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Brown fat, a type of body fat found around the neck, shoulders and heart, can be protective against chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, and even obesity, new research has found.
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Previous studies have found that brown fat keeps us warm in cold weather by burning energy.
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Scientists do not yet fully understand how brown fat works or why some people have more of it, but more research could help reap the benefits.
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While many people decide to shed body fat after the holidays, new research suggests that not all body fat is equal. In fact, it can have some important health benefits.
According to a study published January 4 in Nature Medicine, a certain type of fat, known as brown fat, can have a protective effect against chronic diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Between 2009 and 2018, researchers at Rockefeller University looked at medical scans of more than 52,000 patients at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
They found that people with observable levels of brown fat were less likely to have chronic diseases or health risks. For example, type 2 diabetes was found in only 4.6% of people with brown fat, but in 9.5% of people without brown fat. Similarly, people with brown fat tended to have better cholesterol levels compared to people without.
This supports previous research that suggests that brown fat may be protective in some way.
Researchers have also found that brown fat alleviates some of the adverse health effects of obesity (or a high percentage of total body fat), such as metabolic problems and heart problems.
The study showed that obese patients with brown fat had much lower percentages of these medical problems, comparable to their non-obese counterparts.
“It almost seems to be protected from the harmful effects of white fat,” said Dr. Paul Cohen, senior author of the study and senior attending physician at Rockefeller University Hospital, said in a press release. “These findings make us more confident about the potential of targeting brown fat for therapeutic benefit.”
This type of fat can burn calories and protect our bodies
When people refer to body fat, they usually refer to the more common white fat that stores energy from excess calories. While white fat is stored in the abdomen, around the organs and under the skin, brown fat tends to accumulate in the neck and heart.
Experts believe brown fat works as a protective layer to keep us warm. Previous research has investigated the possible benefits of brown fat in generating heat in cold conditions. Doing so can also burn a lot of calories and it can help prevent obesity.
Researchers have also theorized that brown fat can also burn glucose for energy, which may explain why it seems to help stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent diabetes.
Brown fat is still mysterious
However, it can be difficult to study brown fat as it requires a specialized and expensive type of medical imaging. Through scans of patient evaluations from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (which evaluates brown fat to make sure it is not a tumor), the researchers were able to do the largest study on brown fat in humans.
It is not yet entirely clear why brown fat looks protective against certain health conditions, such as high blood pressure. Our best gas, according to the study, is that it can affect hormone signal in the body, in addition to burning energy.
How do I know if I have brown fat?
With all the benefits, researchers want to better understand how brown fat works and take advantage of it. Everyone has a little brown fat, but we still do not know why some people have more than others. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to locate and does not occur in everyone in the same place.
To find out if you have brown fat, you need a type of medical scan, called a PET scan, which is needed to inject radioactive material into the body. Although it is relatively low risk and can be helpful in detecting certain diseases such as cancer, it is not recommended for otherwise healthy people.
We know a little bit about who tends to have more brown fat. According to research, genetics is likely to play a major role, as does exposure to cold temperatures.
“The natural question everyone has is, ‘What can I do to get more brown fat?'” Cohen said. “We do not yet have a good answer to that, but it will be an exciting space for scientists to explore in the coming years.”
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