Can food factors provide Us with the similar beneficial effects of physical exercise?

Metabolic diseases have got global health issues. Physical exercise as well as diet therapy is a potent strategy for fighting against the diseases. However, it is often difficult to continue to keep exercise regularly enough to take sufficient effect. Thus, good substitutes for the therapeutic exercise would be greatly beneficial. Recent studies have suggested that 5'AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) play important roles in the metabolic alterations by muscle contraction. The notion that AMPK mediates broad effects of physical exercise has been widely accepted, though it has been challenged by observations in some genetically AMPK-disrupted animals. We have demonstrated metabolome-wide significance of AMPK activation in contracting muscles. Thus, pharmacological activation of AMPK can be a promising way to obtain similar effects of the exercise. The relevance of AMPK will be introduced, and possible strategies for obtaining similar effects to the exercise from food factors will be discussed in the current review.