Keeping the extra pounds at bay may soon be as easy as popping a pill, suggests a new study, which found that a new drug may protect against obesity and enhance endurance during exercise by burning more fat.

Researchers found that between 100 and 500 mg per day of the drug, known as SRT1720, kept mice from becoming obese even when they were fed a high-fat diet.

As well, the mice that were given the new drug were able to run about twice the distance during an endurance test compared to mice who did not receive the drug.

The treated mice also had lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which are markers of heart disease risk, as well as lower insulin and fasting blood glucose levels, which are indicators of diabetes risk.

The findings are published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Researchers have become increasingly interested in exploring how a drug might offer protection against obesity.

Recent research has shown that reducing calorie consumption by about 20 per cent can both improve endurance and protect against diet-induced obesity.

Researchers have also found that large doses of resveratrol, a substance found in red wine, can have the same effect.

Scientists believe that in both cases, an enzyme called SIRT1 is activated. Among other tasks, SIRT1 regulates the number and efficiency of mitrochondria, which provide the body's cells with energy.

Therefore, researchers from Sirtris Pharmaceuticals decided to test whether a drug could activate SIRT1 and mimic the effects of a healthy diet and high doses of resveratrol in the body.

They found that stimulating SIRT1 sends the body into an accelerated fat-burning mode, which the body normally only uses when its energy stores are low, such as when its being fed a low-calorie diet.

"These results show that new synthetic SIRT1 activators can reproduce the positive metabolic effects that were previously demonstrated using resveratrol, a naturally occurring SIRT1 activator found in red wine," lead study author Dr. Johan Auwerx, a professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, said in a statement.

"But unlike resveratrol, these new chemical entities target only the SIRT1 pathway, making them more selective and potent for achieving these metabolic benefits."

The good news is that the researchers did not report any serious side effects. However, they will conduct further studies to confirm these findings.

The bad news is there is no indication when the drug might arrive on store shelves.