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"Drug Hunters" Discover Fat Burner for Safe Weight loss

What if you could take a pill that would help you to safely and effortlessly lose weight?  It’s something researchers have been working on for decades without success. Now, scientists at Virginia Tech have identified a molecule, that by all expectations, will be able to do just that. 

So far, only mice have seen their body weights drop, effortlessly, and without eating less or exercising more. Thanks to the discovery of a new molecule with 7 years of testing so far, Virginia Tech chemistry professor Webster Santos and his team believe they could have a solution to the obesity epidemic that is hurting people’s health. 

“So, what we did is we took the mice, fed them the Western, diet, you know, high fat, know, high fructose food. And so, the animals gained weight over weeks. Then we started feeding an even higher fat and carb diet along with something called BAM 15. “That molecule called BAM 15, tricks the body into burning more calories than normal by increasing something called ‘proton motor force’ or PMF.  

“What’s amazing is that they lost fat mass, it had no effect on their food intake, there was no change in muscle mass, and we did not see any observable bad side effects with the molecule.

If the compound is found to be safe and effective in people, it could help with not only obesity, but also fatty liver disease a dangerous and hard to diagnose condition that is on the rise.

Santos says, testing could take up to 17 years, and cost some $2 billion to complete.

The findings, published inNature Communications on May 14, 2020

 

Robbie Harris is based in Blacksburg, covering the New River Valley and southwestern Virginia.