To lose weight without reducing foods:

Australian scientists may have discovered how to help people lose weight with­out cutting back on food, a breakthrough that could pave the way for fat-burning drugs.Researchers in Melbourne found that by manipulating fat cells in mice they could speed up their metabolisms.They found that when a particular enzyme, known as angiotensin converting en­zyme (ACE), was removed, mice were able to eat the same amount as other mice but burn more calories and therefore gain less weight.

Animals without the en­zyme were on average 20 per cent lighter than normal mice and had 50 to 60 per cent less body fat, senior researcher at the Howard Florey Institute Michael L. Mathai said. "It is very clear that they do have less body fat," he said. Dr. Mathai, a lecturer in nutrition at Victoria Univer­sity, said the slimmer mice al­so appeared to have less chance of developing diabetes because they processed sugar faster than normal mice. He said the research, being published on Tuesday in the U.S.-based Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sci­ences, could be used to devel­op drugs to assist weight loss. Drugs which impair the ac­tion of ACE already exist and are mostly used to combat high blood pressure. "The drugs are out there because they are used for hyperten­sion," he said. "So we know their safety and their toler­ability. What we don't know is whether or not they will work in humans. And we don't know whether it will work in all obese humans."
Dr. Mathai said it could be a question of finding the right dosage of hypertension medi­cation, or developing a new type of drug of the same class, to be used as weight-loss pills. "This might be one way in which you can increase me­tabolic rate in combination with managing nutrition to limit the intake of calories .
Dr. Mathai said the search, conducted at the 1 ward Florey Institl Victoria University, La Tn University, Deakin Unive ty, the Baker Institute and University of Melbourne, 1 yet to pinpoint why the netic manipulation led weight loss. "Because we leted the gene, the gem gone from the whole be that means that it is gl from all tissues including brain," he said. "And so we don't kr whether it's a direct effec the deficiency in the tis SUI whether it's something cc ing from the brain." - AFl