Fighting "Bad Fat" With "Good Fat"
Fight fat with fat? The newest obesity theory suggests we may one day be able to do just that.
Just like good and bad cholesterol, there apparently are good and bad types of body fat. Scientists until recently believed this good fat, which spurs the body to burn calories to generate body heat, played an important role in keeping infants warm but by adulthood was mostly gone or inactive.
Everyone is born with brown fat. Scientists thought it disappeared after infancy but for the first time, studies have used sophisticated imaging technology to prove brown fat is active in adults, reports CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.
The studies - from researchers in Boston, Finland and the Netherlands - show that this good fat affects metabolism and potentially offers a target to help people shed pounds.
Dr. Francesco Celi, an endocrinology and metabolism researcher at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said the studies show this fat burns large amounts of energy.
"So it could be used as a target" for a pill that would somehow rev up the fat, he said.
Dr. Louis Aronne, former president of The Obesity Society and a weight control expert at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, said the findings are the most conclusive evidence so far of the role of such fat in regulating body temperature and weight.
"I don't want to use the word 'exercise-in-a-pill,' but it's doing something (that's) getting rid of calories," he said, adding that any obesity treatment developed around the fat could be a potential treatment for diabetes as well.
The studies were published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
The good fat is actually brownish, while the more predominant bad fat is white or yellow. Brown fat is stored mostly around the neck and under the collarbone. White fat tends to concentrate around the waistline, where it stores excess energy and releases chemicals that control metabolism and the use of insulin.
All three research groups documented the presence and activity of the brown fat by examining tissue samples from some patients and using high-tech imaging that indicated how much sugar, and therefore calories, the fat burned.
One group from Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, and three hospitals in Boston looked at scans done on nearly 2,000 patients to diagnose various health problems. The other two groups scanned small numbers of patients, first at room temperature and then after a couple hours in mild cold, about 60 degrees.
Here's what the scientists learned about brown fat:
Lean people had far more than overweight and obese people, especially among older folks.
It burns far more calories and generates more body heat when people are in a cooler environment.
Women were more likely to have it than men, and their deposits were larger and more active.
"Brown fat looks really good. It generates heat, which we need, and it may burn off excess calories," Dr. Aarpon Cypess, a brown fat study author at Harvard Medical School told LaPook.
One study author estimated a person could lose at least nine pounds a year by maximizing brown fat, LaPook reports. That could significantly reduce obesity. But this research is still in its infancy.
But, "It's going to take five to ten years to be responsible to make sure that the treatment we have for increasing brown fat is both safe and effective," Cypess said.
Finding a successful treatment for obesity would be a Holy Grail for scientists. Most obese and overweight people are unable to shed pounds and keep them off with dieting and exercise.
And despite plenty of effort, pharmaceutical companies have been unable to develop a medicine that helps people safely lose and keep off a significant amount of weight. Any drug that could do that would be a guaranteed blockbuster.
Aronne said the findings likely would renew interest in the area of brown fat among drugmakers; at least one briefly studied a treatment in lab animals several years ago.
So how could researchers use these basic findings about good fat to eventually come up with a weight-loss medication?
One possibility would be a pill to stimulate a specific protein to release more energy from the fat cells in the form of heat rather than storing it for future energy needs, Aronne and Celi said.
Finding a way to increase the amount of brown fat in a person would be another strategy. Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have been injecting certain genes into mice to try to produce brown fat cells instead of white ones.
Celi said researchers also could try to make a pill that stimulates nerve endings inside brown fat to make it burn more calories.
Or overweight people could simply try turning down the thermostat to see if it makes them burn more energy and lose weight - a strategy that Celi and researchers are testing in a small study that could produce results by the end of the year.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Just like good and bad cholesterol, there apparently are good and bad types of body fat. Scientists until recently believed this good fat, which spurs the body to burn calories to generate body heat, played an important role in keeping infants warm but by adulthood was mostly gone or inactive.
Everyone is born with brown fat. Scientists thought it disappeared after infancy but for the first time, studies have used sophisticated imaging technology to prove brown fat is active in adults, reports CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.
The studies - from researchers in Boston, Finland and the Netherlands - show that this good fat affects metabolism and potentially offers a target to help people shed pounds.
Dr. Francesco Celi, an endocrinology and metabolism researcher at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said the studies show this fat burns large amounts of energy.
"So it could be used as a target" for a pill that would somehow rev up the fat, he said.
Dr. Louis Aronne, former president of The Obesity Society and a weight control expert at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, said the findings are the most conclusive evidence so far of the role of such fat in regulating body temperature and weight.
"I don't want to use the word 'exercise-in-a-pill,' but it's doing something (that's) getting rid of calories," he said, adding that any obesity treatment developed around the fat could be a potential treatment for diabetes as well.
