Drugs are being developed to mimic the effects of exercise

We’re one step closer to a drug which mimics the effects of exercise – and it could be music to the ears of anyone who struggles to find the motivation to work out.

Scientists think they’re making progress in developing a pill which blasts fat and imitates the impact of aerobic exercising.

It comes as scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) confirmed they’d identified a genetic code which could hold the secret to reversing certain processes in human body cells.

It focuses on mesenchymal stem cells storing fat. While it’s exercise which usually reverses this process, the scientists believe drugs could be used to target them.

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Lead author on the new paper, Manolis Kellis, said [via The Sun]: "It is extremely important to understand the molecular mechanisms that are drivers of the beneficial effects of exercise and the detrimental effects of a high-fat diet."

However, it’s not going to provide us all with easy weight-loss pills anytime soon. Kellis was also at pains to point out we should all be eating healthily and exercising regularly in the meantime.

While it’s an encouraging development, we shouldn’t be cancelling our gym membership just yet.

A 2020 YouGov survey found that on average, a quarter of Britons (27 per cent) aren’t managing a single 30-minute exercise session a week. The Health Survey for England 2019 also estimated that 28.0 per cent of adults in England are obese and a further 36.2 per cent are overweight.

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