Obesity is one of the biggest problems affecting people in America today. Fortunately, according to an article on Science Daily based on a research published in the journal PLoS One, a solution might not be too far off. This solution deals with brown adipose cells and the protein UCP1 which is found on these cells. According to Science Daily, brown adipose cells are a type of fat cells which can produce heat in the absence of muscle movement. When the protein UCP1 is activated on the brown adipose cells, it burns the fat cells and that is how the heat is produced. Scientist originally believed that brown adipose cells can only be found in babies and hibernating animals; however, they have recently discovered that it is also found in adult humans. This is significant because if scientist can find a way to regulate UCP1, we would be well on our way to treating or even curing one of the widespread diseases in the United States.
Sounds like an interesting concept, would it just be as simple as having an individual take a pill containing a compound that signals the cells to start giving off heat? And if it did work this way does the article mention how many cells would be affected at a time or if the combined heat released from all these cells would effect the body at all. If you have millions upon millions of fat cells giving off head and breaking down at one time, those minute heat changes will add up, and unless the individual was under specific conditions could the heat given off alter their core temperature too?
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