ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI — The body's "bad fat" could be made to transform into brown fat by blocking specific proteins, researchers have found.
The majority of fat in the body is unhealthy "white" tissue found around the waist, hips and thighs, the Guardian reported.
Smaller amounts of "brown" fat located around the neck and shoulders are packed with mitochondria that generate heat by burning up excess calories.
Scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine found a way to turn white fat into "beige" fat, a healthier fat with some weight loss capabilities, in lab mice.
"Our research suggest that by targeting a protein in white fat, we can convert bad fat into a fat that fights obesity," Dr. Irfan Lodhi said.
Beige fat was discovered in adults in 2015 and found to behave like brown fat. Researchers found that by blocking the PexRAP protein in mice, white fat was transformed into calorie burning beige fat.
Lodhi's team says the next step is to find a safe way to block the PexRAP protein in humans.
