Hot Fat or Fad?

Obesity is a condition that appears to be a never-ending uphill battle we're facing in the 21st century. Obesity is defined as an imbalance between what we eat for energy and how our body spends that consumed energy through activity. Over time we have seen a major uptick in weight gain within our communities both in adults and children. This weight gain is creating a lot of stored fat in our bodies that scientists are trying to study more closely.

Researchers are asking themselves: Do different types of fat exist within our body?

As it turns out, we have different types of adipose or fat tissue in our bodies. Let's look at these fat type categories a little bit more in depth:

• Brown Adipose Tissue:(BAT) brown adipocytes are the location where thermogenesis occurs in our body. Lots of mitochondria are active in brown adipocytes which generates heat. The thermogenesis that occurs in brown adipocytes is triggered possibly by meals, cold exposure as well as working out.

• Beige Adipose Tissue: have lineage from white adipose tissues however behave with thermogenesis like brown adipocytes to create heat. This process turns on when body temperature lowers.

• White Adipose Tissue:(WAT) white adipocytes have a responsibility to store and release these fat stores in our body. After fat storage regulation white adipocytes also function in our immune systems, in regenerative processes and in thermal functions.

Image Credit: Osmosis.org

Brown and beige fat are different from white adipocytes due to their nature of being able to use thermogenesis to create heat processes within the body. I think going forward using our brown or beige fat metrics can help assist in the fight against obesity. I think determining the brown adipocytes active in a person's body can help lead patients to fully understanding when that thermogenesis process is at work within them.

Imagine a world where we can scan weekly for brown adipocyte tissues to compare week after week. We would be able to see the immediate gain or heat burn of those tissues regularly. Providing weekly fat scans would be a challenge in our current world, however I am hopeful for changes. Maybe one day in the future these types of body scans will be more accessible. I know having an obese body weight is multi-factorial however, I truly believe that patients need access to a dietitian, to a physical therapist/trainer as well as a doctor to help further understand their exact condition.

References:

Dr. LeMieux PowerPoint slides from my class at TWU Fall 2023

Cypess AM, Lehman S, Williams G, et al. Identification and importance of brown adipose tissue in adult humans. N Engl J Med. 2009;360(15):1509-1517. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa0810780

Scheel AK, Espelage L, Chadt A. Many Ways to Rome: Exercise, Cold Exposure and Diet-Do They All Affect BAT Activation and WAT Browning in the Same Manner?. Int J Mol Sci. 2022;23(9):4759. Published 2022 Apr 26. doi:10.3390/ijms23094759