Although he took no measurements that would indicate the mice had increase energy, Wakil reports the mice without the ACC2 enzyme are perfectly healthy and are able to reproduce. Wakil's team is now researching compounds that could be placed in a pill to block the expression or secretion of ACC2. The pill would first be tried in mice, then in primates such as monkeys. Wakil expects such a pill could be available to people within five years if the research goes according to plan. Under primitive conditions, the human body has a reason for activating an enzyme which limits fat burning and increases fat stores.
Fat stores provide energy when meals are hard to come by or are few and far between.
Today, however, obesity in the United States has reached epidemic levels. The Centers for Disease Control estimates since the early 1980s, the condition has risen from 14 percent of the U.S. population to 26 percent. And since obesity can lead to serious medical problems including diabetes and heart disease, much research has gone into looking for medical solutions to the problem. Other findings in mice have included locating the gene responsible for creating fat storage cells and detecting the protein that signals a cell to become muscle or fat. Scientists hope that by understanding how people make fat, burn fat and crave calories, they may be able to develop new pharmaceuticals that can target these mechanisms.