By
CLAIRE BATES PUBLISHED: 12:42 GMT, 13 June 2012 The dieting market is chock-a-block
with supplements that promise to suppress the appetite. Now scientists have
come up with a novel new way to tackle weight-loss - they have found a
potential pill that makes you exercise harder instead. Researchers from the University of Zurich
in Switzerland
found that when a certain hormone in the brain was elevated in mice, it
motivated them to run faster. Can't face a workout? A hormone pill may be able
to motivate you They said the hormone erythropoietin (Epo) had the beneficial
effect without elevating red blood cell counts at the same time. The potential
treatment could help people with conditions from obesity to Alzheimer's
disease, where increased physical activity is known to improve symptoms. Team
researcher Max Gassmann, said: 'Here we show that Epo increases the motivation
to exercise. 'Most probably, Epo has a general effect on a person's mood and
might be used in patients suffering from depression and related diseases.' Why we can't resist that doughnut when we're
sleep-deprived The researchers, who published their results online in The FASEB
Journal compared three types of mice: those that received no treatment, those
that were injected with human Epo, and those that were genetically modified to
produce human Epo in the brain. They found the two mouse groups that were
harbouring human Epo in the brain ran faster and for longer than the control
mice. 'If you can't put exercise in a pill, then maybe you can put the
motivation to exercise in a pill instead,' said Dr Gerald Weissmann, Editor-in-Chief
of The FASEB Journal. 'As more and more people become overweight and obese, we
must attack the problem from all angles. Maybe the day will come when gyms are
as easily found as fast food restaurants.' In 2010, just over a quarter of
adults (26 per cent of both men and women aged 16 or over) in England were classified as obese. It
is estimated that the NHS spends £4.2billion every year treating patients for
obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes – as well as on
costly weight-loss surgery. These include gastric band operations which costs
£6,000 per patient as well as gastric bypass surgery – which splits the stomach
into compartments so patients feel full more quickly – at £10,000 a time.
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