Salk Institute researchers have developed a new type of diet pill that works by tricking users’ intestines into responding as if they have consumed a meal — causing the body to burn fat.
 

In tests involving mice, the compound effectively stopped weight gain, lowered cholesterol, controlled blood sugar, and minimized inflammation, making it an excellent candidate for a drug researchers hope to study in human clinical trials.
 

The new diet pill — called fexaramine — doesn't dissolve into the blood like existing appetite suppressants or caffeine-based diet drugs, but remains in the intestines, causing fewer side effects.
 

"This pill is like an imaginary meal," said Ronald Evans, director of Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory, who published details on the team’s research in the journal Nature Medicine. "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."
 

More than a third of American adults are obese and 29.1 million people have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both obesity and diabetes lead to an increase in health spending, a greater risk of health complications, and a shorter lifespan.
 

Evans noted food triggers digestive enzymes but also changes blood sugar levels and mechanisms that cause the body to burn some fats in preparation for a meal.
 

Pharmaceutical companies have developed systemic drugs that aim to active these triggers, but they affect several organs and come with side effects. But fexaramine works more directly by acting on the intestines themselves.
 

"When you eat, you have to quickly activate a series of responses all throughout the body," said Evans. "And the reality is that the very first responder for all this is the intestine."
 

Lab tests of obese mice given a daily pill of fexaramine for five weeks should they stopped gaining weight, lost fat, and had lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels than untreated mice. In addition, the mice had a rise in body temperature — which occurs when metabolism rises — and white fat in their bodies converted into a healthier, energy-burning "brown fat.”
 

"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 explained. "We've learned how to trigger the first runner so that the rest of the events happen in a natural order."
 

Since fexaramine doesn't reach the bloodstream, it is also likely safer in humans than other diet pills, the researchers suggested.
 

They are now working to set up human clinical trials to test the effectiveness of fexaramine to treat obesity and metabolic disease, in conjunction with diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes.