A new study has found evidence that a virus could be used to convince your brain you aren’t hungry. The study, published in Cell Metabolism, explains how researchers at Johns Hopkins University gave some rats a virus that inhibited hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY), a protein linked to appetite.

Those with the virus ate less and lost weight compared to those that were healthy. The researchers also found that when they gave the rats a high calorie diet, brown fat formed instead of the usual white fat. Brown fat is easier for the body to burn off, so even when the rats ate a lot of fat, it was easier to lose weight.

Knockdown of NPY Expression in the Dorsomedial Hypothalamus Promotes Development of Brown Adipocytes and Prevents Diet-Induced Obesity

[via io9]