Scientists Discover How to Activate Calorie-Burning Brown FatFriday, 01 Aug 2014 03:32 PM Biologists at The Scripps Research Institute have identified a new “on-off switch” that activates a powerful calorie-burning process in brown fat cells.
The research, published online in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, sheds light on how brown fat —
which naturally raises metabolism and burns energy — stimulates
weight loss and may also protect against diabetes.
“This finding offers new possibilities for the therapeutic
activation of brown fat thermogenesis,” said lead researcher
Anastasia Kralli, an associate professor in the institute’s
Departments of Chemical Physiology and Cell Biology.
Most fat cells in the body are “white fat” — an unhealthy form
stored when we eat too much an exercise too little. But recently
discovered “brown fat” is a healthy form that burns calories to
generate body heat. Activating such cells has been a key focus of
researchers, who have discovered that low temperatures turn brown
fat on.
“It’s like revving the engines of a lot of parked cars,” said
researcher Marin Gantner, describing the process.
In the new study, Gantner, Kralli and their colleagues discovered a
way of activating brown fat after screening about 18,000 different
proteins. They found that one of them — known scientifically as
GADD45γ — helps to switch on brown fat thermogenesis, just as cold
temperatures do.
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