Secret to being thin hidden in your beer

Beer may contain a vitamin which can fight obesity and improve muscle strength, scientists claim.

Beer may contain a vitamin which can fight obesity and improve muscle strength, scientists claim.

Published Jun 11, 2012

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London - If you were planning on having a quick pint tonight, then this will be welcome news.

Beer may contain a vitamin which can fight obesity and improve muscle strength, scientists claim.

The “miracle molecule’” which has been found in milk and may also be present in beer and some foods, has no side effects and could even lengthen lifespan, they say.

The snag is that the molecule, called nicotinamide riboside (NR), is extremely small, difficult to find and expensive to synthesise.

Johnan Auwerx, head of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland, said experiments using mice revealed the molecule’s potential.

Working with Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, his team found mice on a high-fat diet that were fed NR gained significantly less weight – 60 percent – than mice eating the same diet without NR supplements.

And none of the NR-treated mice had indications that they were developing diabetes, unlike the untreated mice.

Mice which were fed NR supplements over a ten-week period had better endurance performance than those who were not. They were also in better shape.

The molecule works by becoming trapped in cells where it boosts the metabolism, much like resveratrol, which is found in wine. - Daily Mail

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