Fat That Fights Fat: How Brown and Beige Fat Boost Metabolism

Obesity is a worldwide problem, occurring due to excessive fat accumulation. But not all fats should be regarded as bad, and not every fat is meant to be shredded! (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Editorial: Unlocking Therapeutic Potential of Brown Fat

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Understanding Fat

When we think of body fat, we usually picture the stuff we try to lose. But our body has two main types of fat:

• White Fat (WAT): This is the energy-storing fat. Excessive white fat is associated with obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. It also secretes hormones, which influence metabolism, appetite, and the immune system.
• Brown Fat (BAT): This is the "good" fat. Brown fat burns energy and generates heat, which helps to maintain body temperature. In contrast to white fat, brown fat can actually help control blood sugar and fight obesity.

A recent study reveals that brown fat, once thought to exist only in infants, is also present in adults, especially in areas such as the neck and upper back.

Beige Fat: The Body's Hidden Fat Burner

Scientists have also discovered beige fat, a type of fat that can behave like brown fat when stimulated. Beige fat is found within white fat stores and can be activated by:

• Cold exposure
• Exercise
• Certain hormones and proteins in the body

Once activated, beige fat increases energy burning and helps improve the metabolism of blood sugar and fat. This discovery has opened up exciting new possibilities for the treatment of obesity and diabetes!

How Brown and Beige Fat Help the Body

Studies in mice and humans show that brown and beige fat play a crucial role in metabolism.

• Mice that lack brown fat are likely to gain weight and become insulin-resistant.
• Brown fat has the power to increase liver fat, fat burning, and blood sugar.
• Exposure to cold can activate brown fat in humans, which improves blood sugar regulation and increases calorie expenditure.

Researchers are also researching proteins such as PRDM16 that assist in converting white fat into beige fat and thereby making our fat stores more thermogenic, or heat-producing.

How Brown Fat Improves Metabolism

The process by which our body turns food into energy for movement, heating, and cell formation is called metabolism. Most of our fat is white fat, which stores energy and can accumulate during obesity. Brown fat, on the other hand, burns fat and sugar to generate heat, especially when we are exposed to cold. Scientists are now exploring the potential of brown fat in preventing obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic disorders.

Dr. Shingo Kajimura's research revealed that people with active brown fat had lower blood levels of BCAAs, a class of amino acids. Type 2 diabetes and obesity have been associated with elevated BCAA levels. These amino acids are carried into brown fat's energy-producing system by a protein known as SLC25A44, where they are converted into heat. Enhancing this process may one day help lower harmful BCAA levels and improve metabolic health (2^✔ ✔Trusted Source
How brown fat improves metabolism

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Can Brown Fat Help Us Lose Weight?

The idea of boosting brown fat to fight obesity has been around for decades, but turning it into a safe therapy for humans is still challenging:

• Certain medications can cause brown fat, but they can also have harmful side effects.
• Although exposure to cold can stimulate the brown fat, it is unclear how much and for how long this should be done.
• In order to increase calorie burning, decrease body fat, and improve blood sugar levels, new drugs and therapies that safely activate brown and beige fat are being researched.

Researchers are seeking improved techniques to assess brown and beige fat tissue without employing damaging radiation from existing imaging modalities.

Not all fat is your enemy. Brown and beige fat are powerful allies in burning calories, maintaining blood sugar, and even preventing obesity and diabetes. As research progresses, we may soon see therapies that safely activate our body’s natural fat-burning engines, making weight loss and metabolic health easier to achieve.

References:

1. Editorial: Unlocking Therapeutic Potential of Brown Fat - (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4771700/)
2. How brown fat improves metabolism - (https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-brown-fat-improves-metabolism)

Source-Medindia