Hormonal
Acute administration of glucocorticoids (prednisolone or cortisol) increases brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity, thermogenesis, and UCP-1 expression in humans, whereas chronic glucocorticoid exposure suppresses BAT activation.
While chronic steroid use is linked to obesity and suppressed brown fat, acute exposure to glucocorticoids (like prednisolone) actually boosts brown fat activity and heat production in lean humans during cold exposure. This suggests a complex, time-dependent relationship where short-term stress hormones might temporarily enhance metabolic rate via brown fat, but long-term excess leads to suppression and weight gain.
In vivo, the glucocorticoid prednisolone acutely increased 18fluorodeoxyglucose uptake by BAT... In addition, prednisolone increased supraclavicular skin temperature and energy expenditure during cold... In vitro, glucocorticoids increased isoprenaline-stimulated respiration and UCP-1 in human primary brown adipocytes... Chronic glucocorticoid excess causes obesity... this shows that chronic glucocorticoid treatment suppresses BAT activation in humans.
Why this rating
High-quality randomized controlled trials in humans combined with rigorous in vitro mechanistic data, though sample sizes for in vivo studies are small (n=6-9).
Source
Glucocorticoids Acutely Increase Brown Adipose Tissue Activity in Humans, Revealing Species-Specific Differences in UCP-1 Regulation
Lynne Ramage et al. · Cell Metabolism · 2016
DOI 10.1016/j.cmet.2016.06.011
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