Exercise in a Pill?

By Lynn Difley
So here’s the latest insanity. Buck Rogers stand back. Headlines: “Exercise in a Pill – Researchers Find Two.” Double insanity. So the scientists have found a drug that seems to boost biological benefits of exercise by helping cells burn fat better and boosting endurance. Just as Alice in Wonderland found, “One pill makes you larger, one makes you small”; so one of these pills may help people enhance their exercise and training–look out world-class athletes! With this one, scientists were quick to determine markers, so that those who abuse this magic pill can be detected, as in the case of competitive athletes. The second pill is designed for couch potatoes.

The first pill produced a super mouse who could run twice as far as his fellow mice, and stayed lean even when tempted with a high fat diet–sounds like the answer to all our prayers, folks. I think I’ll get in line. The second is designed to produce the effects of exercise without the sweat. The mice that received this drug, behaved as if they’d been exercised, running 44 % longer than their un-drugged mice brothers. Now how in the world did they measure their running capacity if they didn’t exercise? The study didn’t say.

The only bad news is that this drug does not help those who have muscle-wasting diseases, fatigue, or who are too overweight to exercise. So those who need it the most are not going to benefit from it. Scientists are quick to find a way to be sure that those who use this drug boost are detected, which means that all those who undergo drug testing–the elite athletes–will not be able to use it. So who does that leave? Mice who like to hang out on the couch and watch TV.

Shall we look forward to taking a daily pill rather than a walk? Would you rather swallow your coated capsule, or jump on your bike and pedal off down the road? I don’t know about you, but I relish my morning walk, jog, or exercise and I’m not sure that adding a drug to my body chemistry is desirable. Why would I want to run 44% longer than my neighbor, if I am lying on the couch rather than smelling the pine forest and eucalyptus tang of my morning run? I don’t want to pass up the sight of dolphins leaping and pelicans diving into the ocean for a gel cap and glass of water. No, call me old fashioned, but I think I’d rather the scientists focus on a cure for the common cold or a vaccine to protect people from AIDS. Leave me to my joy of movement; I want to get there under my own power.