Fat acceptance... the brown kind

In today's health and fitness crazed climate, fat has become a dirty word. With research linking the top killers in the US to obesity, it’s understandable why fat has become hysterically villainized. Though it’s possible that our fat phobia has blinded us to not only its great ability as a fuel source but also from the benefits of brown adipose tissue. For most of human history when we did not have fast food restaurants on every corner, fat was vital for our survival. Second to that, novel research has indicated that not all fat is the same and fat may actually be helping us lose weight and stay fit. Maybe its worth giving this misunderstood macro a second chance.

There are two types of adipose tissue, white fat and brown fat. In order to better understand white fat, we need to analyze its evolutionary function of maximum energy storage (Seale & Lazar, 2009). Having a thrifty metabolism that optimizes the breakdown and storage of nutrients for future famine has become a double-edged sword now that we eat more and move less…what a cruel joke. White adipose tissue is an expert at lipid storage and grows during chronic periods of positive energy balance.  On the other hand, brown fat was thought to be useless until recently. Brown fat is dense with mitochondria and has evolved to convert chemical energy into heat giving infants and small mammals a evolutionary advantage (Seale & Lazar, 2009). In adults, brown fat has been associated with a lower body weight and increased metabolism (“How brown fat improves metabolism,” 2019). Brown fat breaks down glucose and fat as fuel for heat production thus aiding weight loss through increased energy expenditure (“How brown fat improves metabolism,” 2019).

Current studies at the university of Colorado at Denver have been analyzing the impact brown fat has on weight management and found that as women age, their ability to combat obesity lowers at the same rate that their brown fat percentage drops (“Brown Adipose Tissue Activity in Pre- and Postmenopausal Women—Full Text View—ClinicalTrials.gov,” n.d.).  They have found that when ovarian function is suppressed through reduced estradiol so is brown fat as well as overall energy expenditure. This team is currently studying brown fat activity in pre- and post-menopausal women in order to better understand the physiological role of brown adipose tissue.

Brown fat has been thought to have no use until recent studies examining its metabolic benefits as well as finding the correlation between brown fat density and age-related obesity. These studies have the potential of better understanding the mechanisms involved in body weight maintenance which could potentially translate into clinical settings for obesity management. In a society where fat has become one of the biggest threats to health, it is almost poetic to consider that it could also be our ally.  

References:

 Brown Adipose Tissue Activity in Pre- and Postmenopausal Women—Full Text View—ClinicalTrials.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2019, from https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02927392

How brown fat improves metabolism. (2019, September 9). Retrieved December 5, 2019, from National Institutes of Health (NIH) website: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-brown-fat-improves-metabolism

Seale, P., & Lazar, M. A. (2009). Brown Fat in Humans: Turning up the Heat on Obesity. Diabetes, 58(7), 1482–1484. https://doi.org/10.2337/db09-0622