There's a good fat…and I’m not talking about omega-3 fatty acids!
Three new studies in the April 9th New England Journal of Medicine show that adult humans have brown fat, an energy-burning type of fat previously thought to be found only in animals and human babies.
White fat cells store energy in the form of lipids, but brown fat cells burn energy and give off heat. Human babies have pads of brown fat on their backs that help maintain body temperature but the brown fat disappears with age.
So what a surprise to researchers when they found that brown fat is common in adults and may be important for regulating body weight and blood sugar. But the fat isn’t where people expected to find it. In adults, brown fat is found in the neck, above the collarbone, around the spine and in the abdomen.
Individuals with the most brown fat include people younger than 50, people with healthy blood sugar levels and in lean people.
Finally…we know that some fat inside our bodies is good for us too!
Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD, LD
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