The other, friendly fat
Brown fat is active in adult humans and could help keep them lean
In the ongoing battle of the bulge, maybe it is time to fight fat with fat.
Three new studies in the April 9 New England Journal of Medicine show that adult humans have brown fat, an energy-burning type of fat previously thought to be found only in animals and human babies.
White fat cells store energy in the form of lipids, but brown fat cells burn energy and give off heat. Mice and human babies have pads of brown fat on their backs that help maintain body temperature. Brown fat is activated by cold temperatures. Mice keep the fat throughout life, but brown fat disappears from babies’ backs and many researchers thought adult humans didn’t have brown fat. Or if they did, that it wasn’t important.