Obesity has become a major global health epidemic that is leading to other severe diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. It seems like every month there is another news article that is talking about the end to obesity. Naturally, these articles will continue to draw people in because everyone is looking for an easy fix that doesn’t require a change in diet, exercise, or effort. There are plenty of studies out there that are looking into thermo-activation of brown fat or development of new drugs that shrink white fat. As a reminder, there are two types of fat. Brown fat is considered health fat that burns energy, while white fat is stored and is consider unhealthy when in an abundance. However, most of these previous studies fail to focus on the genetics and biochemistry behind the drug targets. What if the key isn’t to target white fat storages via drugs, but rather to target a gene that produces more brown fat? A new study found that blocking the RCAN1 gene in mice helps to promote the metabolism of white fat to brown fat. This conversion of white fat to brown fat would allow someone to maintain their diet and exercise routine while still losing weight. Without a change in diet or exercise, a person could still lose weight because they would be burning more calories in general, even during resting. This study did also look into the effects of changing the diet regime with an RCAN1 gene knockout. They found that with any diet plan there were significant health improvements, but at different rates. Healthier diets would lead to earlier health improvement. As with any study, further research needs to be done to see if these results will translate in humans. However, the findings of this study show real promise in changing the prevalence of obesity worldwide.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181204095412.htm
Rotter, D., Peiris, H., Grinsfelder, D. B., Martin, A. M., Burchfield, J., Parra, V., . . . Rothermel, B. A. (2018). Regulator of Calcineurin 1 helps coordinate whole‐body metabolism and thermogenesis. EMBO Reports. doi:10.15252/embr.201744706
This would be an appealing solution for multiple reasons, not the least of which being weight reduction which does not require significant changes in lifestyle and motivation. Still, we ought to pay close attention to potential side effects. Brown fat metabolizes more fatty acids, but it does so by also generating extra heat. If we did this in humans, we might risk symptoms like hyperthermia, similar to the mechanism by which dinitrophenol results in hypothermia by uncoupling the H+ gradient from ATP synthesis. Just something to look out for.
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