Research

Hormonal

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is present and metabolically active in adult humans, particularly after cold exposure, challenging the historical view that adult humans lack significant brown fat.

Recent evidence confirms that adult humans possess active brown adipose tissue, which can be stimulated by cold exposure. While this does not replace the need for diet and exercise, it suggests that cold exposure may be a valid adjunct strategy to increase energy expenditure by activating this tissue.

ModerateRefutesMEDIUM confidence
studies in nuclear medicine by using PET/CT scanning reveal the presence of BAT in adult humans; and (ii) recent data suggest that a new transcription factor called PDRM16 may control the induction of BAT.
Éric Ravussin et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2009

Why this rating

The paper is a review citing observational PET/CT studies and rodent genetic models; human clinical efficacy data is not yet established.

Source

Have we entered the brown adipose tissue renaissance?

Éric Ravussin et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2009

DOI 10.1111/j.1467-789x.2008.00559.x

narrative_reviewCited 63×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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