Brown Fat, Which Burns Energy, Is Less Active in Obese Guys

A team of researchers utilized MRI scans to evaluate brown fat activity because, unlike CT or PET scans, they did not expose the subjects to ionizing radiation.

Until recently, brown fat research on children has been hampered by this possible safety concern. 

BAT takes up less space than white fat when it comes to storing energy. It acquires its color from an abundance of iron-rich mitochondria.

Brown fat produces heat without causing shivering.

Thermogenesis is the name for this process, and brown fat also burns calories during this.

Brown fat in most obese boys

(Photo : SULIANE FAVENNEC/AFP via Getty Images)

BAT, also known as brown fat, helps the body burn normal fat and is triggered by cold, according to senior author Katherine Morrison, but her study team detected lower BAT activity in obese boys in response to a cold stimulus.

McMaster University's Centre for Metabolism, Obesity, and Diabetes Research researchers used MRI images to evaluate BAT activity in 26 boys aged eight to ten.

The BAT tissue in the neck was investigated before and after one hour of exposure to a cold suit set at 18 degrees Celsius.

In the first study of its sort in youngsters, the patient sample included 13 boys with a normal BMI and the same number with obesity.

According to Morrison, a professor at the university's Department of Pediatrics and a physician at McMaster Children's Hospital, "if we can better understand BAT and how to mimic or promote its effects, it could give us novel medicines to manage obesity," via ScienceDaily.

The scientists have few interventions to help children and adolescents with obesity, except for helping families improve their nutrition, physical activity, and sleep.

Some teens are using new appetite-suppressing drugs.

Investigating BAT activity might lead to the development of a new class of medications that boost your energy expenditure.

Morrison noted, however, that it is still unclear whether a lack of BAT activity causes obesity or just hinders brown fat's capacity to burn calories.

She claimed that newborn newborns have a lot of BAT, but that it gradually declines during adolescence until it is primarily present exclusively in the neck area by maturity.

The cause of children's decreased brown fat levels is unclear.

Also Read: Eating White Bread Increases Obesity Risk

Brown Adipose Tissue

Brown fat, commonly known as brown adipose tissue, is a form of body fat that activates (turns on) when it becomes cold, as per Mayo Clinic.

Brown fat generates heat, which helps to keep your body warm in cold weather. It has a far higher concentration of mitochondria than white fat.

Brown fat's mitochondria are the "engines" that burn calories to generate heat.

It has piqued researchers' curiosity since it appears to be able to burn ordinary body fat for energy.

Exercise may also activate brown fat by stimulating hormones that activate it.

It's too early to tell whether brown fat's calorie-burning characteristics can be used to help people lose weight.

Meanwhile, make sure to incorporate physical exercise into your weight-loss strategies. Everyone has some "constitutive" brown fat, which is the type that is present at birth.

There's also a "recruitable" variant, which means it can transform to brown fat under the correct conditions.

This kind may be found in your muscles and white fat all throughout your body.

Certain medicines can cause white fat to become brown.

The brown fat formation can be aided by thiazolidinediones (TZDs), a kind of medication used to control insulin resistance.

However, TZD drugs are only given to diabetics and are not available to the general public.

Weight gain, fluid retention, and other negative effects are also linked to TZDs.

As a result, they can't be utilized as a quick fix for folks trying to add brown fat to their bodies.

Related article: Vitamin A Derivative Might Treat Diabetes Type-2 and Obesity: Researchers