According to a new study, a novel way to treat obesity which does not involve weight loss drugs, crash diets, or skipping meals – works wonderfully without any side effects on those really needing it. The report, published in the journal Nature Communications, says removing a single gene from fat tissue tricks your body into burning more calories.

PHD2 is a gene that plays a key role in regulating brown fat – also known as adipose tissue, which is a type of body fat that keeps you warm when you get cold. Brown fat also stores energy and helps your body burn calories.

According to scientists from NTU’s School of Science and Technology, removing this gene from brown fat tissue caused the body’s metabolism - a process that converts nutrients from food into energy - to speed up.

Results of the study conducted on mice showed the animals without the gene burned 60 per cent more calories than those with the PHD2 gene – even after eating a lot more. Researchers say the findings can pave the way for treating not just new ways of obesity, but also curing type 2 diabetes, and life-threatening conditions and diseases associated with being overweight.

“Reducing the gene’s effect may break the link between being overweight and type 2 diabetes, meaning our findings could be important for people with an increased risk of this disease,” Dr. Zoi Michailidou, lead study researcher wrote in the paper.

Dr. Michailidou added that even though it is too early, and more research would be required to be conducted in humans, targeting the PHD2 gene “could open up new strategies to sustain weight loss by increasing metabolism and without the need for continuous dieting,” she said.

According to scientists, being at high altitudes like mountainous regions, oxygen levels are lower than sea level so, they can help increase a person’s metabolism. Taking that into account, the team began to find out if they could mimic this high-altitude effect by removing the PHD2 gene, which acts as what the researchers describe as “an oxygen sensor for the body”, from brown fat tissue.

After tests on mice showed those without the gene burned significantly more fat and calories, the team then analyzed blood from more than 5,000 people to better understand the effect of the PHD2 gene. They found the levels of the PHD2 protein, is encoded by the PHD2 gene – were higher in those who carried more belly fat.

“Brown fat is a special kind of calorie-burning tissue more active in humans when they are exposed to cold temperatures. By removing a protein that lets fat cells sense oxygen, we have been able to show that calorie burning could happen in mice and human cells even when they are not exposed to cold temperatures,” said Dr Michailidou.

While popular weight loss drugs like Ozempic are easily available to tackle obesity, scientists say they cannot work for all people so, alternatives are needed to complement lifestyle approaches.

The team also discovered the gene was associated with an increased risk of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and thyroid disorders.

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