Can A 'Marijuana' Diet Pill Keep You Skinny?

Have you always dreamt of eating anything you wanted but still losing weight? According to the scientific journal Cell Metabolism, there may soon be a pill that will allow you to stuff your face with all the cake or bacon you can get your hards on without gaining a pound. The Week Magazine reported on Cell Metabolism's discovery:

"...certain brain chemicals with characteristics similar to marijuana might play a key factor in helping you shed pounds without any exercise...It's an endocannabinoid compound called 2-AG. Endocannabinoids, as the name might suggest, share a similar molecular structure to the active ingredients in cannabis. Typically, high levels of 2-AG are found in the brains of mammals, and previous studies suggested that these compounds may make the body crave fat. Scientists think endocannabinoids play a key role in regulating the body's metabolism, or the energy it makes from food."

Researchers tested the theory on mice by altering the brain cells in mice to have low levels of 2-AG. The altered mice did not gain weight despite a a high-fat diet.

It's expected to take close to a decade until the pill, which will lower the levels of 2-AG in humans, is made and the FDA approves it, but if this actually works, we can all really spend the rest of our lives sitting on our couches just like we always wanted. Here's to hoping. It sounds glorious.

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