The studies were published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
The good fat is actually brownish, while the more predominant bad fat is white or yellow. Brown fat is stored mostly around the neck and under the collarbone. White fat tends to concentrate around the waistline, where it stores excess energy and releases chemicals that control metabolism and the use of insulin.
All three research groups documented the presence and activity of the brown fat by examining tissue samples from some patients and using high-tech imaging that indicated how much sugar, and therefore calories, the fat burned.
One group from Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, and three hospitals in Boston looked at scans done on nearly 2,000 patients to diagnose various health problems. The other two groups scanned small numbers of patients, first at room temperature and then after a couple hours in mild cold, about 60 degrees.
Here's what the scientists learned about brown fat:
"Brown fat looks really good. It generates heat, which we need, and it may burn off excess calories," Dr. Aarpon Cypess, a brown fat study author at Harvard Medical School told LaPook.
One study author estimated a person could lose at least nine pounds a year by maximizing brown fat, LaPook reports. That could significantly reduce obesity. But this research is still in its infancy.
But, "It's going to take five to ten years to be responsible to make sure that the treatment we have for increasing brown fat is both safe and effective," Cypess said.
Finding a successful treatment for obesity would be a Holy Grail for scientists. Most obese and overweight people are unable to shed pounds and keep them off with dieting and exercise.
And despite plenty of effort, pharmaceutical companies have been unable to develop a medicine that helps people safely lose and keep off a significant amount of weight. Any drug that could do that would be a guaranteed blockbuster.
Aronne said the findings likely would renew interest in the area of brown fat among drugmakers; at least one briefly studied a treatment in lab animals several years ago.
So how could researchers use these basic findings about good fat to eventually come up with a weight-loss medication?
One possibility would be a pill to stimulate a specific protein to release more energy from the fat cells in the form of heat rather than storing it for future energy needs, Aronne and Celi said.
Finding a way to increase the amount of brown fat in a person would be another strategy. Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have been injecting certain genes into mice to try to produce brown fat cells instead of white ones.
Celi said researchers also could try to make a pill that stimulates nerve endings inside brown fat to make it burn more calories.
Or overweight people could simply try turning down the thermostat to see if it makes them burn more energy and lose weight - a strategy that Celi and researchers are testing in a small study that could produce results by the end of the year.
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Posted by alphaa10000
For most it is willpower. It is very difficult changing your lifestyle and behavior once you pass a certain point. I see it every year in the gym every New Years. Out of shape people will show up wanting to change their life and become healthier and they usually last about a month. And how difficult is it for folks to replace their french fries and burgers with salads and lean meats? It's easy for people in the US to use food for comfort. And why not? It's unlimited and it makes you feel good and crap food is cheap.
Posted by thewisewoman
I think it does begin with laziness. Sure there are some that suffer genetic conditions but the majority of obese people took advantage of everything being handed to them. Just watch people's behavior sometime. I work in a university environment so these are college kids who aren't obese yet. They'll park as close to the entrance or be dropped off at the door so they don't have to walk as far. They'll take the elevator instead of the stairs. It's amazing how many I see push the handicap button to open a door for them. People don't have to work for their food anymore, they simply pull up to a drive thru and have the food handed to their window. And look at the crap these people eat. Then people go home and watch tv and play video games or chat on the internet for hours. And once somebody becomes obese, it's virtually impossible to lose it.
And the four year olds have no choice but to eat the same crap and live the same lifestyle their parents do. I'm surprised the statistics aren't higher.
Posted by excoachken
ken: thanks, but i think i will skip that. the memory of rosie in a dominatrix outfit on Exit To Eden has scarred me for life.
The Wrongs: I agree. Eat clean and be active. Also, have a good time and realize that while physical health is often a function of good or bad habits, mental health includes accepting that we are all worm food in waiting.
Be Good Take Care
Oh really? It's just that simple, is it? Then why is it that less than 5% of the people who have ever dieted have been able to maintain their weight loss? Less than 5%. And it doesn't matter if they dieted to lose 5 pounds, or 50 pounds, or 500 pounds, like the poor guys we see in the tabloids occasionally. Unless they are in that strange, gifted, 5% of Super-Dieters, they don't stand a chance.
So, do you really think that the other 95%+ don't want to stay at a health weight? Or forget to diet? Or are stupid, lazy, greedy, or whatever else you can come up with to throw at one of the last acceptable hate-groups on the planet?
Well, how about this little statistic: apparently 1 in 5 four-year-olds is now considered obese! Not just overweight, or plump, or chubby with baby fat, but obese! Is it an epidemic of lazy, fat-assed toddlers? Or, is it possible, just possible, that the human race is evolving?
Gee, what a concept. All the signs are there, folks. But the multi-billion dollar diet industry has a vested interest in guaranteeing that you never see them. A porkier human race can't possibly be our perfectly acceptable evolutionary destiny...can it?
Why not? People like you certainly demonstrate that we're not getting any smarter.