New Breakthrough May Mean Easier Weight Loss

Australian scientists believe they’ve discovered a way to help people lose weight without cutting calories, a discovery that could pave the way for fat-burning drugs.

Researchers at the Howard Florey Institute in Melbourne removed an enzyme in mice called Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE). Once this enzyme was removed, the mice were able to burn more calories than mice that had not had the enzyme removed.

Mice without the enzyme were on average 20% lighter than normal mice and had 50% to 60% less body fat. They also appeared to have less chance of developing diabetes because they processed sugar faster than normal mice.

Drugs which impair the ACE already exist on the market to treat hyper-tension and this new breakthrough could mean that similar drugs could be tweaked for use in fat-burning.