Nick Norwitz explains how Stanford researchers discovered that intense exercise triggers a metabolite called Lac-Phe, which reduced food intake by half in obese mice. AI is now being used to design drug versions of this compound, and early human trials show they're safe and tolerable.
Did AI just create the first exercise pill? Sort of, but the story behind it is actually so much cooler. In 2022, Stanford researchers discovered that exercise causes a molecule called Lac-Phe to spike in mice, racehorses, and humans, especially after intense exercise like sprinting. And when they gave this exercise molecule, Lac-Phe, to obese mice, the mice ate 50% less and lost weight, kind of like a GLP-1 2.0. And suddenly you have an interesting question. Could we turn the chemistry of exercise into a medicine? And that is where AI comes in. AI can sort through the complex soup of metabolism, identify and tweak key ingredients into drugs and supplements. And the results have just completed positive phase 1 human trials. I give more details in the deep dive link below if you want the nuances, but this isn't just a story about an exercise pill. It's a story about humans using AI to parse through the book of nature for better health.
