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 natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams launched TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video site featuring videos on holistic health and green living. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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