Researchers Turn White Fat to Energy-Burning Brown Fat in Mice

Certain cells in white fat can be changed into energy-burning brown fat, according to an animal study that might one day lead to new treatments for obesity, researchers report.

In tests on mice, a team at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston found that exposure to a protein called BMP-7 caused progenitor cells in subcutaneous (just beneath the skin) white fat tissue and skeletal muscle to turn into brown fat cells...