It's better than liposuction, researchers say: it's a drug that cuts off
the blood supply to fat cells, causing subjects to lose an astounding
30% of their body weight in just one month. For now, however, those
subjects are just mice, and there's no guarantee that the drug will work
in humans.
It was originally developed as a targeted cancer drug, by
the way. Once researchers realized it could also target fat cells, they
knew they had something valuable on their hands: a liposuction drug that
just might be the holy grail of diet pills. But is the drug really that
promising?
I would personally be very suspicious about any drug that
claimed to "work" by starving cells in your body. That just seems to be
a very dangerous strategy from a health perspective. Fat cells are not
the enemy, and I don't think you're doing your body a favor by killing
them. I may be wrong, by I suspect the side effects from this
liposuction drug could be quite severe. What if it also targets falls
cells in body organs like your liver? Could the drug cause long-term
liver damage? Lots of other drugs do.
Still, if the side effects are
minimal, it might indeed be worth the health risk in order to help
people suffering from obesity drop some serious pounds and get back to a
healthy weight. At some point, even risky drugs can be a better bet than
watching a person keep adding on the pounds. But let's be honest here:
the best approach to weight loss is simply eating right and engaging in
regular physical exercise. There's no substitute for it. No diet pill or
liposuction drug can replace a good, strong metabolism fueled by lean
body mass and regular cardiovascular exercise. No weight loss pill can
really keep the pounds off if you keep eating junk foods, drinking soft
drinks, and consuming unlimited quantities of white flour and refined
white sugar. And of course, even regular liposuction doesn't stop your
body from storing fat; it just causes the fat to be deposited somewhere
else!
So the solution, as usual, isn't a diet pill or a surgical
procedure: it's old-fashioned diet and exercise. You know: the hard way!
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2010, Adams launched NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video site featuring videos on holistic health and green living. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
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Monday, May 10, 2004
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