Citizen Economists » exercise

Pills Allow Exercise to Become as Easy as Sitting on the Couch

R. C. Anderson — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:39:46 +0000

One of the most difficult things for many people today is exercise. Everyone may know that it provides multiple benefits, but often these are simply not tangible enough to provide the motivation needed to get out of the house. Many people hope instead for a pill that will eventually be able to provide them the benefits of exercise while allowing them to go about their busy lives. Scientists may soon be able to grant this wish. On July 31, Cell published an online article by Dr. Vihang Narkar and other scientists regarding the very real possibility of such a pill.

For thousands of years, the only way to become fit and healthy was to eat properly and exercise regularly. Now, however, Narkar and his associates have pin-pointed the proteins and genes triggered through exercise. The main protein involved, PPARδ, acts as a trigger which turns on genes that control fat burning and endurance.

In 2007, Ronald Evans of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and his team engineered mice that naturally produced more of this PPARδ protein, hoping to see a difference in their endurance. Interestingly, they found the engineered mice were indeed able to run almost twice as long as mice with normal levels of this protein. This, however, required genetic manipulation of the mice on a cellular level at conception. For people, a pill would be ideal. Therefore, Evans and his team created a pill for their mice which would increase production of PPARδ. When this pill and exercise were combined for four weeks, mice taking the pill were able to run 68% longer and 70% farther than mice without the pill. By five weeks, endurance had increased by 100% when compared to levels prior to taking the pill. For this pill to offer any benefits, however, the mice were required to exercise.

Instead of this, Evans wanted to create a pill that would offer benefits without any exercise at all. To do this, he and his team gave the mice a different drug, AICAR, which increased the levels of a specific enzyme used during exercise. The increased levels of this enzyme fooled the body into believing it was exercising even though it was not. The combination of these two drugs allowed the mice to be sedentary, yet run 44% farther and 23% longer than before they took the pills. After four weeks on these drugs, the mice acted as if they had been exercising every day.

Fighting Obesity and Cardiovascular Diseases

Drugs such as these could offer more than simply allowing people to run farther; they could significantly help those with diseases that prevent them from exercising. For those with diabetes or obesity, these drugs could offer hope. Although these drugs won’t mysteriously melt unwanted fat or shrink one’s waistline overnight, they do offer the ability for someone to do these things much easier. Rather than walking or running a short distance and becoming overcome by exhaustion, someone on these pills could go farther with less stress and burn an increased amount of fat while they do it.

With obesity and cardiovascular diseases on the rise, a pill such as this could allow someone to increase the benefits they obtain from only a minimum amount of exercise. Narkar says this could help those with “respiratory disorders, cardiovascular abnormalities, type 2 diabetes and cancer…muscle diseases such as wasting and frailty as well as obesity…” This comprises a large group of people. According to the American Health Association, American adults stricken with cardiovascular disease (CVD) reached 79.4 million in 2004. Of those, 871,500 died. It is also estimated that 140 million, 66% of the population, is overweight and 66 million are obese, costing $117 billion in 2001 and $3.9 billion in lost productivity. Furthermore, 78.2 million either have diabetes or are on the verge, with 72,800 dying from it in 2004. One in three people now have at least one type of CVD. If all CVDs were eliminated, the life expectancy would increase by seven years. Not only that, but we could have saved the $431.8 billion in direct and indirect costs associated with cardiovascular diseases in 2007.

With a pill that could help people gain more from exercise and increase the body’s ability to burn fat even without exercising, these groups of people could gain more than simple satisfaction at having done something good for their body; they could increase the quality and length of their life. The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2004 published a study that showed people aged 70-90 who ate a Mediterranean diet and exercised decreased their risk of death from CVD, coronary heart disease and cancer by 65%-73%. If just a portion of these results could be gained by simply taking a pill, millions of lives could be improved and possibly saved every year.

