Because we all need to do less exercise, of course.
Scientists at Nestle are constantly coming up with new products to try and make our lives better, like the peanut butter Kit Kat or any variety of food stuffed with other food that humans don't need to ingest, and now they're trying to help us out even further by eliminating exercise from our lives.
According to i100, they're looking to target a particular enzyme (the AMPK enzyme) that will make our metabolisms burn fat at a higher rate using a compound called C13. The scientists, who are working near Lake Geneva, Switzerland, are using fruit and vegetable extracts to produce a product that will mimic the effect that exercise has on our bodies and help us to burn fat.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Kei Sakomoto, one of the group working on the project, said that "the enzyme can help people who can't tolerate or continue rigorous exercise. Instead of 20 minutes of jogging or 40 minutes of cycling, it may help boost metabolism with moderate exercise like brisk walking. They'd get similar effects with less strain".
That would be of particular benefit to the elderly or the morbidly obese, so there is a commendable motivation behind it, but it's a long way in the future yet. The testing of the product won't begin for another few years, which means that either a drink or a bar (or whatever form this takes...suppository anyone?) is several years away.
To end on a particularly bleak note, the future of food lies in this type of crossover with the pharmaceuticals industry, at least according to Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst at Bank Vontobel AG in Zurich: "The border between food and pharma will narrow in the coming years. Companies with a diversified, healthy food portfolio will emerge as the winners". It must be some craic in the canteen at lunchtime at Nestle as they shovel down their tasteless, nutritionally balanced gruel made by robots in the back.
Via i100/Bloomberg. Main pic via Pedro Angelini/Flickr
