Danish researchers have announced a drug that could replace running 10 kilometers at a high speed.
According to the Guardian, a research team from Aarhus University (Denmark) has introduced a drug named LaKe, which works to “put the body in a metabolic state equivalent to running 10 kilometers at high speed while fasting.”
Firstly, the most common term used to describe drugs like LaKe is “exercise-mimicking drugs” because, in principle, they imitate the biological effects of exercise without the need for sweating.
This idea has been around for some time. In 2008, the Salk Institute (USA) introduced the drug GW 501516 (commonly known as 516). The 516 drug signals the necessary genes to burn fat instead of sugar, allowing test subjects (rodents) to run for extended periods without tiring.
Running provides numerous physical and mental health benefits.
In the 516 trial, a pair of rodents named Couch Potato and Lance Armstrong were fed a diet of high-fat, high-sugar pellets. They had the same amount of daily physical activity, but the Lance Armstrong rodent, given 516, showed a significant increase in endurance while remaining much leaner than the Couch Potato rodent.
A variant of 516 known as Endurabol quickly appeared on the black market. The World Anti-Doping Agency has warned athletes about the safety concerns of Endurabol, yet many similar drugs have been developed.
Meanwhile, LaKe is currently in the experimental phase on rodents. The drug promotes a rapid increase in lactate in the body—mimicking the effects commonly seen after high-intensity exercise—and then a gradual rise in beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB).
BHB is a compound that is synthesized in the liver from fatty acids to provide energy for the body when glucose is insufficient—the origin of the concept of “running on an empty stomach.”
The increase in lactate and BHB reduces the levels of free fatty acids in the blood and suppresses appetite, while also helping to lower the risk of diseases such as cardiovascular issues, stroke, and type 2 diabetes over the long term.
LaKe also shows no harmful effects on rodents, unlike the earlier versions of 516, which promoted the growth of cancer cells in test subjects. While this sounds promising, is it really that simple?
Exercise affects almost every part of the body in complex ways that humans do not yet fully understand. The exercise-mimicking drugs mentioned above may promote a range of benefits for the body, but they also have limitations.
Exercise is a full-body activity, with movements that can affect various aspects, from improving bone density, aiding sleep, enhancing mood, relieving stress, to combating dementia.
Even if science could replicate these benefits with drugs, it would still be challenging to mimic the psychological advantages of running 5 kilometers with friends or achieving personal bests in a workout.
We are still quite far from discovering a safe drug that can reproduce the most beneficial effects of exercise in humans. However, if such a drug were to exist, it could be beneficial for the elderly, the frail, those unable to exercise on their own, or those recovering from surgery.
