Benefits of brown fat

If you want to live longer, it might help to have more fat—brown fat, that is. Unlike white fat, which stores energy in pockets around the body, brown fat helps burn calories and create heat. This so-called good fat is common in newborns, but in 2009 scientists discovered that some adults have it, too. In a new study, scientists analyzed PET scans of about 52,000 cancer patients. They found signs of brown fat in nearly 10 percent of the group—and discovered that those individuals were less likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes, abnormal cholesterol levels, hypertension, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease. That was true even if the patient was obese. It’s not clear why brown fat appears to have this effect. It might help lower blood glucose levels and could possibly participate in hormonal signaling to organs. There is some evidence that brown fat can be generated through exercise, good sleep, and frequent exposure to the cold. But scientists say more research is needed. Senior author Paul Cohen, from the Rockefeller University Hospital in New York, tells ScienceDaily .com this will be “an exciting space for scientists to explore in the upcoming years.”

Covid-19. That’s the surprising finding of researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, who used artificial intelligence to analyze a registry of nearly 27,000 patients at the hospital. The team discovered that patients who took melatonin, widely known as the sleep hormone, were 28 percent less likely to test positive for Covid-19, with that figure rising to 52 percent among black patients. Other scientists are also looking into the correlation between melatonin and Covid-19, with eight clinical trials ongoing around the world, reports The Atlantic. It remains unclear whether people who take melatonin are less susceptible to the virus because of the supplement itself, or because they’re getting better sleep. Lead researcher Feixiong Cheng says he and his team don’t yet know the “exact mechanism” at play. But he thinks it may be linked to the fact that melatonin has a role in regulating the immune system, helping to prevent selfdefense responses from going into overdrive and turning on the body. If melatonin does prove effective, it will be the cheapest and most readily accessible treatment for Covid.