Fat cells

The hormone leptin is central to the way our bodies regulate appetite. A new study has revealed some of the molecular machinery behind its functioning, and shown how the loss of a key protein can drive insatiable appetites and obesity in mice.

A drug originally designed to treat Alzheimer’s has been found to reduce obesity and improve heart function in mice. The drug was previously found to be ineffective treating dementia, but it's suggested it could be useful in stimulating fat metabolism.

Scientists are turning considerable attention to the role our genes might play in obesity, and a new study has offered up some new potential targets by identifying groups of genes that appear to both cause weight gain and prevent it.

Deep-lying visceral fat stores are linked to a range of health conditions, but a new study has revealed a chain of command that guides their metabolism, opening up some exciting possibilities around how they might be more effectively burned away.

A new study is showing how fructose can alter cells in the small intestine, subsequently enhancing nutrient absorption and promoting weight gain. The research indicates excessive fructose consumption increases the body’s ability to absorb dietary fats.

Obesity is associated with many health problems, but in some specific cases it seems to be protective in the short term against cardiovascular disease. Now scientists may have uncovered one possible mechanism behind this mysterious “obesity paradox."

New research has revealed a microbial mechanism connecting obesity with heart disease. The study describes how a high-fat diet damages intestinal cells, leading to more bad bacteria that produce metabolites known to contribute to cardiovascular disease.

Scientists in China have identified a new mechanism by which the immune system boosts the production of fat in one of its favorable forms, with experiments demonstrating how it can be leveraged to prevent obesity and diabetes in susceptible mice.

Scientists have stumbled across a mechanism by which the immune system triggers the secretion of fat cells through the skin. The mechanism may translate from mice into humans, but turning it into a safe obesity therapy could be challenging.

Accumulation of fat around the heart has long been linked to cardiovascular and metabolic disease but until now there hasn’t been a simple way to measure this. A new AI tool has been developed that can quantify these fat deposits from regular MRI images.

Researchers have uncovered interesting new details around the function of fat cells, finding that increasing levels of a certain protein could offer protection against diabetes in at-risk individuals, by altering the behavior of white fat cells.

Researchers have discovered a new method to treat obesity by blocking a receptor in fat cells and speeding up energy expenditure. An experimental drug has been developed targeting this receptor and it has been effective at preventing obesity in mice.