Turn Up Your Brown Fat Thermostat
Researchers interested in developing drugs to treat obesity have turned their attention to brown fat, hoping to strike gold. Here’s why this metabolically-active form of fat has gotten their interest, and how you can make sure your own brown fat is working optimally.
First, brown fat is unique. Its primary function is to generate heat, a process called thermogenesis. It does this by burning fatty acids and sugar, just as is done in cellular energy metabolism. But instead of producing energy, brown fat has an “uncoupling” protein that shunts the process to the pathway of heat production. Brown fat helps to