Archive for November 19th, 2008

SRT1720 a Promising Fat Burning Drug

Wow, if this was ever a “miracle pill” for people who wish they could just lose weight without even working at it, or at least eat whatever they want without gaining weight, then this is it.  It’s a new drug in development by French scientists called for the time being at least “SRT1720″.  It’s being tested on mice currently and has been found to protect the mice on the drug from weight gain even when they are put on a high fat diet.  It somehow tricks the body into going into fat burning mode supposedly, which prevents weight gain when ingesting large amounts of calories and fat.  In essence, it mimics a low calorie diet without the low calorie diet. 

Sounds great, right?  Who wouldn’t want this wonder drug?  Problem is with  drugs like this, there isn’t much information out there yet on long term effects.  Although the mice this SRT1720 is being tested on have not shown any adverse side effects as of yet, there also hasn’t been quite enough time to tell of any potential long term effects. 

The questions I would have on this drug are things like, ok once you get off of the drug, do you forever have to go back on it since your body probably reverts back to it’s old way of metabolizing and burning fat to stay thin?  They mentioned in the study that the mice that were on a lower dose of the drug did not get as much benefit as far as fat burning and no weight gain, while the mice that were on the higher doses were the ones that maintained a healthy weight and did not gain weight while on the higher doses. 

Would this then be something one could grow accustomed and therefore immune to, needing larger and larger doses in order to stay thin? Could it somehow then sabotage the body after one goes off the drug, kicking the body into maximum fat storage, making even a glimpse at a high fat meal to adhere to their thighs and belly?  Hmm, these are all questions that I’d want to know before taking this drug. 

The SRT1720 drug has not yet been tested on humans, so there is a lot more research and clinical trials that will be needed before this unique metabolic helper would make it’s way to market.  There is also another possible use for it besides weight loss and weight control, which would be for blood sugar stabilization.   Oh, and there were no side effects such as changes in eating patterns observed in the mice.