Potentially promising news for those who’ve been fighting with their bodies over weight loss:

Monkeys given a new hormone-like compound lost a massive seven per cent of their body weight – in just one week.

Researchers are now hopeful that a drug can eventually be developed to tackle the “obesity epidemic” threatening the West.

The compound, called KB-141, works on the same principle as the hormone produced by the thyroid gland in the neck.

It is well known that giving this to patients can produce weight loss by boosting the metabolic rate – so that the body burns more calories.

Of course, there’s always a “but….” and in this case it’s the problems associated with increased heart rates that accompanies a spiked metabolism. Researchers are apparently looking at how to separate the two, with the hope of synthesizing the hormone to produce the benefit of weight loss without the potential health costs.