Balancing good fat and bad fat
New year's resolution number one: burn more fat. It's all bad if I want to look good, right? Not necessarily, as the body stores "good" brown fat in addition to the bad white fat that people are trying to shed through diet and exercise. An imbalance between the brown and white fat is what makes people obese, a product of more than just overeating and lack of exercise, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The study targeted a specific protein – p62 – may be to blame for creating the imbalance between fats, as the absence of p62 in fat tissue causes to body to burn more brown fat and favor white fat. When p62 is missing, the body is making lots of fat but not burning energy, instead storing energy, which could lead to obesity.
This research could provide new insight into the fight against obesity, as targeting the p62 deficiency could lead to new therapies in the future.