Research
Macro partitioning
Pharmacological agents such as thiazolidinediones (TZDs), BMP7, and COX2 can induce 'browning' in white adipose tissue (WAT), converting white fat cells into brown-like adipocytes that express UCP1 and increase energy expenditure.
While drugs like TZDs can turn white fat into brown-like fat in mice, these are prescription medications with side effects and are not recommended for general use. The research highlights a potential future therapeutic avenue rather than a current lifestyle intervention.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Pharmacological agents that regulate different biological pathways have also been demonstrated to induce browning in WAT. For example, synthetic PPARc agonists, such as the thiazolidinedione (TZD) family members, are also able to induce a brown phenotype in WAT.
Why this rating
Supported by multiple studies on transgenic models and pharmacological agents in rodents.
Source
Brown adipose tissue
Kristy L. Townsend et al. · Adipocyte · 2012
DOI 10.4161/adip.18951
narrative_reviewCited 170×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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