If there's such a thing as good cholesterol, there's also 'good' brown fat that helps increase metabolism and burn calories.
The problem is that as babies we have lots of this brown fat — an adipose tissue found in the human body — but they gradually melt away as we get older and crankier.
So is there a way to get it all back?
Duke-NUS Assistant Professor Sun Lei and his team have discovered a possible way to increase its production, according to a Channel NewsAsia report.
Using mice as guinea pigs (see what we did there), Dr Lei was able to isolate a "long non-coding Ribonucleic acid (RNA) in fat tissue" that is needed for a brown fat to develop properly.
Ergo, if they find that the same RNA exists in humans, all of us can start bingeing on Krispy Kremes.
Don't believe us? “The mechanisms that drive or guide the development of brown fat will have therapeutic potential, and we are excited to have found such a mechanism. Additionally, this research adds to our growing expertise on obesity and diabetes at Duke-NUS,” says Dr Lei.
Can't wait.
Photo by PH Kenny via Wikipedia
If there's such a thing as good cholesterol, there's also 'good' brown fat that helps increase metabolism and burn calories.
The problem is that as babies we have lots of this brown fat — an adipose tissue found in the human body — but they gradually melt away as we get older and crankier.
So is there a way to get it all back?
Duke-NUS Assistant Professor Sun Lei and his team have discovered a possible way to increase its production, according to a Channel NewsAsia report.
Using mice as guinea pigs (see what we did there), Dr Lei was able to isolate a "long non-coding Ribonucleic acid (RNA) in fat tissue" that is needed for a brown fat to develop properly.
Ergo, if they find that the same RNA exists in humans, all of us can start bingeing on Krispy Kremes.
Don't believe us? “The mechanisms that drive or guide the development of brown fat will have therapeutic potential, and we are excited to have found such a mechanism. Additionally, this research adds to our growing expertise on obesity and diabetes at Duke-NUS,” says Dr Lei.
Can't wait.
Photo by PH Kenny via Wikipedia