Drug turns fat into muscle

London - Scientists have found a way of turning fat into muscle.

The discovery was made during research into new drugs to tackle obesity.

And the drugs do it by turning “bad” white fat cells into “good” muscle-making brown ones.

Brown fat cells make people burn off more calories than they store.

“If we activate brown fat, we can eat more and not gain weight,” the Daily Star quoted London’s Professor Sir Stephen Bloom as saying.

But he added that it would make us sweat a lot and we would be hot and thin.

Prof Domenico Accili, from Columbia University in the US, said the process ‘‘is an appealing and therapeutic approach to staunching the obesity epidemic”.

Scientists are now trying to weed out the drugs’ unwanted side effects, which include bone loss, liver problems and hot flushes.