That's Fit

Taking 'the pill' is a common practice among young women these days. But for how long? Studies show that the amount of women who take oral contraceptives is declining for one very good reason: They're afraid it will cause them to gain weight. But is this a legitimate concern, or is it just an urban myth?

Chalk this one up to idle gossip, according to this article from The Telegraph. Scottish Professor Anna Glasier said: "We need to emphasize that [oral contraceptives] don't impair fertility, and the majority of them don't affect weight." All the same, many women do report weight gain and other changes when they go on the pill, but this is more likely due to lifestyle changes, according to Dietitian Juliette Kellow.

Sorry girls, guess you can't blame that extra love handle on the pill -- time to get to the gym.

Weight loss in a pill. It's the weight loss equivalent of the fountain of youth ... and just as elusive.

The major pharmaceutical company, Merck, has been in clinical trials for an anti-obesity drug called taranabant. But Merck recently announced that it was halting development of taranabant because of side effects. In certain doses, the drug was effective in helping patients lose significant amounts of weight. But there was an adverse side effect ... those taking the drug had an increased risk of psychiatric events. It's not clear from the article what exact psychiatric events were being experienced.

While the side effects of this pill are obviously extreme, it's not the first attempt at a weight loss pill that comes up short. While it would be nice to cure obesity with a quick fix, the old tried and true method of eating right and being more active is still the best bet.

I recently interviewed Erin Andrews, the very pretty and fit sideline reporter for ESPN. While we spoke, Erin told me her secret to staying really fit and trim. After gaining 10 pounds "eating like a guy" with the College GameDay crew, Erin was mortified to see her much larger bum showcased all over the internet.

I was like "Oh my God!" she said. "What happened to my butt?!!!" And with that ... Erin hired a trainer, changed the way she was eating and made sure she didn't try to keep up with her male coworkers at the bar. Can you imagine having the world document each and every pound you gained each day of your life?

I tend to think there's no real substitute for hard work, which makes me think that the new pill that might one day allow us to get fit while slouching on the couch or achieve elite athletic status without dripping a drop of sweat is just not all it's cracked up to be. I know, mice are running their little hearts out on treadmills as I write so that we won't ever need to, but still, I don't buy it. And I won't buy it, even if and when it becomes mainstreamed into our obese world.

If you haven't been tuning in to the news on this medical development, here's what's happening: U.S. researchers have developed two possible pills that build muscle, stamina, even burn fat. In tests, mice were able to run 44% further with a boost from these concoctions, suggesting humans may be able to do the same without prior training. The whole concept is controversial due to fears the pill could be misused in sports. Let's face it, when drugs are used to achieve something good, there's always a side effect that's not so good, whether it's unfair athletic gain or a long list of possible health complications.

The initial good researchers were hoping to achieve with the two drugs (labeled AICAR and GW1516) is the improvement of health for those with muscle-wasting diseases and those with diseases like diabetes, in need of physical activity. Now that it's clear anyone can benefit, well, anyone will likely be able to benefit. Says one researcher: "If you like exercise, you like the idea of getting 'more bang for your buck'," And: "If you don't like exercise, you love the idea of getting the benefits from a pill."

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Fitz, For about a year now, I've been doing exercises for my obliques. I've done them about three or four times each week and have done a variety of different exercises each workout. I'm also a naturally thin person who recently lost 10 pounds (so I'm really thin now) and I still have those awful love handles! How do I get rid of them? Emily

A. Ugh Emily! This is a question I've answered before, but since it's such a tremendous source of frustration for so many...I believe the topic of love handles is worth visiting again. You're actually the perfect example of how annoying they can be. You are a trim person who does a variety of abdominal exercises frequently. Most folks would believe that would be enough. Unfortunately for some people, it is not.

Love handles often have to do less with abdominal muscles and more with body type. For example. I'm a pretty trim chic, but when I have gained weight...it's all gone to my boobs, belly and thighs. In fact, I used to be 40 pounds heavier than I am today, but I've never had love handles. Some people get it all in their hips. Even if they achieve their ideal weight, some of those people are still stuck with dreaded 'saddlebags'. Your issue is the same. Great fitness. Lean body. One or two annoying pockets of fat.

It turns out that the price of a sugar pill may affect how well it performs on pain. Most people don't go shopping for placebo medication, but this new study does suggest one interesting conclusion. The perception of your meds being expensive treatments or "discount" pills will affect how your body reacts to the medication.

The placebo effect is an amazing thing to study. But who would have thought price would come into play as well? One reason researchers think this has such a profound result is that our bodies produce natural painkillers anyway. Apparently if we believe we're getting a better product, then we'll respond that way!

In fact, a Duke University clinical professor says it can help upwards of 50 percent for some people! This is in regards to migraines, but it's amazing to think we can materialize our own recovery like that. So should you be ditching discount drugs altogether? Obviously it's a matter of perspective, but real drugs are drugs. So listen to your doctor because in the end medical professionals will point you in the right direction.

Have you ever seen the movie Fantastic Voyage? In this old 1966 flick, a submarine containing a team of scientists is shrunken to a size so small that they can navigate the blood stream in a human being. Imagine being able to get a view like that by swallowing a camera the size of a pill. That's exactly what researchers are describing with a new design for an even easier endoscope.

Pill camera are not new, but traditionally they are so uncomfortable that patients need to be sedated beforehand. This new design allows someone to swallow the camera and beam pictures back out of the mouth so easily that it could be done in a shopping mall. That's exactly how one professor described it.

