Researchers have found a gene regulator called microRNA-133, which induces adult muscle stem cells to turn into muscle fiber and brown fat.
Brown fat is a type of tissue that burns energy, regulates body temperature, and is associated with lower amounts of white fat in the body - the presence of large amounts of white fat constitutes obesity.
The researchers caution that the discovery does not guarantee obese individuals will lose weight if treated with microRNA-133, but rather that it is a "first step" toward learning more about how the gene regulator can work.
The research has been published in the journal Cell Metabolism.
