won’t approve 516 because it doesn’t consider “inability to exercise” a disease in need of a drug.

WHO COULD?

Evans is targeting young people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, who really need something like this to improve the quality of their lives. If 516 can be proven to benefit them, the FDA might approve the drug.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

There are so many benefits of constant, regular exercise. Although, according to the New Yorker, Evans is convinced that his improved version of the drug is safe ‘‘any molecule that affects metabolic processes is necessarily interacting with a variety of other molecules throughout the body, in ways that we don’t yet understand.” So, back to the gym, track, swimming pool, running club for you — and take a cup of coffee on the way, caffeine is a great pre-workout boost. It’s been proven to increase metabolism, which makes you burn more calories. I bet it tastes better too.