New Links To Stroke Discovered

R. C. Anderson — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:02:46 +0000

Stroke affects men and women around the world in a devastating manner. Although some strokes are more severe than others, they almost always lead to a change in the patient’s lifestyle. Recently, two articles have found interesting links to stroke, what may cause it and easy ways to attempt to prevent it.

When many adults were children, a frequent refrain they may have heard was “go outside and play”. Now, however, it seems this refrain is rarely used which has led to an increase in childhood obesity over the past several decades. Adults are often the ones setting such an example by lying on the couch watching random television programs, rarely going outside or exercising. In fact, the obesity of the U.S. population has increased dramatically since the 1970s. While only 47% of the population was considered obese in the 1970s, this number jumped to 56% in the 1990s and to 65% in 2000.

Is it possible that this type of stagnant, indoor-based behavior has other consequences? According to two studies on stroke and its predictive factors, the answer is most probably yes. In a July 17 issue of Stroke, Dr. Stefan Pilz and associates published data from approximately 3,300 patients who had been referred for coronary angiography. Vitamin D levels were measured in these patients and their health was then monitored for eight years. Pilz believes this study showed low levels of vitamin D to be an independent predictor of fatal stroke with low levels equaling an increased risk of stroke. If this is true, one simple way to curtail stroke could be easy: get outside.

The Role of Vitamin D

Vitamin D is made by the body upon exposure to the sun. If, however, one stays indoors too much, it could be difficult for the body to generate the necessary amount of this vitamin. This is not to say people should spend inordinate amounts of time outdoors. Too much time in the sun, especially without sunscreen, could lead to problems of its own, such as skin cancer. According to Pilz, vitamin D supplementation in stroke patients has reduced many problems related to bone strength and could offer a protective measure against stroke. Unfortunately, it is now estimated that as much as 50% of those in the U.S. and Europe could be deficient in vitamin D.

A second study, authored by Dr. Jiu-Chiuan Chen and published in the same issue of Stroke, explored the possible link between stroke and sleep. Over 93,000 women were enrolled in a study to assess if the duration of their sleep could be correlated to their risk of stroke. These women were followed for almost eight years and the results were interesting, if not disturbing. Using seven hours of sleep per night as a baseline, women who slept six, eight and nine hours were tracked.

Women who slept six hours suffered 14% more strokes than those who slept seven hours each night. The answer, however, is not to sleep more. Women who slept eight hours experienced 24% more incidence of stroke. While these numbers may not sound too frightening, the true jump occurred in women who slept nine hours each night. This group of women increased their stroke risk by 70%. Unfortunately for those considering simply setting the alarm clock, Chen stated that he did not believe the solution of artificially reducing ones sleep duration to lower the risk of stroke could be supported by their data. On the other hand, it often seems the more active an individual is, the more optimal their sleep conditions become. If this is true, it may be possible for those sleeping too long at night to naturally change their sleep patterns by changing what they do during the day.

Costs to the Nation

Stroke has become a serious problem in the U.S. In 2007, strokes cost the U.S. $62.7 billion. The American Heart Association has calculated that every 45 seconds someone has a stroke and every three to four minutes someone dies. In fact, stroke accounted for one in every 16 deaths in 2004 making it the third leading cause of death. Perhaps surprisingly, women made up 61% of the 5.7 million stroke victims in 2004. While only 58,700 men died as a result, almost twice as many women, or 91,400, did. While Caucasians have one of the lowest percentages of strokes at 2.5%, native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders have the highest at 8.1%.

With more people sitting indoors, the numbers of people affected by disease and infirmities are bound to increase. The increased sedentary lifestyle of today, along with other factors, seems to have led to an increase in obesity, and it seems it will lead to an increase in stroke risk. The solution of simply getting outside and exercising seems so simple, and yet many don’t apply it. In 2005, it was found that Japanese men reduced their risk of stroke by 29% and women reduced it 20% merely by walking and participating in some kind of sport. With so much expense, both financially and in terms of human suffering being expended, putting effort into preventing such a disease seems only logical.