Fat cells

A new study has affirmed the link between the presence of brown fat and improved cardiac or metabolic health, validating the relatively new hypothesis that the type of adipose tissue commonly referred to as brown fat confers broad health benefits.

A new study has found that braving the cold may be a good way to help burn off some of that Christmas pudding. The research suggests that the ambient temperature while exercising could have an effect of fat metabolism.

A new Harvard study highlights missing pieces of the puzzle in the relationship between cancer and obesity. The team finds that cancer cells can use the higher fat availability to starve immune cells of fuel and prevent them from targeting tumors.

A new study has discovered a previously unknown mechanism by which a hormone released from the gut hours after eating effectively switches off the body’s fat production processes, and found this mechanism is defective in those with fatty liver disease.

Fat is best known for being an energy storage system, but it may also play a previously-unknown role in defense against infection. Scientists from the Universities of Queensland and Barcelona have found that cells can use fats to fight off bacteria.

Scientists at the Joslin Diabetes Center have developed a new gene-editing technique that converts a subject's own white fat cells into brown fat cells, which could then be transplanted as a way of treating obesity and diabetes.

Newly published research from scientists at Harvard University has found that mice engineered to lack a certain enzyme showed significant increases in exercise endurance and fat-burning capacity as a result.

Scientists have shown how to activate energy-burning brown fat in mice, which helps shed weight and improves health. Results have been hard to replicate in humans, but a new study has found that we might be targeting the wrong receptor in our bodies.

By triggering receptors on a fast-burning form of fat, researchers were able to give older mice less fat and more muscle, making them as healthy as much younger mice. And better yet, humans seem to have a similar pathway.

In 2012, researchers opened up a promising new avenue in the pursuit of advanced treatments for obesity with the discovery of "beige fat." A study has now uncovered an immune cell that activates this form of fat in mice.

Researchers have identified a new molecule that manipulates the metabolic process so that the body burns more fuel than is actually necessary, reducing body fat in mice without requiring changes to their diet.

A comprehensive new study, led by scientists from UC San Francisco, is offering robust new insights into the way a ketogenic diet can influence the gut microbiome, and subsequently result in broader health benefits.