Obese create common antioxidant in excess

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. medical researchers suggest a discovery may allow some obese people to avoid common obesity-related metabolic problems without actually losing weight.

Ancha Baranova of George Mason University in Washington said that obese people make a common antioxidant, melanin, in excess. Even more promising is that some of the antioxidant drugs that can mimic the melanin effect are U.S. government approved and available, Baranova said.

The researchers made the unexpected discovery -- fat cells in obese people produce melanin in excess -- when they were comparing fat cells of obese people to those of people with normal weight. After the comparison, they found that the gene responsible for making melanin was working in "overdrive" in the fat cells of obese people.

"Most scientific efforts aim at making obese individuals lose weight, but this has proven difficult," Baranova said in a statement. "Hopefully, this study will lead to a drug that keeps obese individuals healthy, reducing the cost-burden to society as well as some of the stigma associated with this condition."

The findings are scheduled to appear in the March 2009 print issue of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology journal.