In the Obesity-Diabetes Battle, Beige Fat May be a Friend

Rats have brown fat and now, beige fat as well.

In May, this writer published a blog on fat research that sounded promising in the battle against obesity and diabetes. That blog focused on research that identified the compound irisin and the ability of irisin to convert  metabolically-inactive white adipose tissue to energy-burning brown adipose tissue.

Perhaps indicative of the intensity with which research on brown fat is being pursued, Wu  et al.  published new information online last week in Cell (July 12, 2012) that there is, in fact yet another type of adipose tissue.

Announcing beige fat. The research is entitled “Beige Adipocytes Are a Distinct Type of Thermogenic Fat Cell in Mouse and Human.”

In this research, Wu et al. cloned beige fat cells, and identified unique characteristics and cell surface markers. Here are a few of their findings: Continue reading “In the Obesity-Diabetes Battle, Beige Fat May be a Friend”