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A red wine weight loss drug? We're not convinced

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Marie Claire News: Reduced Calorie Wine

The latest weight loss story to hit the headlines claims that a drug found in red wine can trick the body into burning off fat. Hard to believe? We know.

French scientists claim to have singled out the drug SRT 1720 – a chemical cousin of red wine extract resveratrol – and say it works by convincing the body it must burn off fat, even when on a high-fat diet.

In tests on mice, the scientists at the University of Louis Pasteur found the drug protected the animals from weight gain and insulin resistance.

If the science is true, it means humans taking the drug could feasibly eat a diet of burgers and fizzy drinks and drop any notions of exercising.

But, thankfully, obesity experts in Britain have quickly stepped in to say new weight loss drug treatments were needed but should be combined with healthy lifestyle changes too.

Professor Stephen Bloom of Imperial College London commented on the new research saying: 'This sounds interesting but is terribly early. We do need treatments for obesity, particularly as there are 1,000 deaths a week in the UK from obesity.'

According to government statistics, a quarter of men and a third of women in the UK are overweight and with the removal of anti-obesity pill rimonabant, otherwise known as Acomplia, there are now less options on the market for those wanting to shed the pounds.

Lead researcher Professor Johan Auwerx concluded: 'These results show that new synthetic SIRT1 activators can reproduce the positive metabolic effects that were previously demonstrated using resveratrol.' He added that the new drug would not be marketable for at least another seven years.