Just to update you on the new and exciting “exercise pill”….

Frank Booth, a University of Missouri expert on the science of inactivity, says in a news release that the “exercise pill” study did not test all of the commonly known benefits of exercise and taking the pill cannot be considered a replacement for exercise. In fact, he lists a number of benefits derived from exercise that were not tested after use of the “exercise pill” that I talked about in my previous post. This list includes:

• Decreased resting and submaximal exercise heart rate
• Increased heart stroke volume at all exercise work loads
• Increased maximal exercise cardiac output
• Lower blood pressure and arterial stiffness
• Increased aerobic capacity
• Increased strength and cross-sectional area of skeletal muscle
• Delayed loss of muscle mass and strength with aging and physical frailty
• Improved balance and coordination
• Improved flexibility
• Reduced osteoporosis
• Reduced joint stress and back pain
• Decreased gallstone disease
• Improved endothelial function
• Decreased incidence of myocardial ischemia
• Less myocardial damage from ischemia
• Decreased oxidative stress
• Decreased inflammation
• Improved immune function
• Decreased liver steatosis and fatty liver disease
• Improved insulin sensitivity and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes
• Less likelihood of depression, anxiety, stress and poor psychological well-being
• Ameliorating hyperlipidemia: lower total cholesterol, higher HDL, and decreased blood triglycerides
• Improved cognitive function in the elderly
• Increased blood flow and neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hypothalamus
• Prevention of the loss of brain volume in the elderly
• Delay in decline of physiological reserve in organ systems with aging

I’m glad someone has stepped up and highlighted some of the benefits of exercise not gained from a pill. However, I am still waiting to see what side-effects (if any, and I bet there are some) these pills carry with them.

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