Brown Fat News and Research

RSS

Social engagement transforms white fat into energy-burning brown fat

When mice are given a more engaging place to live with greater opportunities for social stimulation, some of their energy-storing white fat is transformed to energy-burning brown fat. As a result, the animals expend more energy and lose weight even as they eat more. The findings reported in the September Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, point to the powerful effect that animals' social and physical environments can have on their metabolisms.

8 Sep 2011

Brown fat may help curb obesity: Study

Australian scientists have pioneered a way to grow in the laboratory “brown fat” - a wondrous tissue that burns energy to generate heat - a breakthrough which they claim could be the latest weapon in the battle against obesity.

6 Sep 2011

Study finds increase in amount of brown fat among lean children

Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center and Children's Hospital Boston have shown that a type of "good" fat known as brown fat occurs in varying amounts in children - increasing until puberty and then declining -- and is most active in leaner children.

12 Aug 2011

Cortisol hormone controls bile acid recycling process

Nature sees to it that we do not have "too much choler" in our body. A delicately equilibrated regulation system ensures that there is always exactly the right amount of bile in the gallbladder. When we are hungry, our body releases a hormone called cortisol, which is a glucocorticoid. Hepatic cells receive this hormone signal through their cortisol receptors and respond by filling the gallbladder with bile in preparation of the imminent food intake.

8 Jul 2011

Potential new approach for treating obesity, type 2 diabetes

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have uncovered a pathway in mice that allows white fat - a contributor to obesity and type 2 diabetes - to burn calories in a way that's normally found in brown fat and muscle. The findings are in the July 6 edition of Cell Metabolism.

6 Jul 2011

Brown fat could help treat obesity and diabetes

A new study suggests that many adults have large amounts of brown fat, the "good" fat that burns calories to keep us warm, and that it may be possible to make even more of this tissue.

6 Jun 2011

Brown fat can treat obesity and diabetes

A new study suggests that many adults have large amounts of brown fat, the "good" fat that burns calories to keep us warm, and that it may be possible to make even more of this tissue.

6 Jun 2011

Breakthrough research offers hope for new obesity treatment

By knocking down the expression of a protein in rat brains known to stimulate eating, Johns Hopkins researchers say they not only reduced the animals' calorie intake and weight, but also transformed their fat into a type that burns off more energy. The finding could lead to better obesity treatments for humans, the scientists report.

4 May 2011

Genome is one more factor to blame for unwanted pounds

In addition to fast food, desk jobs, and inertia, there is one more thing to blame for unwanted pounds-our genome, which has apparently not caught up with the fact that we no longer live in the Stone Age.

16 Dec 2010

NIH awards Scripps Research $2.35M to study new treatment for obesity

The Scripps Research Institute has been awarded a $2.35 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study a new way of treating obesity as part of a national consortium with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

8 Dec 2010

Metabolic Solutions to present MSDC-0160 clinical candidate data at EASD conference

Metabolic Solutions Development Company (MSDC), will present research at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual conference in Stockholm, Sweden on Sept. 23, 2010. The research indicates that the company's clinical candidate, MSDC-0160, promotes the proliferation of stem cells that create brown fat, leading to the creation of more brown fat. The research was conducted in tissue cultures and mice.

17 Sep 2010

Researchers to discuss connection between brown fat and obesity

Researchers from all over the world will meet at Stockholm University this weekend, July 10 and 11, to discuss for the first time the connection in adult humans between brown fat and the risk of becoming obese.

7 Jul 2010

PI3 kinase boosts body heat, helps burn excess calories

New findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggest that an enzyme in the brain known as PI3 kinase might control the increased generation of body heat that helps burn off excess calories after eating a high-fat meal.

7 Jul 2010

POMC neurons suppress appetite, induce weight loss: Research

A protein found in cells throughout the body must be present in a specific set of neurons in the brain to prevent weight gain after chronic feeding on high-calorie meals, new findings from UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggest.

7 Jul 2010

Inflammation enzyme regulates production of brown fat tissue

Love handles, muffin tops and stomach tires - white fat tissue forms the typical curves in the notorious problem areas to store energy. Exactly the opposite happens in brown fat tissue: Instead of being stored, energy gets transformed into heat. To the dismay of many people, adults have only small amounts of this energy burner. By contrast, babies and animals in hibernation have lots of it in their bodies where it serves for heat regulation.

7 May 2010

Scientists present new research on adipocyte regulation

The ninth Colloque Médecine et Recherche of la Fondation Ipsen devoted to Endocrinology, held in Paris on December 4, 2009, has reviewed the recent progress in understanding the regulation of fat storage in the body and the consequences of the breakdown of this regulation.

14 Dec 2009

Bonn scientists discover a promising new approach to combat obesity

Brown adipose tissue is different from white fat pads. It contains loads of mitochondria, miniature power stations which among other things can 'burn' fat. In doing this, they normally generate a voltage similar to that of a battery, which then provides energy for cellular processes.

1 Dec 2009

Direct link between insulin and core body temperature discovered

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a direct link between insulin-a hormone long associated with metabolism and metabolic disorders such as diabetes-and core body temperature. While much research has been conducted on insulin since its discovery in the 1920s, this is the first time the hormone has been connected to the fundamental process of temperature regulation.

20 Nov 2009

Paper discussing the mechanism of the selective TGR5 agonist INT-777 published in Cell Metabolism

Bile acids are known to be key regulators of lipid, glucose and overall energy metabolism. Bile acid activation of the G protein-coupled receptor TGR5 has been shown to induce energy expenditure in muscle and brown fat, thereby conferring resistance to weight gain.

2 Sep 2009

Increased BAT function could prevent obesity

Exciting research into Brown adipose tissue (BAT) — brown fat, which is found in abundance in hibernating animals and newborn babies — could lead to new ways of preventing obesity.

24 Aug 2009