Last Update: Wednesday, January 21, 2004. 9:21pm (AEDT)

Japanese study finds way to burn fat without exercise

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Japanese researchers claim to have found a way to get rid of excess fat without exercising, in a breakthrough which could lead to better treatment for obesity and diabetes.

When a cellular receptor in muscles known as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta, or PPARd, is chemically activated, it induces fat consumption in the muscle according to research led by Tokyo University professor of metabolic medicine Juro Sakai.

Receptors are proteins that translate a certain type of stimulus into nerve impulses.

Calling PPARd "a fat-burning sensor," professor Sakai, who leads a research group at the elite university's Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology, said the finding offers "the possibility" of a drug that could end obesity.

The drug could also be a treatment for diabetes as the PPARd activation also increased obese laboratory mice' sensitivity to insulin and help reduce their blood sugar levels, he told AFP.

"I believe the development will come in the not-so-distant future although we have to clear high hurdles for application in humans," Sakai said.

"Even if you do not exercise, metabolic activity accelerates, leading to weight loss," Professor Sakai said.

"Of course I do not intend to dismiss the notion of taking exercise as it is still the best way," to get rid of fat, he added.

The study found weight gain among mice given high-fat feed whose PPARd receptors had been activated was about 40 per cent less than untreated mice on the same diet.

The activation of PPARd caused no excess weight loss as it worked less dramatically on non-obese mice, Professor Sakai said.

He also said it does not trigger excessive eating.

--AFP