A BREAKTHROUGH study has found that brown fat could increase calorie burning and lead to weight loss.
A new way in which brown fat – a form of energy-burning fat – can speed up the body’s metabolism has been identified.
The fat has a secret heat-making switch which could help to fight obesity.
It consumes cellular energy and produces heat which improves metabolic health, according to a study published in Nature and conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The key lies in an enzyme called ACOX2 which is found in small structures inside brown fat cells.
Even when the body’s main fat-burning process is shut off, this enzyme keeps working – burning certain fatty acids and releasing heat.
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When researchers boosted this enzyme in the mice that they studied, the animals burned more calories, stayed leaner and had better blood sugar control.
The human body can create these fatty acids but the molecules are also found in dairy products and produced by certain gut microbes.
This means that fatty acids – such as food, probiotic or nutraceutical – could enhance this heat-producing pathway and lead to weight loss.
Researchers are also looking into the development of drug compounds which could activate ACOX2 and enhance the metabolic process.
Foods containing fatty acids include fatty fish, like salmon or sardines, nuts, avocados, and even dark chocolate.
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‘Boosting this type of metabolic process could promote weight loss or control in a way that is perhaps easier to maintain over time than traditional diet and exercise’, says Dr. Irfan Lodhi who was involved in the research.
While the study was conducted in mice, researchers believe the newly discovered fat-burning pathway could also play a role in human metabolism.
Previous research has already shown that people with higher levels of the specific fatty acids used by ACOX2 tend to have lower body mass indexes (BMI).
Looking ahead, Lodhi aims to explore whether dietary changes or new therapies that boost these fatty acids, and activate ACOX2, could help people burn more calories and lose weight.
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