This isn’t the first team to work on some sort of analog to exercise or dietary restriction. It is well known that regular exercise and intermittent fasting have a series of positive effects on the body. Exercising and skipping meals or limiting them to a small time slot during the day strengthens the heart and reduces blood fat levels. The explanation lies in the body’s natural reaction in which increasing levels of lactate and ketones act as effective fuel for cellswhich “benefits” the different organs of the body.
A new molecule that provides the effects of fasting and exercise
The study leads to the development of a molecule capable of imitating a major metabolic response to regular, intense exercise and fasting: the molecule in question precisely increases the levels of lactate and ketones in the blood – without physical effort or fasting.
An effect comparable to that of a 10 km race on an empty stomach???
This is suggested by one of the lead authors, Dr Thomas Poulsen, professor of chemistry at Aarhus University: “We have developed a molecule capable of mimicking the body’s natural metabolic response to intense physical exercise and fasting. In practice, the molecule brings the body into a metabolic state corresponding to a 10 km race at high speed and on an empty stomach!
What process? When blood lactate and ketone levels increase, production of an appetite-suppressing hormone also increases and the level of free fatty acids in the blood decreases. This helps explain multiple health benefits, including reduced risk of metabolic syndrome.
It would not be possible to obtain the same effect through diet alone, because lactate and ketones cannot be consumed in the necessary quantities without producing undesirable sub-compounds such as acid and salt.
This is where the new molecule, called “LaKe”, comes in.
LaKe is the result of several years of research, particularly on mechanisms related to lactate and ketones. 3 years were thus necessary to achieve a chemical fusion of lactate and ketones, free from its usual harmful effects.
Proof of concept is provided in vivoin animal models, but the first clinical trials on humans are underway at Aarhus University Hospital, with the ultimate objective of transforming the molecule into an advanced nutritional supplement.
Among other possible applications, the researchers cite the treatment of head trauma, the molecule having the potential to alleviate concentration difficulties and cognitive impairments.
It could also be used in the treatment of serious neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
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