Fighting Extra Weight With An Exercise Hormone

We’re all heard of some pretty crazy ‘inventions’ for helping with weight loss over the years.

But when a team of scientists comes up with something as valid as an exercise hormone, you better pay attention to what they have to say.

As it happens, researchers from USC just discovered that a hormone called MOTS-c is actually able to trick our body into thinking it’s exercising by improving our muscles’ insulin resistance.

Cell-Level Influence

In order to test their theory, the research team injected MOTS-c into, well, very fat mice. The test subjects were all on high-fat diets, but once they received a dose of said hormone, the insulin resistance in mice started to fade and their muscles began to grow again.

The most interesting thing about the whole experiment is the fact that even though this hormone was only tested on mice, all mammals in the world – including humans – can actually benefit from MOTS-c, thanks to having similar genetic infrastructure.

As assistant professor Changhan Lee said: “This discovery sheds new light on mitochondria and positions them as active regulators of metabolism.”

What To Expect?

The discovery of MOTS-c and its efficiency is really a big breakthrough. Aside from what it does, the researchers also found that unlike most hormones, it’s encoded in mitochondrial DNA rather than in the DNA of the nucleus.

This is what makes this hormone special. And if we’re lucky enough, we will have a new and efficient way of fighting obesity in the near future.