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A Silver Bullet For Obesity?

April 14, 2006

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There are plenty of diets and weight-loss pills that promise speedy results with little effort. Most are, to put it kindly, stretching the truth. But a team of researchers say a recent discovery may, in fact, make it a lot easier to attack obesity in the future.

A team led by a Canadian researcher has discovered a process by which a small protein acts directly within muscles to increase the body's metabolism to burn fat while simultaneously suppressing appetite. These findings suggest that the protein, known as the ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), could play a key role as a weight loss agent.

Until recently, most obesity research has focused on the regulation of appetite by hormones such as leptin. Research led by Dr. Greg Steinberg - a Target Obesity fellow funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Canadian Diabetes Association - demonstrates that CNTF protects against some of the effects of obesity.

It does this by activating an enzyme, skeletal muscle AMP kinase, which increases the ability of the body to metabolize fat and sugar. This work may lead to new strategies to reduce the risk of metabolic abnormalities associated with excess weight.

Steinberg's research shows how CNTF activates similar pathways to those stimulated by exercise.

"While hormones such as leptin were initially thought to be the cure-all for weight loss, they were later found to be ineffective in obesity due to the presence of proteins which inhibit their ability to stimulate fat metabolism," said Steinberg, a Canadian researcher at the University of Melbourne, Australia. "Fortunately, CNTF's effects on fat burning are maintained."

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