ABOVE: Brown fat is enriched with mitochondria (dark purple spots) that burn energy to heat the body when it’s cold.
© ISTOCK.COM, JOSE LUIS CALVO MARTIN & JOSE ENRIQUE GARCIA-MAURIÑO MUZQUIZ
Fat has long been demonized as a sign of poor health, but the relationship between fat and well-being is not so cut and dry. Humans have many different types of fat—including white, beige, and brown adipose tissue—not all of which widen our waistlines. While white fat stores calories as energy for leaner times, brown fat is enriched with mitochondria that burn up lipids, converting chemical energy into heat when our body temperature drops.
Compared to white fat, which collects along the midsection and hips, brown fat tends to reside deeper in the body, making it more difficult to study. Until 2009, scientists weren’t even sure that adults retained their brown fat beyond childhood, and as a result, very little ...
