BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhuanet) -- A type of fat that accumulates around the hips and bottom may actually offer some protection against diabetes, U.S. researchers said as quoted by media reports on Tuesday.

    "It was a surprising result," said Dr. Ronald Kahn of Harvard Medical School in Boston, whose study appears in the journal Cell Metabolism.

    Researchers have known for some time that fat that collects in the abdomen -- known as visceral fat -- can raise a person's risk of diabetes and heart disease, while people with pear-shaped bodies, with fat deposits in the buttocks and hips, are less prone to these disorders.

    Kahn's team is working to find the substances produced in subcutaneous fat that provide the benefit with the hope of developing a drug that might copy this effect. Although fat is known to produce several hormones, Kahn said none of the known hormones appeared to be involved in this process.

    "If we can capture those (substances), we might have an opportunity to convert them into drugs or use them as guides to help develop drugs," he said.

    "I think it's an important result because not only does it say that not all fat is bad, but I think it points to a special aspect of fat where we need to do more research," Kahn said.

    (Agencies)