fat storing protiens, implications for yogurt

[Guest guest]

this is quite interesting about the body using fat droplets to 'hide'

proteins

in a yogurt especially with homogensied cows milk protiens cna be

driven into the fat and thus hidden from the bacterial digestive

enzymes

and absorbed into the gut wall to release the 'hidden' antigens

acclerating inflamation

also interesting how essential fat is for this function of hiding and

releasing histones to fold dna

its easy to see how drinking straight homogenised or even

unhomogenised cows milk can cause issues

---------------------------

UCI scientists discover a new healthy role for fat

Fat droplets play protective role inside cells

Irvine, Calif., September 19, 2006

Too much body fat may be a bad thing, but there is increasing

evidence that too little fat also may have some surprisingly negative

consequences.

Researchers at UC Irvine have found that fat droplets – tiny balls of

fat that exist in most cells – appear to have an intriguing role to

play when it comes to regulating excess proteins in the body. In a

study with fruit flies, developmental biologist Gross and

colleagues found that these fat droplets served as storage depots for

a type of protein used primarily by the cell to bind DNA and organize

it in the nucleus. The fat keeps this extra protein out of the way

until it is needed so that it does not cause harm within the cell.

The findings imply that fat droplets could also serve as storage

warehouses for other excess proteins that might otherwise cause harm

if not sequestered. The study appears in the current issue of Current

Biology.

" We were surprised to find that these droplets appear to be a

mechanism for cleaning up excess proteins before they cause trouble, "

said Gross, associate professor of developmental and cell

biology. " Obviously, everything in the body should be balanced. There

is no doubt that huge amounts of fat tax your system in a lot of

ways. But there now appears to be growing evidence that fat is also

important for keeping us healthy. "

Researchers used fruit flies in their experiments because of strong

similarities between the fat droplets in the flies and in mammals.

They purified the droplets in fruit fly embryos and used mass

spectrometry to look at what, if any, proteins were associated with

the droplets. They were surprised to find histones, a protein that is

used by the cell to fold DNA within the nucleus. Even though histones

appear to serve no purpose outside the nucleus, the scientists found

that 50 percent of all the histones present in the cell were in the

fat droplets. Interestingly, the amount of histones in the droplets

dropped as the embryo moved from early development to later stages,

indicating that the histones moved from the droplets to the nucleus

as they were needed. In essence, the fat droplets acted as a

warehouse where the proteins could be stored until needed by the

nucleus of the cell.

Gross and his colleagues believe the droplets serve this purpose not

just for histones, but for other excess proteins, as well. This has

implications for how fat may be helping fight certain diseases when

too much of certain proteins are produced.

" In prion diseases, such as Mad Cow Disease, for example, proteins in

the brain are misshapen, " Gross said. " They become abnormal, clump

together and accumulate on brain tissue. Although we have no evidence

yet that fat droplets could help with this, prion diseases are one

area in which we can explore further to see if these droplets are

helping keep excess bothersome proteins out of the way. "

Gross emphasized that clinical trials would be needed to evaluate

whether storage of proteins on fat droplets is important for human

health.