| "A recently discovered hormone is instrumental in helping the body switch its fuel source from sugar to fat, new research from Dallas and Boston scientists suggests." "The findings could explain some aspects of the success of low-carb diets, provide new ideas for weight loss drugs, and one day help doctors recommend scientifically designed, personalized eating plans." "?The open question is about how this applies to humans,? said neuroscientist Randy Seeley, associate director of the Obesity Research Center at the University of Cincinnati, who was not involved in the research." "But, he added, ?this definitely puts [the hormone] on the map as potential targets that companies will begin studying.?" "The Dallas and Boston scientists studied a hormone called FGF21 that?s produced in the liver. Scientists already knew the hormone helped lower body weight, cholesterol and lipid levels in the blood. But they knew little about how it worked." "To find out, the Dallas scientists, led by Steven Kliewer and David Mangelsdorf of UT Southwestern Medical Center, studied the hormone in both fed and fasted mice. Fasting caused hormone levels to soar. Further experiments pinpointed the biochemical trigger for the hormone; the scientists also found that the hormone signals the liver to burn fat that had been stored elsewhere in the body." "The Boston scientists found that both fasting and a high-fat, low-carb diet, also ramp up levels of FGF21. At first, that may seem counterintuitive, said Dr. Eleftheria Maratos-Flier, the investigator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who led the Boston study. But it?s not." "?The common theme is that if you fast, you need to rely on stored fat,? she said. ?If you?re eating a low-carb diet that?s high in fat, you need to rely on fat.?" "One of the next steps, Dr. Maratos-Flier said, is to check whether the hormone also goes up in people eating a low-carb diet, or in people who are fasting. If all the findings in mice also apply to people, she said, the hormone could explain why people on low-carb diets don?t have extremely high levels of fat in their bloodstream. It could be, she said, because the hormone ensures that fat is burned." "The UT Southwestern scientists also studied mice that were genetically
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