A new study published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Cell Biologythis Monday, December 8 presents a pill capable of transforming the bad fat in good fats, and reduce the risk of diabetestype 2, cancer and heart disease in obese people.
For the scientists behind the study, this is a momentous discovery, and perhaps even “the first step towards a pill capable of replacing the carpet. race  ”.
Conducted jointly by scientists from Harvard (United States) and Basel (Switzerland), the research identified two molecules capable of transform white fat cells, or “bad” fat, in brown fat cells, the “good” fats. These brown fat cells burn the excess energy accumulated by the body, and thus reduce the white fat mass. It is the latter that is created when a person consumes too many calories, exceeding their daily needs, without getting enough exercise.
A discovery that has yet to prove itself
“We were very impressed with this effect when the molecules were given to animals, but when you stop the treatment, the effect wears off,” says Chad Cowan, co-author of the ‘Study. Here we observed a stable conversion of white fat cells to brown fat cells. For the researchers, this treatment could also reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, or any type of disease linked to the accumulation of fat mass.
The study was carried out in the laboratory on cell models, which suggests that the drug’s commercialization is still a long way off. Currently, German researchers are working on the effect of the same two compounds in mice, and hope to have encouraging results soon.
Professor Cowan clarified that these compounds “both target the same molecule, which plays a role in the inflammatory response following infection”. In other words, these substances could damage the immune system patient: “if you give them for too long, the patient may become immune weak”, that is, immunocompromised.
“The good news and the bad news is that science is slow,” says Professor Cowan. Simply establishing the proof of a concept takes a tremendous amount of time. We thought that working with stem cells could lead to new therapeutic approaches, and now that is what is happening: a decade of hard scientific work. © is bearing fruit! TO”
Very enthusiastic about its results, the team nonetheless pointed out that, whatever pill can make us stay thin, it cannot replace the other benefits of the exercise on our health.
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