A team of Australian scientists has shown that brown fat-a special type
of fat that burns energy to produce heat-may also help to keep blood
sugar stable in adults.
Brown or “good” fat may help minimise fluctuations in blood sugar (blood glucose) concentration in adults.
Brown fat takes up so much glucose that we wondered whether brown fat
could affect the concentration of glucose in the blood - and whether,
therefore, brown fat-targeted therapies might help control diabetes,”
said Paul Lee from Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
“It
looks like the more brown fat one has, the more influence it has on
blood glucose,” Lee added in a paper published in the journal Cell
Metabolism.
Sitting just above the collarbone and in the neck,
brown fat acts like a heat generator, helping to keep us warm by burning
sugar and fat.
The team wanted to measure brown fat activity in a
group of 15 healthy adults over 12 hours in which a small thermometer
was placed over the collarbone of participants.
Measuring skin temperature at the collarbone can allow us to estimate brown fat activity.
The
findings showed that blood glucose levels and heat production by brown
fat were closely related, tracking together over time.
Importantly,
participants who had larger deposits of brown fat had less fluctuation
in blood glucose-and blood glucose fell after each peak of brown fat
activity surge.
In contrast, brown fat activity rose only in
response to an increase in blood glucose among those with less brown fat
and interestingly, their glucose fluctuations were greater.
“Brown
fat is interesting and promising - but it is not the solution to
finding a cure for diabetes, at least not now. A balanced diet and
regular exercise are the cornerstones of healthy metabolism and should
not be forgotten,” Lee noted.