Brown Fat May Help Cut Weight, Blood Sugar

A transplant of the body’s “brown fat” can help to burn more calories, lower blood sugar and control weight — at least in mice. That’s the conclusion of a new study. Most people have a lot more white fat, which is often unhealthy. Brown fat is found in small amounts around the neck, collarbone, shoulders, spine and heart. Its purpose seems to be to burn calories to keep the body warm. Researchers wanted to know if a transplant elsewhere in the body would help with weight control. They took tiny amounts of brown fat from between the shoulders of mice and injected it near the white fat of the belly. They tried this first with mice of normal weight and then with overweight mice. After 8 weeks, mice that got the injections were better at converting glucose (sugar) into energy. As a result, they had lower blood sugar than mice that got a sham treatment.