There is no shortage of fat-burning, calorie-crushing, weight-destroying health products on the market – and to be clear none live up to the hype.
Despite the consistent underperformance of diet supplements, it seems like we are always on the look out for the latest and greatest. Recently researchers published a review claiming to be one step closer to developing fitness in a pill. A molecular blueprint of the physiological effects of exercise was developed with the intent of producing an intervention to mimic the molecular impacts of exercise.
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There is a pattern in media coverage of this type of research. It is assumed that uncovering the underlying physiological or genetic mechanism of a condition is the tough part, and that this type of knowledge logically leads to drug development to ‘fix’ this underlying mechanistic issue.
It is an important step in understanding how to mitigate risk in some health conditions, and identifying possible interventions, but the media needs to be more responsible in tempering expectations.
As we know, drug development is costly, and time consuming. Even when drugs are designed to directly address the underlying mechanism of a disease process, they can have unwanted side effects on other body systems, severely limiting their usefulness. (Remember Vioxx?)
So how does this relate to exercise in a pill? Admittedly it is pretty cool to take a look at the varied underlying mechanisms for the benefits of exercise. On a larger scale, there is no denying the considerable value of exercise on preventing chronic disease, and treating health conditions like depression, type II diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Understanding the enormity of molecular changes exercise induces demonstrates the staggering complexity of human biological processes. It also demonstrates that near-futility in trying to reduce an intervention like exercise into a simple, one a day pill.
Don’t have ten years to wait for the pill? We already have a widely available, relatively cheap and simple intervention with a wealth of scientific evidence for positive health impact, and an impeccable safety record that will confer all the benefits of this yet-to-developed pill. Best of all, you can start it today and the benefits are immediate.
Exercise.
Go for a walk, hit the gym, join a volleyball league, or get out for a skate this winter.
It’s a lot more enjoyable than popping a pill, and it works.
