Once we have the keys to our metabolisms we’ll be able to control our own weight as easily as we control the length of our hair, at least that was always the prediction. The metabolism is the amount of energy the body burns away simply by going about its day to day activities. Metabolic rates for individual people vary massively depending on all sorts of factors, the most important being age. Every young adult gets to the point where their metabolism catches up with them and they’re suddenly unable to eat whatever they want without putting on weight anymore.
Scientists have been looking for an easy way out of the obesity epidemic for a very long time. It may simply seem like a job for the health and awareness advertisers to concern themselves with but that’s simply not the case. Everything in the body is regulated by something else and through understanding how these regulators interact with each other we get a better understanding of our bodies and how they function.
Along these lines is the recently completed study on animals surrounding the protein myostatin. They found that by inhibiting this protein they could prevent muscle loss. In terms of chronically ill patients who can’t exercise this is fantastic because muscle wastage or atrophy is actually very dangerous when it happens at a high volume. Around 30% of cancer patient deaths are causes when patients get poisoned by the sheer level of muscle tissue wasting away into their systems.
So, myostatin’s great from that perspective but what’s it got to do with obesity? Well, scientists have found that by blocking the proteins effect entirely they can switch the body from burning carbohydrates for energy to burning fat directly. This would mean the body could be stimulated to burn through its own fat supply, without the need to exercise or diet excessively (though some would still be required).
These studies will advance to human trials soon but there’s a lot of excitement surrounding them, as you can imagine. Obesity could very well soon be a thing of the past!