We are trying to use brown adipose tissue activation to treat obesity-related metabolic disease to see if it could lead to reduction in inflammation, improvement in the cholesterol profile, and decrease in blood pressure.
A large observational study published Jan. 4, 2021, in Nature Medicine by Paul Cohen’s group at Rockefeller University, in tens of thousands of people at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, showed that people who had brown fat were generally healthier and had less high blood pressure and less cardiovascular disease. This study could not show causation, but at every BMI, people were healthier if they had more brown fat than if they had less. So, there’s something going on. We’re still trying to figure that out.
Dr. Cypess has no reported no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.