Science Illustrated

Fat people to be cured with their own fat

Scientists have found out how to convert white fat into brown – and so how to make your fat consume itself.

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MEDICINE

An efficient diet that does not involve neither eating less nor any training – that could be the result of a new concept developed by scientists from the NYU Winthrop Hospital in the US. The idea is to extract a small portion of white fat from the body, cut it to small pieces, and place it in a bioreactor, where it is converted into brown fat, which converts energy deposits into heat. The fat tissue is injected back into the patient, where it will burn energy, so the patient loses weight.

The scientists’ new invention is a bioreactor that subjects white fat to a chemical bath including a speial mix of growth factors and chemical compounds, which stimulate the browning process. The device takes 13 weeks to convert white fat into brown. This means that the fat cells change their structure and get more mitochondr­ia, the power stations of cells. The function of the brown fat in the body is best known from babies, whose bodies it keeps warm, but adults also have a little of it. Brown fat is very active and burns large quantities of energy. Only 5070 g is sufficient to manage 20 % of the body’s energy conversion. The scientists have tested the method on mice and with human cells outside the body. They aim to develop a simple bioreactor for doctors and clinics.

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