Is there a good type of body fat?Posted by Christine Armarego
Researchers published in the New England Journal of Medicine have found that there is a type of fat – called brown fat that is more metabolically active than any other type of fat. They have already found that this type of fat is important in regulation of body weight for animals and are now investigating it’s role in humans. The study took people of different BMI’s and put them in a cool room of 22 degrees and 16 degrees. They found that people who had lower BMI’s and those with lower body fat percentage had significantly more active brown fat. This means that is may act to use up more calories than act as storage as it is used in heat generation and is stored between the shoulder blades and in internal organs. They also found that men who were over weight or obese had reduced brown fat activity - and this is where they will target their research further with regard to weight loss. Women were also found to have more frequent regions of active brown fat than men.
Reference: Celi, F. S. (2009). Brown Adipose Tissue -- When It Pays to Be Inefficient. NEJM 360: 1553-1556
