MU professor finds plant oil could help to combat obesity

Jim Perfield has scattered Post-it notes around his desk with scientific health questions he'd like to tackle. He's starting with obesity.

An MU assistant professor in the departments of nutrition and exercise physiology and food science, Perfield, 33, said he is trying to better understand the relationship between nutrition and obesity.

He has conducted research on a plant oil with the potential to reduce stomach fat by inhibiting an enzyme involved in the metabolism of fatty acids.

It could be used not only to achieve a tighter stomach but also to avoid a number of health issues associated with obesity, such as diabetes, heart disease and liver problems.

Sterculic oil was fed to rats as part of their diet, and Perfield found rats who consumed the oil ended up with less belly or "intra-abdominal" fat than rats who weren't given the oil.

Perfield and his lab conducted the experiments with a breed of Japanese rats prone to obesity...