Experts hope that 'fat controller' can help fight obesity

Published on Monday 16 March 2009 00:14

A "FAT controller" in the gut could be the key to preventing obesity, diabetes and heart disease, new research suggests.

The enzyme, MGAT2, determines whether dietary fat is used to generate energy or stored in the adipose tissue that causes stomachs to bulge.

Scientists found mice missing the gene for MGAT2 were able to feast on a high-fat diet while remaining slim and healthy. The fat they absorbed was burned up rather than stored.

Mice lacking MGAT2 were also protected against glucose intolerance – a precursor to diabetes – high cholesterol and "fatty liver" (a build up of fat in liver cells).

Enzymes are biological catalysts that are essential for numerous biological functions.

MGAT2 is one of three MGAT enzymes found in the intestines of both mice and humans. Cutting MGAT activity with drugs could be another way to combat obesity, the scientists believe.

Dr Robert Farese, from the University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues, reduced MGAT activity in mice by more than half by knocking out MGAT2. On a low fat diet, the mice developed in just the same way as normal animals. But on a 60 per cent fat diet, they gained much less weight.

After 16 weeks, the experimental mice weighed 40 per cent less than mice with functioning MGAT2 genes and the amount of fat they carried was more than 50 per cent lower.

The mice appeared to burn more of their fat up instead of depositing it in white adipose tissue, to be stored as a potential future energy source.

Reporting their findings in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers wrote: "

Our studies identify MGAT2 as a key determinant of energy metabolism in response to dietary fat and suggest that the inhibition of this enzyme may prove to be a useful strategy for treating obesity and other metabolic diseases."