How much Good Fat do you have?

Hi folks,


You may not know but fat has many roles (no pun intended), it is a store of excess energy, it is a form of protection from impact, it generates heat etc... .  Although too much body fat makes us more prone to serious health problems, there is a type of fat that is actually good for us - Brown adipose fat!


Our bodies had most brown fat when we were babies & children, it helped us survive if left in the cold by burning calories to generate substantial amounts of heat. Unfortunately the amount of brown fat we have decreases as we reach adulthood, but scientists are studying how we can stimulate the few reserves that we have left for our advantage. Brown fat is found to generate most heat when we exercise, eat & are exposed to cold temperatures, so could we use this information to fight obesity?


If we do find novel ways to make our brown fat more active then this may burn more calories from white fat but we would be constantly hot & switching on the air-con. We may find 'agents' that trigger our brown fat but they have concerns of toxicity which is obviously not good. It is known that certain foods initiate heat production within brown fat so one safe area of research is to learn more about which foods these are and their further effects on the body. Could the recent nutrition labels on food packaging be joined by a heat generating index or 'thermal rating'?


As with last weeks blog on wheat prices, this type of information could be very useful in workplace health / 'Canteens of the Futuuuuure'!


James