Female mice: Activated enzyme produces hormone from Vitamin A, prompting visceral fat formation. Risks: cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease.
High fat diet: Women show higher enzyme levels than men. Removing enzyme in mice made females slender even on high fat diets. Potential obesity treatment.
Enzyme in fat cells burns fat; higher in overweight women's visceral fat. Estrogen inhibits it; linked to fat storage after menopause.
High-fat diets trigger enzyme Aldh1a1, leading to retinoic acid production and visceral fat development in mice. Enzyme removal protects females.
Female mice without enzymes burned fat by releasing it from fat cells. Retinoic acid production prevented visceral fat, linked to estrogen loss.
High-fat diet in female mice led to increased retinoic acid and nine-fold more visceral fat than male mice. Similar link may exist in humans.