Brown fat is 'good' in the fight against obesity

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What produces 300 times more heat than any other organ in the body? What stops a baby from freezing to death if left in the cold? The answer to both questions is "brown fat".

Scientists have discovered that this type of fat is a good thing because it produces lots of heat by burning calories.

Unlike white fat, which clings to our hips and expands our ageing waistlines, brown fat keeps the weight off.

And that's why the race is on to find out more about brown adipose tissue, also known as brown fat, and how humans could use it to our advantage.

When we're born we have lots of brown fat in our bodies, wrapped round the central organs to keep us warm, to help us adapt to life outside the womb.

As we grow, however, the brown fat content of our bodies decreases.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham have been using heat-seeking technology to find out if brown fat is still present in children and adults.

Professor Michael Symonds and Dr Helen Budge from the University's School of Clinical Sciences say their research, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, shows that the neck region in healthy children produces heat.

"There is only about 50g of brown fat in the neck region and it switches on and off throughout the day as it's exposed to different temperatures or if you exercise or eat," says Prof Symonds.

If the power of brown fat can be harnessed then white fat's days could be numbered.

It's a nice theory, says Prof Sir Stephen Bloom, head of division for diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism at Imperial College London.

"If we activate brown fat, we can eat more and not gain weight. But we would waste energy unnecessarily, we would sweat a lot and forever be opening windows.

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Old news - they've been talking about/researching brown fat v. metabolism since the late 1990's.