Research
Energy balance
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) activation and 'browning' of white adipose tissue represent a potential therapeutic target for increasing energy expenditure and reducing body weight.
Activating brown fat through cold exposure or potentially future medications may help burn more calories. However, this is still an area of active research, and current approved treatments focus more on hormonal regulation.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
The high energy consumption of this process makes brown adipose tissue an interesting target for obesity therapy and there are many studies in animals [135–137] and humans [138–140] pointing to the benefits of increasing brown adipose tissue to increase energy expenditure, reduce body weight or reduce insulin resistance.
Why this rating
Based on animal studies and early human studies, but no approved therapy yet.
Source
Obesity–An Update on the Basic Pathophysiology and Review of Recent Therapeutic Advances
Erind Gjermeni · MDPI (MDPI AG) · 2021
DOI 10.3390/biom11101426
narrative_reviewCited 94×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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