Everyone knows that achieving or maintaining a healthy weight requires a balanced diet and regular exercise, but now scientists are saying that it is possible to experience the benefits of a good workout by simply taking an "exercise pill," The Washington Post reports.
As studies on the effect of exercise on the body's metabolism, organs, circulation and muscles are abound, researchers said information from these studies could be used to create a pill that would mimic the beneficial effects of exercise on health.
At this time, the development of such a pill is already underway in several laboratories.
"We have recognized the need for exercise pills for some time, and this is an achievable goal based on our improved understanding of the molecular targets of physical exercise," study co-author Ismail Laher at the University of British Columbia's Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics said in a press release.
But can a pill really replace exercise? Laher explained that the health benefits of a real workout are irreplaceable, but an exercise pill can help people with physical limitations, such as amputees, those with spinal cord injuries and those who suffered from stroke. The pill would serve as a supplement, not a substitute for exercise.
"I want to be clear that really there is no way to replace routine exercise with an exercise pill," Laher told The Washington Post. "Exercise requires your heart rate to go up, blood to flow faster, and you cannot do that with an exercise pill ... but in particular groups, it's the next best thing."
Laher said more research is needed to determine the possible effects of exercise pills on health and to identify possibilities for their misuse not just for humans but also for animals.
"We are at the early stages of this exciting new field," he said. "Further development of exercise pills that act in combination may be more effective than single compounds. We just don't know anything about their long-term use in humans yet."
The study was published in the current issue of the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences.
