Leech Dieting
Need to drop a few pounds FAST? Take a cue from the LEECH.This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Many leeches fast for several months until they encounter a good food supply. Then, they feast voraciously, swelling with blood, five to nine times their normal body size. Sounds divine. . . ! But this fattened state is risky. They can't MOVE, and are easy targets for predators. How do they survive? Researchers at Wellesley College took lab-reared medicinal leeches--used to stimulate circulation after reconstructive surgery--and fed them to their bursting point. After consuming up to five times their body weight in blood, the leeches were too engorged to move. But just an hour and a half later, way faster than expected, they were swimming again--at fifty percent normal speed! How? Well, the bloated leeches PEED OUT huge quantities of fluid. It concentrated the ingested blood into a thick cellular sludge. And they were instantly slimmed down. Soon to be seen as a magical new weight loss solution on Oprah! And perhaps even Dr. Phil.
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