Eat Fat to Lose Fat

Fat consumption in the diet can lead to healthy blood levels of sugar and cholesterol, say researchers. Where fat comes from determines whether the body can metabolize it effectively. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that the "old" fat stored in the body’s peripheral tissues — that is, around the belly, thighs or bottom — can’t be burned efficiently unless "new" fat is eaten in the diet or made in the liver.

Fats taken in directly from the diet or generated from sugars spark a cascade of gene activity in the liver necessary for healthy blood levels of sugar, cholesterol, and other fats, according to scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine.
They suggest that old fat stores alone failed to set those critical metabolic pathways in motion.

“The findings in mice suggest that normal metabolism requires so-called "new" fat: further evidence that a healthy diet should include an adequate source of fat,” comments lead author Clay Semenkovich.

Taking the findings a step further, Semenkovich claims the results suggest that specially engineered fats might boost healthy liver metabolism, offering an alternative mechanism for fighting chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

The researchers inactivated fatty-acid synthase, an enzyme that generates new fat from carbohydrates, in the livers of mice.

When fed a diet completely lacking fat, the mice developed low blood sugar and fatty liver. Both conditions were reversed when the researchers restored fat to the animals’ diets.

Further study found that, in the absence of new fat, the mice exhibited a marked decline in the activity of genes critical for the metabolism of glucose, fatty acids, and cholesterol. These genes, say the researchers, are normally targeted by PPARa, a key energy management gene activated by fatty acids.

"In short, all fatty acids are not created equal, at least in the liver," added Semenkovich.

The findings suggest that products of fatty acid synthesis regulate glucose, lipid, and cholesterol metabolism by activating distinct pools of PPARa in the liver, say the researchers.

Chakravarthy MV, Pan Z, Zhu Y, Tordjman K, Schneider JG, Coleman T, Turk, J, Semenkovich, CF. "New" hepatic fat activates PPAR-alpha to maintain glucose, lipid and cholesterol homeostasis, Cell Metabolism; vol. 1, pp. 309-322, May. 2005.
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