Soon you may be able to discard that diet, abolish Adkins, junk Jenny (Craig) and do away with Weight Watchers.
You will be able to eat the foods you love without gaining any weight and at the same time lower your cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, in a brand new study that was published in the August 28, 2009 issue of the journal, Chemistry and Biology, researchers reported that the new manmade chemical, fatostatin, prevented obese mice from getting fatter even when they could eat whatever they wanted.
You will have to be patient though since research on fatostatin is still in its earliest stages.
Here is what I have discovered to date.
This new manmade chemical appears to have the magical power to turn off fat production - you read that right - turn off fat production, potentially turning it into a weapon against obesity.
Overweight mice who were injected with this new chemical did not get any fatter even when allowed to eat as much as they wanted.
As an added benefit, they developed lower cholesterol and lower blood sugar levels according to the report of the research team.
Unfortunately, you cannot run to your phone to call your doctor for a magic prescription of fatostatin yet.
The chemical does hold promise as a starting point to develop new drugs, but it is not a drug itself said Motonari Uesugi, co-author of the study and a researcher at Kyoto University, Japan.
However, what about those mice who did not put on one extra ounce? To quote Dr.
Uesugi, "When fatostatin was injected, the mice did not get fat even when they ate a lot, and we did not see any obvious side or toxic effects.
" For years various researchers have been searching for a pill to help people fight obesity.
There are some anti-obesity drugs on the market but they have harmful side effects and patients often stop using them Uesugi said his laboratory has samples of over 30,000 chemicals and is testing them on both human and mouse cells.
The molecule in question, fatostatin, appeared to stop fat production by "turning" certain genetic switches.
Uesugi added that injection of such a drug is not a positive option for people with chronic metabolic diseases, such as those that cause obesity.
More research needs to be done in order to develop an oral drug that will be safe for humans.
In regards to safety, fatostatin's "activity" on 63 genes, many of which have nothing to do with fat synthesis, raises questions about potential side effects, particularly if the chemical is ingested over many years," stated Dr.
Nicholas H.
E.
Mezitis, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who is familiar with the study findings.
And Dr.
Tae-Hwa Chun, a metabolism researcher who also is familiar with the report on fatostatin says "it is still challenging to develop drugs that safely treat obesity.
A positive finding in cells and rodents does not always lead to the development of safe and effective drugs for patients," added Chun, an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan who specializes in metabolic syndrome.
Still, the researchers seem to agree that there is definitely promise in the idea of targeting genetic switches that turn on fat production as fatostatin appears to do.
We all will have to wait until fatostatin is approved for ingestion by humans.
But I do have a significant suggestion for the pharmaceutical team who brings it to the market.
Lose the name fatostatin, fellows.
Change it to slimo-statin or thino-statin and your sales will skyrocket.
You will be able to eat the foods you love without gaining any weight and at the same time lower your cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, in a brand new study that was published in the August 28, 2009 issue of the journal, Chemistry and Biology, researchers reported that the new manmade chemical, fatostatin, prevented obese mice from getting fatter even when they could eat whatever they wanted.
You will have to be patient though since research on fatostatin is still in its earliest stages.
Here is what I have discovered to date.
This new manmade chemical appears to have the magical power to turn off fat production - you read that right - turn off fat production, potentially turning it into a weapon against obesity.
Overweight mice who were injected with this new chemical did not get any fatter even when allowed to eat as much as they wanted.
As an added benefit, they developed lower cholesterol and lower blood sugar levels according to the report of the research team.
Unfortunately, you cannot run to your phone to call your doctor for a magic prescription of fatostatin yet.
The chemical does hold promise as a starting point to develop new drugs, but it is not a drug itself said Motonari Uesugi, co-author of the study and a researcher at Kyoto University, Japan.
However, what about those mice who did not put on one extra ounce? To quote Dr.
Uesugi, "When fatostatin was injected, the mice did not get fat even when they ate a lot, and we did not see any obvious side or toxic effects.
" For years various researchers have been searching for a pill to help people fight obesity.
There are some anti-obesity drugs on the market but they have harmful side effects and patients often stop using them Uesugi said his laboratory has samples of over 30,000 chemicals and is testing them on both human and mouse cells.
The molecule in question, fatostatin, appeared to stop fat production by "turning" certain genetic switches.
Uesugi added that injection of such a drug is not a positive option for people with chronic metabolic diseases, such as those that cause obesity.
More research needs to be done in order to develop an oral drug that will be safe for humans.
In regards to safety, fatostatin's "activity" on 63 genes, many of which have nothing to do with fat synthesis, raises questions about potential side effects, particularly if the chemical is ingested over many years," stated Dr.
Nicholas H.
E.
Mezitis, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who is familiar with the study findings.
And Dr.
Tae-Hwa Chun, a metabolism researcher who also is familiar with the report on fatostatin says "it is still challenging to develop drugs that safely treat obesity.
A positive finding in cells and rodents does not always lead to the development of safe and effective drugs for patients," added Chun, an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan who specializes in metabolic syndrome.
Still, the researchers seem to agree that there is definitely promise in the idea of targeting genetic switches that turn on fat production as fatostatin appears to do.
We all will have to wait until fatostatin is approved for ingestion by humans.
But I do have a significant suggestion for the pharmaceutical team who brings it to the market.
Lose the name fatostatin, fellows.
Change it to slimo-statin or thino-statin and your sales will skyrocket.