The path to fat yields endurance

U.S. researchers say staying lean on a high-fat diet is possible, but at the cost of reduced endurance.

Study senior author Dr. Leonid Zingman of the University of Iowa in Iowa City says mouse studies show the molecular pathway leading to fat deposition -- the ATP-sensitive potassium channel -- is also key to survival and stress adaptation.

Zingman and colleagues found mice genetically altered to bypass this pathway did in fact, develop obesity resistance.

"Indeed, disrupting the channel made the mice burn more calories even while at rest and also made them less fuel efficient when exercising, and therefore less capable of maintaining physical performance," Zingman says in a statement...