According to a report in the June issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press People with a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet may result in increased levels of a newly identified 'starvation hormone' produced by the liver. Two studies in the issue show that the hormone plays a critical role in the metabolic shift seen in animals after a period of fasting and in those fed an Atkins-like diet.

That shift is characterized by an increased reliance on fat stores as an alternative source of fuel when glucose, the bodys primary energy source, plummets. A team led by Eleftheria Maratos-Flier of Harvard University reports evidence that increased blood levels of liver-derived 'fibroblast growth factor 21' (FGF21) are required for fasted mice and mice on a carbohydrate-restricted diet to switch gears and begin burning fat.

Likewise, an accompanying study led by Steven Kliewer of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center found that FGF21 mobilizes fat in food-restricted animals and those with chronically elevated concentrations of the liver hormone.

'We think these findings would increase the desirability of a drug that [might work through this mechanism] to increase fat oxidation in the liver,' said Maratos-Flier, noting that the rise in obesity has contributed to a growing epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Mammals survive periods of nutrient deprivation by shifting from carbohydrates to so-called ketone bodies as a primary fuel source.

Ketone bodies are produced from fatty acids transferred from storage in fat tissue to the liver when carbohydrates are scarce. During prolonged fasts, ketone bodies can provide nearly half of baseline energy requirements and up to 70% of the energy required by the brain. Maratos-Fliers team examined changes in gene activity occurring in mice fed a high-fat, low-carb diet for 30 days. Their comprehensive genetic screen of the animals, which lost w
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