Researchers in California are developing a new diet pill that they say acts like an "imaginary meal."
The compound called fexaramine, under development at Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., tricks the body into feeling like it has eaten a meal.
A study in mice found that fexaramine stopped weight gain, lowered cholesterol, controlled blood sugar, and minimized inflammation,
according to a news release.
The compound remains in the intestines and causes fewer side effects than other diet pills that work to suppress appetite or speed metabolism.
“This pill is like an imaginary meal,” researcher Ronald Evans said in the news release. “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.”
Evans is senior author of a study on the drug
published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.
The new drug activates a protein that triggers the release of bile acids for digestion, changes blood sugar levels, and causes the body to burn some fats, the press release said.
“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 in the release. “We’ve learned how to trigger the first runner so that the rest of the events happen in a natural order.”
Twitter users shared mixed reactions.
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