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Understanding "Good" Fat May Help Fight Obesity

A recent understanding of the origins of brown fat cells - the "good" kind of fat that burns energy and keeps us warm - may lead to the discovery of new treatments for obesity. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston said they used a single molecular switch to turn immature muscle cells into brown fat cells in the lab. This suggests that brown fat may be more akin to muscle cells than traditional white fat cells. Another team from the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston found a protein important for bone growth helped promote the development of fat tissues in mice. Both teams claim their new findings lend understanding about the origins of brown fat, which releases energy, in contrast to white fat, which only stores energy.

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Artificial Sweeteners Could Contribute to Weight Gain Stories

Artificial Sweeteners Could Contribute to Weight Gain

The idea behind artificial sweeteners is simple: add the flavor of sugar without the calories of sugar. Sounds great, right? Well, a recent study now finds that eating artificial sweeteners could make people put on more weight when compared to normal sugar. Researchers conducted experiments on lab rats who were placed into two groups. One group was given yogurt sweetened with glucose, or the equivalent to table sugar. The other group was given yogurt sweetened with zero-calorie saccharin. The rats that had the saccharin-sweetened yogurt consumed more calories, put on more weight, gained more body fat, and did not cut back on their calorie consumption in the long term.

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Low Carb Diet For Diabetes Stories

Low Carb Diet For Diabetes

Have you ever wondered how low carb but higher fat diets actually work? Surprisingly, one answer may lie in your liver. Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have identified a liver hormone known as FGF21 which is required to oxidize fatty acids - and thereby burn calories. According to the senior author of the study, "When the diet is extremely low in starches and sugars, blood sugar levels drop substantially so that the muscles and brain have to turn to alternative fuels... consequently, fatty acids are broken down in the liver and converted to ketones, which then serve as a major fuel source."

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Are Certain Thin People Actually Obese? Stories

Are Certain Thin People Actually Obese?

Research suggests that thin people may not be as healthy as they appear. Medical researchers at Imperial College, London, have shown that people with low or average body weight may not be healthy on the inside. These doctors believe that internal fat surrounding various vital organs could be as detrimental to health as is the more obvious (subcutaneous) fat found directly under the skin. This internal lining of fat is invisible to the naked eye but is detected by MRI machines that create "fat maps" displaying where concentrations of this internal fat are stored.

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Potential Exercise Pill Stories

Potential Exercise Pill

A new study conducted on mice reveals the potential for a drug that can give the same results as exercise. At the Salk Institute, Dr. Ronald Evans has engineered a drug for mice that chemically stimulates a key receptor known as peroxisome profliferators-activated receptor that controls the ability of cells to burn fat. The PPARd activates a set of genes that coordinates fatty acid oxidation and energy uncoupling which are the same cellular processes that occur from exercise.

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