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Language: en
rather than just take off and walk at a
fast Cliff yes right how old are you now
well I'm 76 Randy tardy is typical of a
growing population of elderly people who
could someday benefit from a drug that
offers the same Advantage as exercise
does parts of my body and particularly
my muscles were not what they were 10
years ago 20 years ago or when I was a
teenager
and I realized that uh all of a sudden
uh I couldn't do some things as easily
as I could when I was much younger a lot
of people even when they're young don't
exercise and it's even harder as you get
older to develop that habit even elderly
people who do exercise are vulnerable to
muscle loss in some older people there
are bouts of illness or depression that
caused um almost a catastrophic decrease
in muscle function such as
hospitalization and and so often times
we see someone who is fully functional
going to a hospital and five or 6 days
later that come out of the hospital
hardly able to walk and this tells us
what her lean body mass is Bill Evans
Lab was the first to publish a study on
the effects of enforced bed rest in
older people to take part in the
experiment you have to be at least 60
and be willing to stay in bed for 10
days straight they do not want you
sitting up they give you two pillows you
can have two pillows and that is it
Patricia toy had been in bed for 9 days
and had 24 hours to go when we met her
just laying here and you realize you're
not getting up you're not exercising and
I'm thinking what's this going to do to
me at the end of my 10 days am I going
to still will I be able to get back to
the way I was at my age what we see is
that 10 days of bed rest is equivalent
to about 15 years of Aging she's losing
a lot of muscle she loses about a
kilogram more than 2 lb of muscle just
from her legs Patricia toy was also
losing something at a microscopic level
inside her muscles she showed very low
levels of mitochondria the tiny
structures within cells that produce
energy no exercise for 10 days had
caused her mitochondria count to plummet
could a drug reverse the effect in
laboratory mice kept inactive a drug
called iar is producing striking
results this is the animal that didn't
have any of the drug this is the animal
didn't have any drug and this is the
transformation that occurs simply
injecting a drug uh once a day for a
month is able to transform
muscle into this type of muscle that
looks as if it's been exercised that
whole time this looks like the muscle of
an athlete a pill that could give us
more energy and transform our muscles
maybe closer than than we think it's not
approved yet you can't prescribe it but
it's moving in that direction and that
creates some real hope that this can
turn into a actual human
study so do you think there will ever be
a day when drugs replace exercise
altogether I certainly hope not I I
don't think that it will I think the
effects of exercise are nothing short of
amazing but the hope is is that someone
who is old can use a drug to help them
become more active