Just after you finish gorging on burger, french fries and cola, a protein produced by the liver sends a signal that fat is on the way, according to a study.

In the study on mice, researchers have found that the liver produces a protein called adropin, which rises in response to high-fat foods and falls after fasting.

Apparently the protein plays a role in governing the activity of other metabolic genes, especially those involved in the production of lipids from carbohydrates.

Previously the presence of the protein in obese animals was found to play a role in insulin response and in preventing the buildup of fat in the liver (a condition known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease), said the researchers.

"What is remarkable is that it appears that this factor is specifically regulated by the fat content of the diet," making it one of the first such factors ever discovered, said Andrew Butler of Pennington Biomedical Research Center, part of the Louisiana State University System.

In the wake of the latest findings, scientists believe that treatments designed to deliver adropin or otherwise boost its levels may hold promise in the war against obesity and associated metabolic disorders, including fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes.

Already the researchers have found that animals that become obese after eating a high-fat diet for a period of 3 months or due to a genetic mutation don't produce adropin normally.