Converting 'bad' fat into 'good' raises hope for tackling obesity

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New Delhi: Researchers have managed to identify a way to convert 'bad' white fat into 'good' brown fat - a breakthrough they say could soon lead to better treatments for people suffering from obesity.

White fat stores calories in our hips, bellies and thighs, whereas, brown fat burns calories through a process that generates heat.

As per a report in Xinhuanet, researchers have found that blocking a specific protein in white fat triggered the fat to begin to brown into beige fat, a type of fat in between white and brown, thus causing the fat cells to heat up and burn calories.

"Our research suggests that by targeting a protein in white fat, we can convert bad fat into a type of fat that fights obesity," says Irfan Lodhi, an assistant professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Though beige fat it is almost like an intermediary between white fat and brown fat, it functions more like brown fat and can protect against obesity.

A series of experiments were conducted in mice, creating a genetic strain of animals that didn't make a key protein in their white fat cells.

Those mice had more beige fat and were leaner than their littermates, even when they ate the same amount of food as other mice. They also burned more calories.

"Mice normally have very low levels of the protein, called PexRAP, in their brown fat," he said.

"When we put the mice into a cold environment, levels of the protein also decreased in white fat, allowing that fat to behave more like brown fat. Cold induces brown and beige fats to burn stored energy and produce heat," he added.

Lodhi said if the PexRAP protein could be blocked safely in white fat cells in humans, people might have an easier time losing weight.

"The challenge will be finding safe ways to do that without causing a person to overheat or develop a fever, but drug developers now have a good target," he said.