A Fat That May Keep You Thin

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One expert believes the findings from the three studies have several drawbacks, however. Ian Murray, assistant professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, noted that only a small percentage of people overall had brown fat, and very few heavy people had it.

Also, the tissue's activity seemed to be concentrated around the adrenal gland, which is known to play a role in stress and body-temperature regulation, Murray added.

"It might be that lean people have better energy regulation than fat people," he reasoned. "You can modulate this early on before people get obese . . . so that a larger percentage of people can develop or maintain this fat. That is another [potential] therapy, more preventive than curative."

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Cypess agreed that more study is needed. "As much as scientists want to be first, we really all want to be right," he said. "With three of us showing these things, we feel that this is all probably true, and we are very optimistic now for potential treatments for obesity."

More information

There's more on obesity and weigh control at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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