Exercise is an essential element of a healthy lifestyle. It's particularly important for controlling your blood sugar and normalizing your insulin levels, which is critical if you want to normalize your weight and maintain optimal health.

    Based on the principle of following ancestral practices, it is important to understand that our genetics and biochemistry are optimized for consistent regular movement, and failure to provide that will result in disability and disease.

    When done correctly, exercise can oftentimes act as a substitute for some of the most common drugs used for things like diabetes, heart disease, and depression. Unfortunately, a side effect of our modern quick fix culture is that many still wish for a magic pill or elixir, and Nestlé now claims to be able to bottle the benefits of exercise…¹

    As reported by the Huffington Post:²

        “Yes, scientists at Nestlé, the largest food company in the world, published their work in the journal Chemistry and Biology³ on Nov. 24. Kei Sakamoto's research team in Switzerland demonstrated how a compound (C13) could activate a master metabolic control switch, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK).

        AMPK activation inhibits fat production in the liver and increases the body's capacity to burn sugar.

        This is good news for the elderly and those with disabilities that preclude the possibility of physical activity. Of course the much larger potential market of simply sedentary people represents the sweet spot for such a product.”

The Allure of ‘Exercise in a Bottle’

    Nutritional supplements can serve an important function by helping to correct specific nutritional imbalances or deficiencies, but trust me—they will never be able to replace physical exercise.

    Nestlé claims the compound C13 increases metabolism by interacting with an enzyme that controls the metabolic process. This enzyme, AMPK, is naturally activated by exercise. AMPK stimulates the burning of fat by producing mitochondria, the power sources of cells.

    The skeletal muscles of athletes have been found to contain a much higher number of mitochondria, which is likely linked to AMPK activity. AMPK declines with age, which is why you tend to lose muscle as you get older—unless you keep challenging them.

    But what else might compound C13 interact with? The truth is, weight loss supplements and metabolic boosters in particular are notorious for creating potentially dangerous side effects.

    The intellectual arrogance of this approach is only exceeded by Nestle’s egregious attempts at profits with disregard to health. It reminds me of their efforts to stop women in third world countries from breastfeeding so they could sell them vastly inferior synthetic formula that they made.

    Clearly, a great many people struggle with weight issues. But to think that an “exercise potion” will be able to save you from the hassle of having to break a sweat is nothing short of delusional. There is simply no way a supplement will be able to stimulate your muscle to provide the complex physiology they need to provide you with optimal health.