Not only is it easier to engulf, but the procedure is cheaper too. This is good news, because esophageal cancer is rapidly growing in the US. Survival rates of progressed conditions are not very good, which stems from the difficulty in diagnosing it early enough. It all goes back to patients not being easily screened for Barrett's esophagus, the condition preceding cancer. Hopefully now they can rapidly deploy this new mechanism to catch cases quicker. Who knows, maybe treatment via this little pill is next!

I've heard it before: The pill protects against ovarian cancer. And here the news presents itself again, this time in the form of a study revealing birth control pills can protect women from this disease even decades after they stop taking it.

British researchers have found that women taking the pill for 15 years cut their chances of developing ovarian cancer by half. The risk remained low more than 30 years later, although protection did weaken over time, according to study findings that were published Friday in The Lancet.

Overall, this is good news. Not only do you get to prevent pregnancy, you get to prevent ovarian cancer at the same time (long-term protection against endometrial cancer is a bonus too). But there's a downside to this hopeful news: The pill also slightly increases the chances of breast and cervical cancer. The risk seems to disappear once a woman stops taking the oral contraceptive but still, the gamble remains for as long as the medication is used.

Martha mentioned recently the potential that one day, we may need only a pill to maintain a healthy weight and live a long life. Wouldn't that be grand? Maybe. But I'm here to tell you we're a long way off from such a dream. That magic pill, likely to house the supplement Resveratrol, isn't quite ready for human use.

Resveratrol, a natural substance that comes from the skin of red grapes, has been shown in studies to keep mice thin, boost their energy, and extend their lives, all while protecting them from the dangers of an unhealthy diet. Resveratrol also helped mice maintain their motor skills as they aged. There have been no similar studies in humans.

Don't pop that cork and conduct your own studies just yet. You'd have to down 1,000 bottles of red wine to consume as much Resveratrol as each mouse was given. Until further notice, just stick with a handful of red grapes. The fiber, vitamin B, and manganese packed into this juicy fruit is good enough for now.

Wish you could get fit without having to do all that pesky working out? I doubt you're alone -- lots of people are looking for a 'quick fix', something that will help them get healthy without actually having to change the unhealthy habits that they're so fond of.

So here's some news that might interest you: Researchers are looking into how to give people the benefits of exercise in a pill form. The pill, which is a concentrated form of Resveratrol, can potentially give you the same metabolic boost that a workout can, and it's been shown to ward off diseases in mice much like exercise does.

But is replacing exercise with this 'pill' a good idea? I think not. Seriously people, what's wrong with getting off the couch and going to the gym every once and a while? You'll feel great if you do -- I promise. So stop with the excuses and do something good for your body -- the hard way.

Are you continually amazed by products advertised in magazines and on television that claim weight loss without exercise or dietary changes? These all come to sound ludicrous to the trained ear after a while, yet someone continues to buy into the stupidity year after year. That, or these advertisers love throwing money in the toilet.

The latest product, Akavar 20/50, promises the same old impossible dream: weight loss without exercise or no changes in diet. The ads go as far as saying consumers can eat all they want and not exercise -- but then can lose weight. Absolute rubbish.

Of course, there is always a 'study' with a dubious background and twisted stats that gives the makers of these products at least one leg to stand one. The FTC is hopefully staying busy with this latest weight loss pill nonsense.

The suspect the Anti-aging pill, if there was such a thing, would do quite well. After all, aging wouldn't be such a bad thing if it we didn't have to contend with wrinkles, failing health and all the other pitfalls of growing old. So here's promising news: Researchers are looking at ways to slow down the aging process in a pill form.

It's long been thought that a sustained low-calorie diet can fight aging, and according to this article, researchers are looking into how these positive effects can be put into pill form. It's thought that such a pill can also prevent a number of diseases all at once, which means it truly will be that miracle pill so many people are looking for.

Still, I think it will be a while before we can count on seeing such a product in the drug store. What do you think?

Just what we need, another weight loss pill. I really think less money needs to be spent on drugs and quick fixes and more on education and making healthy options more readily available. So I'm not upset that we may have to wait longer than expected for Lorcaserin, the latest weight loss medication from Arena Pharmaceuticals. The delay is to assure that heart side-effects (Lorcaserin is a descendant of Redux) aren't an issue and there won't be a repeat of past disasters.

Arena Pharmaceuticals is confident they've found and fixed the problem and that Lorcaserin is safe, but we've all heard that before.

According to one of the largest studies ever conducted, women who take the Pill dramatically lower their risk of developing cancer later in life.

Those women who took the Pill for less than 8 years saw a 12 percent decrease in their cancer risk. (Though it's worth noting that for the small percentage of women that took the pill for more than 8 years, their cancer risk actually increased.)

Subsequently, even though the Pill only reduces the risk of certain types of the disease -- such as bowel, rectal, uterine and ovarian cancers -- researchers still concluded that these cancer benefits far outweigh any potential health risks of oral contraceptives.

Good news for the more than 300 million women who have used the Pill since it was first introduced in the early 1960s.

There are lots of pill boxes and pill management systems out there, but this one now has the FDA's stamp of approval. Called EMMA (Electronic Medication Management System), it's a gadget about the size of a breadbox that's designed for older patients and those with complicated dosing schedules. It stores the medications, alerts when it's time to take them, and releases the correct pills into a tray when activated by the patient at the right time. Dosages and times can be accessed and adjusted online by the doctor, pharmacist, or other health care professional.

Neat!