Researchers created a new pill that tricks the body into thinking it has consumed calories, causing it to burn fat.
The novel pill, dubbed fexaramine, effectively stopped weight gain, controlled blood sugar, and reduced inflammation in mice with minimal side effects, the Salk Institute reported.
"This pill is like an imaginary meal," said Ronald Evans, director of Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory and senior author of the new paper, published Jan. 5, 2014 in Nature Medicine. "It sends out the same signals that normally happen when you eat a lot of food, so the body starts clearing out space to store it. But there are no calories and no change in appetite."
The pill remains in the lower intestines, as opposed to other diet pills that are generally absorbed in the blood stream; this accounts for the reduced side effects. The treatment comes after nearly two decades of study on the farensoid X receptor (FXR), which influences how the liver releases bile acids and how the body stores sugar and fats.
"When you eat, you have to quickly activate a series of responses all throughout the body," says Evans. "And the reality is that the very first responder for all this is the intestine."
The team gave mice a daily dose of fexaramine over a period of five weeks. They observed the treated mice stopped gaining weight and had lower blood sugar and cholesterol than those who had not been treated. The mice also exhibited a spike in body temperature, which leads to metabolic responses.
"The body's response to a meal is like a relay race, and if you tell all the runners to go at the same time, you'll never pass the baton," Evans said. "We've learned how to trigger the first runner so that the rest of the events happen in a natural order.
