Common blood pressure drugs could help burn fat COMMON blood pressure drugs could be used to combat obesity, with Australian research suggesting they can help burn fat by increasing metabolic rate.

Scientists found that mice whose system regulating blood pressure was genetically blocked had 50 to 60 per cent less body fat than normal mice.

The mice were thinner around the stomach in particular, and did not get fatter as they aged.

Michael Mathai, of the Howard Florey Institute in Melbourne, said blood pressure medications such as ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor antagonists, which work by blocking this regulatory system, were already available. "It is possible the drugs could be adapted to become specific weight-loss drugs. It may be a question of the correct dosage," he said.

Good nutrition and an active lifestyle were vital for maintaining a healthy weight, but obesity was proving a difficult problem to overcome. "If we also have drugs that help to burn up the calories, that would be beneficial," Dr Mathai said.

His international team studied genetically modified mice that lacked angiotensin-converting enzyme, or ACE, which is part of the regulatory system. The ACE-deficient mice ate as much as normal ones, and were just as active, but had half the fat and weighed about 20 per cent less.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Source: Smh.com.au