Research
Hormonal
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a targetable site for adaptive thermogenesis in adult humans, where thyroid hormone signaling is required for its differentiation and function, specifically through the induction of UCP1 expression.
Adult humans can possess metabolically active brown fat, which helps burn energy as heat. This process is regulated by thyroid hormones and involves a protein called UCP1. While not a primary weight-loss strategy for everyone, understanding BAT highlights the complexity of fat tissue and its role in metabolism.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
BAT physiology is uniquely tied to TH signaling, as TH is needed not only for BAT differentiation and development, but also is required for normal BAT thermogenic function as it induces UCP1 expression.
Why this rating
Based on animal models and emerging human imaging studies.
Source
Thyroid hormone signaling in energy homeostasis and energy metabolism
Elizabeth A. McAninch et al. · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2014
DOI 10.1111/nyas.12374
narrative_reviewCited 232×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Thyroid hormone (TH) signaling is a primary regulator of basal metabolic rate and energy expenditure, with severe hypothyroidism capable of slowing total body energy expenditure by up to 50%.Good
- Thyroid hormone analogs (thyromimetics) targeting specific thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) have been proposed to treat obesity and metabolic diseases by increasing energy expenditure without the adverse systemic effects of supraphysiologic thyroid hormone doses.Moderate
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