14 DAY TRIAL // Apart from finding proof of alien life and figuring out how to teleport them, there is one very important discovery that regular folks cannot wait for brainiacs to make: zooming in on the perfect way to lose weight without having to diet or exercise.
The good news is that, by the looks of it, researchers are hard at work trying to please them. In fact, it was not too long ago when scientists pinned down a compound that appears to speed up calorie burning processes and in doing so promotes weight loss.
Using herbs to tackle obesity
In a recent paper in the journal Nature Communications, scientist Guang Hing with the China National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases and fellow researchers explain that the compound in question is known as berberine.
As shown by previous investigations, it can be found both in plants and in several Chinese herbal medicines. The compound is said to promote weight loss by sending a heat-producing tissue referred to as brown fat into overdrive.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, specialist Guang Ning and colleagues explain that, whereas white fat serves to store energy, brown fat serves to keep the body warm by burning calories and generating heat in the process.
Hence, the scientists believe that, by toying with the activity of brown fat, it might be possible to help people lose weight simply by making their bodies produces a wee more heat than they normally would, Live Science explains.
Experimenting on mice
As part of their investigation into the potential use of berberine to combat obesity and make it easier for people to get back in shape, the researchers carried out a series of experiments on laboratory mice. More precisely, they injected several such rodents with the compound.
When compared to a control group, the mice exposed to berberine were found to produce about 4 to 8 degrees Celsius (7.2 to 14.4 degrees Fahrenheit) more heat when introduced in a cold environment. Consequently, they also burned more calories.
“Our works demonstrate the positive function of berberine in energy balance,” study author Guang Ning commented on the outcome of this investigation in a recent interview with the press.
Mind you, it's important to note that, as encouraging as these findings might be, the fact of the matter is that the scientists who worked on this research project are yet to prove that berberine affects people in the same way that it does mice or that this compound is safe for human use.
