The Insurance Helpline
Totally Insured Group // 0800 377 7763

Adults with high levels of baby fat could be protected against diabetes and obesity, research suggests.

So-called brown fat, previously thought to exist only in babies and small children, actually burns calories and uses up energy, unlike normal white fat.

The study, conducted at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, also found that slimmer adults had higher levels of this brown fat than heavier ones.

Senior author Dr C Ronald Kahn said: "The fact that there is active brown fat in adult humans means this is now a new and important target for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes."

In the study of nearly 2,000 people, 7.5 per cent of women and over three per cent of men had substantial deposits of brown fat.

Although the incidence of brown fat among patients was relatively small, scientists believe this could be an underestimate as medical scans could miss smaller deposits.

Nearly one in four UK adults are currently obese and the cost of obesity-related illness to the NHS is an estimated £4.2 billion a year.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Obesity.