Big Booty

Scientistsfind something good about abigbottomTue May 6, 2008 6:15pm
EDTBy Julie SteenhuysenCHICAGO (Reuters) – A type offat thataccumulates
around the hips andbottom mayactuallyoffer someprotectionagainst
diabetes, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.They saidsubcutaneousfat, or
fat that collects under theskin, helped to improvesensitivity to the
hormoneinsulin,which regulatesbloodsugar.Mice that gottransplants of
this type offatdeep into their abdomenslost weight and theirfatcells
shrank,even though theymade nochanges in theirdiet oractivity
levels.“It was a surprising result,” said Dr. Ronald Kahn of Harvard
Medical School in Boston,whose study appears in the journal Cell
Metabolism.“Weactually found it had a beneficialeffect, and it was
especially truewhen youput itinside the abdomen,” Kahn said in a
telephoneinterview.Kahn said he started the study tofind outwhyfat
located indifferentparts of the body seems tohavedifferent risks of
metabolic disease such as diabetes.Researchershave known for sometime
thatfat that collects in the abdomen — known as visceralfat — can raise a
person’s risk of diabetes andheart disease,while people withpear-shaped
bodies, withfatdeposits in the buttocks and hips, are lessprone to these
disorders.Now it turns out thatsubcutaneousfat —fat found just under the
skin — may beactivelyprotecting peoplefrom metabolic disease.Kahn and
colleagues conducted a series of experiments on micewhere they
transplantedsubcutaneousfatfrom donor mice into the bellies and under
theskin of mice.Mice that gotsubcutaneousfattransplanted into their
bellies started toslim down after several weeks, and theyalso showed
improvedbloodsugar andinsulin levelscompared to mice that underwent a
shamprocedure.“What we found was thatwhen weput it in either place,
there was some improvement in metabolism,” Kahn said.“Ithink it’s an
important resultbecause not onlydoes it say that not allfat is bad, but
Ithink itpoints to aspecial aspect offatwhere we need to domore
research,” he said.Kahn’s team is working tofind thesubstancesproduced
insubcutaneousfat thatprovide thebenefit with the hope of developing a
drug that might copy thiseffect. Althoughfat is known toproduce several
hormones, Kahn said none of the known hormones appearedto be involved in
thisprocess.“If we cancapture those (substances), we mighthave an
opportunity to convert them into drugs or use them asguides to help
develop drugs,” he said.