PRDM16 – NIH Director's Blog (original) (raw)
Fighting Obesity: New Hopes From Brown Fat
Posted on November 12th, 2013 by Dr. Francis Collins
Caption: Brown fat—actually marked in green on this image—is wrapped around the neck and shoulders. This “shawl” of brown fat warms blood before it travels to the brain.
Illustration: John MacNeill, based on patient imaging software designed by Ilan Tal. Copyright 2011 Joslin Diabetes Center
If you want to lose weight, then you actually want more fat, not less. But you need the right kind: brown fat. This special type of fatty tissue burns calories, puts out heat like a furnace, and helps to keep you trim. White fat, on the other hand, stores extra calories and makes you, well, fat. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could instruct our bodies to make more brown fat, and less white fat? Well, NIH-funded researchers have just taken another step in that direction [1].
Posted In: Science
Tags: brown fat, diabetes, EHMT1, genes, mutations, National Institutes of Health, NIH, obesity, PRDM16, proteins, weight loss, white fat