Unlocking the Power of Brown Fat: New Research Reveals Potential Obesity Treatment

It is different from normal fat, the ‘sworn enemy’ of many, pain when it accumulates around the belly and thighs. Brown fat, also known as Bat (brown adipose tissue), is another type of fat present in our body and it has a special mission: it helps to burn calories from the foods that we eat by turning them into heat., which can be useful, especially when we are exposed to cold temperatures such as swimming in winter or cryotherapy. For a long time, scientists thought that only newborns and small animals like mice existed. But new research shows that many adults retain brown fat throughout their lives. AND Scientists are looking for a way to safely activate it using drugs that increase its potency to produce heat, and makes use of its effectiveness in burning calories. New work reveals a possible ‘switch’.

In detail, the research groups Jan-Wilhelm Kornfeld from the Adipocyte Signaling Center of the University of Southern Denmark / Novo Nordisk (Adiposign) and Dagmar Wachten from the University Hospital and the University of Bonn (Germany) have discovered that a mechanism or -previously known. a supplement that turns fat brown immediately after being activated. This limits its effectiveness as an obesity treatment, experts say. According to the first author of the study, Hande Topel, the key is a protein responsible for this closing process. It is called ‘AC3-AT’.

“Looking forward, we believe that finding ways to block AC3-AT may be a promising strategy for safely activate brown fat and address obesity and related health problems“, says the expert. The research team discovered the converting protein using advanced technology: “When we studied mice that were genetically deficient in AC3-AT, we found that they were protected from obesity , in part because their bodies were simply better at burning calories and were able to increase their metabolic rates by using brown fat.”

The scientists then fed two groups of mice a high-fat diet for 15 weeks, which made them obese. The group that removed the AC3-AT protein gained less weight than the control group and was metabolically healthier. “These mice also had increased lean mass compared to control mice,” said co-author Ronja Kardinal. “Because AC3-AT is found not only in mice, but also in humans and other species, there is a direct therapeutic effect on humans.”

Although the frequency of brown fat decreases with ageand while adults don’t have as much as newborns, Brown fat can still be activated, for example by exposure to cold, and it increases the rate of metabolism in people, which helps to stabilize weight loss in situations where calorie intake is (also) high.. The researchers also identified other unknown versions of proteins/genes, which respond to cold, similar to AC3-AT. “However – Wachten says – more research is needed to clarify the therapeutic effect of these other genetic products and their regulatory mechanisms” when brown fat is activated.

“Understanding this type of molecular mechanism not only sheds light on brown fat regulation, but also promises to reveal similar mechanisms in other cellular pathways. This knowledge can be instrumental in improving our understanding of various diseases and in the development of new treatments,” concluded Kornfeld.