The Latest Obesity Drug Disaster

In just another of a seemingly non-stop slew of "sure-fire cures" for obesity that often do more harm than good, you may have heard about scientists at The Salk Institute developing a weight-loss drug that acts by accelerating a patient's metabolism like the body would do naturally during physical activity.

The drug is formulated to turn on a genetic switch that activates PPAR-d, the key regulator that controls the ability of cells to burn fat. When tested on mice, the drug turned on PPAR-d, even when the animals weren't active. And, when they did exercise, mice could do it twice as long as before.

Before you begin a mad rush to your doctor for a prescription, however, this "fat pill" is a long way away from ever seeing the light of day, much less a pharmacy. For one, what works on mice -- these animals far similar to each other than are humans -- in a laboratory setting probably won't work as well, if at all, for human patients.

Besides that, why would anyone want to risk their health and life so they could re-engineer their body chemically merely to lose weight when there are far safer ways to lose weight and optimize one's health? Start that process toward optimal health today, by eating the foods your body burns best according to your unique nutritional type and making time for real exercise.