According to the magazine Cell Metabolism published today, French researchers claim to have discovered a drug that “tricks the body into burning off fat,” regardless of the body’s diet. A team at the University of Louis Pasteur successfully tested the drug, called SRT1720, on mice, according to the report. This medicine is implicated in anti-aging effects of a diet low in calories, causing a strengthening of oxidative metabolism in muscle, liver and adipose tissue.

So far, the experimental drug has only been tested in mice. But when those mice got a high daily dose of the drug for three months, they didn't gain weight on a high-fat diet. A lower dose of the drug wasn't as effective. The mice were given doses of the drug from 100 to 500 milligrams per kilogram of weight per day. The mice were treated with low doses of the synthetic drug, called SRT1720, showed partial protection against the weight gain after ten weeks of treatment. However, in higher doses, the drug completely prevented weight gain, improved glucose tolerance and blood insulin sensitivity, keys in the onset of diabetes, and get the mice run twice distance than the rest. The levels of triglycerides and cholesterol were also lower in these cases.

Moreover the mice didn't show any weird behavior such as picky eating, excessive activity, or gut problems while taking the drug, the study shows. "We are activating the same enzymes that are activated when people go to the gym," Peter Elliott, an exec at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, the Glaxo arm that developed the drug, told Reuters.

The study was led by Professor Johan Auwerx of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and the experimental new drug, SRT1720, is made by Sirtris, a company based in Cambridge, Massachusets that was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline earlier this year.

The main element is Resevatrol, an ingredient in red grapes and wine, also acts on SIRT1 by increasing sensitivity to insulin and lowering levels of glucose in the blood that are also anti-diabetic effects also seen in the mice that were given the experimental drug. But it took less SIRT1720 to achieve the same results.

The drug works by activating one of several enzymes that regulate the function of mitochondria, cellular power generators that convert glucose into chemical energy. The wearing down of these generators has been linked to heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, cancer and other age-related afflictions. So this drug could be regarded as a miracle.

However the study had not yet looked at medium to long-term safety of the drug in mice, let alone humans. It was also unclear if it came with side-effects, such as heating up the animal. It is important to be aware of any eventual risks as the drug could eventually be approved for treating diabetes, obesity, and other disorders.