It is well known that obesity can lead to metabolic disorders and increase the risk of developing a variety of chronic diseases. However, people may not think that healthy fat people are indeed a real existence. In the past 20 years, scientific research has found that the health effects of obesity depend on the type of fat, and the proportion of brown fat is a key indicator. The latest research has found that brown fat is not only good for burning energy, but also helps the body prevent a variety of chronic diseases. So, where is brown fat sacred? How do you know how much brown fat you have in your body? Is there any way to increase the proportion of brown fat? Let's solve your doubts now.
Let's start with the basics. The fat cells in our human and other mammalian bodies are divided into 3 types, white, beige, and brown. White fat cells, with large lipid droplets, surrounded by a small amount of cytoplasm, the nucleus is scattered. Brown fat cells, polygonal in shape, with multiple small lipid droplets, concentrated in the nucleus. Beige fat cells are located in white adipose tissue, but under certain stimulus conditions, they acquire a phenotype like brown fat. White fat cells, which store energy in the form of triglycerides. Brown fat cells, rich in mitochondria, can convert chemical energy into heat when body temperature drops.
In the past, the scientific community once believed that brown fat only existed in infancy, and its main role was to participate in the regulation of body temperature. However, in 2009, everyone's views began to change. At that time, some scholars found through small-scale research that the neck and shoulders of adults, there is active brown fat, young age, low body mass index BMI, women, or often in a colder environment, glucose levels decreased, etc., are all related factors of brown fat activity, adult brown fat tissue, can burn calories, maintain body temperature when cold.
Academic attention to brown fat began in 2014. At that time, German scholars through specific surface labeling technology found that the brown adipose tissue activated by insulin can regulate satiety through the process of generating calories through eating. The specific process is the temperature receptor of the hypothalamus, which receives information about brown fat, causes the expression of anorexia neuropeptides, and produces a feeling of fullness. Scholars believe that since brown fat can regulate feeding behavior through the neural pathways of the brain, it is possible to use this feature to develop the ultimate method of weight loss.
In January 2021, the Rockefeller University research team published a paper in the Nature series of Medicine fascicles. After analyzing 130,000 PET-CT scans of 52,487 participants, it was found that nearly 10% of the people had brown fat, which was mainly distributed in the neck and above the collarbone, of which 13.8% of women had brown fat and 4.9% of men. The study found that people with brown fat had a lower incidence of chronic diseases, for example, the proportion of people with type 2 diabetes was 4.6%, the proportion of abnormal cholesterol was 18.9%, while the proportion of people without brown fat had type 2 diabetes and abnormal cholesterol, respectively, 9.5% and 22.2%.
Studies have found that brown fat can reduce the negative health effects of obesity, in other words, metabolically healthy fat people, which do exist. Although obesity can lead to a decrease in brown fat function, the presence of brown fat can still reduce the adverse effects of white fat. Currently, there is insufficient understanding of the mechanisms by which brown fat improves health. Scholars believe that the possible reason is the presence of brown fat, which affects the distribution of white fat, reduces the relative content of visceral or subcutaneous fat, and at the same time, brown fat consumes energy and helps lower blood sugar levels. In addition, brown fat may be an important endocrine organ that can transmit hormone signals to the target organ, thereby controlling blood pressure.
Since the saturated fatty acids and water content of brown fat and white fat are different, and the brown fat capillaries are dense, have a rich blood and oxygen supply, and are rich in mitochondria, therefore, using these physiological characteristics, brown fat can be located by magnetic resonance imaging method, and brown fat content and activity can be estimated. In recent years, scientists have also been actively looking for reliable ways to convert white fat into brown fat. Academics at Columbia University and the University of North Carolina, who have developed 1 skin microneedle that encapsulates the drug in nanoparticles, has successfully boosted metabolic levels in mouse experiments, a technique that promises to be the ultimate weight loss method and play a role in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. Maybe in the next 1 day, we will go to the hospital to ask the doctor for help, using a few microneedle patches, you can convert the excess white fat in the body into brown fat, weight loss, antifreeze, prevention of diabetes, in one fell swoop, awesome.
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Your health, my concern. Professionals observe health from a scientific and humanistic perspective, including a series of express reports, details, reminders, doubts, observations, opinions, historical stories, etc., with the content of the original works of the author Wei Hongling and the team. All forms of misappropriation and reproduction without permission will be refused, otherwise they will be prosecuted in accordance with relevant laws.