A protein may help promote 'good fat'

BOSTON, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have identified a protein they say may promote "good" brown fat.

The laboratory studies in mice, published in Nature, suggest a bone-inducing protein called BMP-7 may also give rise to mature brown fat cells.

"White fat cells are the 'conventional' form of fat designed to store energy. By contrast, the main role of brown fat is to burn calories by generating heat," study lead author Yu-Hua Tseng of the Joslin Diabetes Centers at the Harvard Medical School in Boston explains in a statement. "Brown fat cells largely disappear by adulthood in humans, but their precursors still remain in the body."

While diet and exercise are still the best approaches to weight reduction, Tseng says these approaches often have little effect for people who are genetically predisposed to obesity.

Tseng says learning "more about the controls of brown fat development, medical interventions to increase energy expenditure by brown fat inducing agents such as BMP-7 may provide hope to these individuals in losing weight and preventing the metabolic disorders associated with obesity."