Surprise! New research proves that fat can "burn"

Recently, scientists from the United States published a new research progress in the international academic journal cell metabolism online. They found for the first time in humans that white adipose tissue that stores energy can turn into energy-burning brown fat, consuming excess energy.

Given the global prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome, consuming energy without changing exercise levels may have significant therapeutic value. Increasing energy expenditure by browning white fat holds many hopes for the treatment of obesity and related diseases.

Earlier researchers at UTMB and other research groups have shown that brown fat exists in adults. Although the amount of brown fat tissue is relatively small, once activated, it can increase metabolic rates and lower blood sugar levels. In this latest study, researchers found that white adipose tissue in humans can also become brown-like adipose tissue, but this process requires a long-term and large-scale adrenalin release stress.

Burns are a unique model of long-term severe stress, with a significant increase in the release of epinephrine in the weeks after the injury occurs. The researchers used this "stress model" to conduct related research. They found 72 severely burned patients with burns of more than 50% to participate in the study, and selected 19 healthy people as the control group. The researchers collected white fat samples from patients at different time points after the burn, and then measured the metabolism of the samples, fat cell composition and the patient's resting metabolic rate. The results showed that similar to the results in animal models, Human white fat can also turn into brown fat.

The researchers found that white adipose tissue of burn patients gradually transformed into brown fat in terms of molecular and functional properties, indicating that human white fat can undergo gradual browning in response to burn injuries.

This study provides new evidence for the browning ability of human white fat, indicating that human white fat can also be transformed into brown fat under certain conditions. The researchers note that their next step is to identify the molecular mechanisms that cause this change and develop browning promotion drugs that mimic the burn-inducing effects to treat obesity and related metabolic syndromes.