High-Altitude Metabolism Lets Mice Stay Slim and Healthy on a High-Fat Diet

Move to Denver.

Mice that are missing a protein involved in the response to low oxygen stay lean and healthy, even on a high-fat diet, a new study has found.

"They process fat differently," said Randall Johnson, professor of biology at the University of California, San Diego, who directed the research, which is published in the April 15 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism. While their normal littermates gain weight, develop fatty livers and become resistant to insulin on a high fat diet, just like overweight humans do, the mutant mice suffered none of these ill effects.

The protein, an enzyme called FIH, plays a key role in the physiological response to low levels of oxygen and could be a new target for drugs to help people who struggle with weight gain. "The enzyme is easily inhibited by drugs," Johnson said.

And live high off the land.