UT Southwestern Medical Center researches have been interpreting how new fat cells are created. There are two kinds of body fat. White fat which acts as storage and padding around organs and brown fat. Brown fat has been a hot research topic because it burns extra Calories. By figuring out how to make more brown fat we can have an additional tool to fighting obesity.
"Much of the current excitement in the obesity field stems from recent observations highlighting that, even as adults, we have the ability to generate brown fat cells in response to cold exposure. Unlike white fat cells that mostly just store fat, brown adipocytes keep us warm by burning fat at a high rate," said Dr. Philipp Scherer, Director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research at UT Southwestern.
 |
Image Source:
|
Dr. Scherer reports that although we thought that brown fat was present in infants and mice, current research “points to the observation that adults also generate these cells when exposed to cold…The major finding is that the cold-induced adaptation and appearance of brown fat cells involves the generation of completely new cells rather than a retooling of pre-existing white fat cells into brown fat cells in response to the cold (Science Daily, 2013).”
The research team now looks to take these findings and interpret them into clinical use.
Original Article From ScienceDaily:
Gina Lesako RD, LD is the SCAN blog coordinator (those interested in writing for SCAN can email her directly at glesako@gmail.com, resolve to increase your online exposure).
She can also be found blogging at http://dietitianseatchocolatetoo.blogspot.com/). Find her on SCAN: http://www.scandpg.org/dietitians/15720/
