Here at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, there is no shortage of brilliant minds coming up with cutting edge ideas and technologies that really seem more like science fiction than science.
It's often said that Israel leads the world in the field of medicine and technology, but today I had the opportunity to learn about a specific discovery that seemed almost too good to be true - one which could have huge implications for people suffering from obesity and diabetes.
Yaakov Nahmias,the director of the Center for Bioengineering at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem spoke to a group of Canadians who are here for the 74th annual board of governors meetings, about the possible application of a flavonoid that is found in grapefruit that can program the liver to turn sugar into bile rather than fat.
He said that the idea is help a person's metabolism adapt to Western diets that are full of sugar and fat. Clinical trials have been completed and Nahmias said that they are currently looking to manufacture and market the food-based pill.
If and when this development hits the market, a person would be able to take a pill 30 to 40 minutes before a meal, and once it is absorbed by the body, it would work to convert the sugar in the food into bile, instead of being converted to fat.
Bring it on!
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