WASHINGTON: Calorie-burning fat may seem like science fiction, but a study released on Wednesday found that adults have small blobs of metabolism-regulating brown fat previously believed to exist only in babies and children.

This "good" fat, researchers said, unlike white fat that makes up most body fat, is active in burning calories and using energy.

The study, published in yesterday's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, showed that brown fat subsisted in adult humans and demonstrated, for the first time, that it is metabolically active.