[boiffrona]

// I bet we can market something to say that though

Yes, it's called "go and do some exercise out in the cool winter breeze", I'll sell 'u the rights for 'ur basic council rates, payable to 'ur city of residence.

Goodo.

Do "you" know what the chemical name suggests about it? I don't think I saw a chemical name for "white fat" listed just brown fat..

[voksveta]

Oh.

White fat is the same white as the fat we're familiar with in the kitchen.
Often (especially in humans) it's yellow, stained by fat-soluble carotenoids (for stock, they may acquire yellow fat through eating grass, and this may be further concentrated with age).

Brown fat is the brown colour of mitochondria, the "power plants" of the cell. The cells are still full of fat, but also full of mitochondria allowing them to "burn" it quickly.

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/cells/mi...ochondria.html

[voksveta]

If we want chemical names for "fat", there are a variety and I'm lazy and can't be bothered naming each of them specifically. Instead I'l leave 'u with the components to put together 'urself!

Stored fats mostly sit around as triglycerides (like measured in the blood tests, but obviously that's in the blood).

Triglycerides have two types of components: derived from glycerol (C3H8O3; propan-1,2,3-triol), and 3 fatty acid chains (hydrocarbon chains terminating in -COOH). The "tri-" refers to the 3 chains.

The -COOH parts attach to the oxygen parts in glycerol through esterification reactions.

Each of the hydrocarbon chains can be slightly different, and they therefore can have correspondingly different names like palmitic acid, stearic acid, linoleic acid, ...

[BEyng6hj]

So, which of those would I have been taught is the one that can be increased during early childhood (as in total number of fat cells) and not later reduced?
(Only reduced in size of each, not number over all).

I never followed up on it or I could tell you more.

[BEyng6hj]

oops, will read up on what you have just posted first in case it is answered ther.

[voksveta]

D'n'o', probably white fat, but I think it's more a throwaway line that may or may not have scientific validity -- it took a while to find stem cells in the central nervous system too.

[investmentonlinev2006x]

making them more subject to mental power?

[bunkalapa]

This would seem to be the latest summary on PubMed:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...tool=pmcentrez


It's got reasonably understandable descriptions and indicates what the research is up to.

[voksveta]

Ah, no, that would be midi-chlorians.

[voksveta]

// This would seem to be the latest summary on PubMed:

BAT = brown adipose tissue

/*
it has been shown that by activating BAT via short-term cold exposure, fatty acids are efficiently channeled into BAT due to a metabolic program that boosts TG-rich lipoproteins (TRL) uptake
*//*
As little as 50 g of BAT could account for up to 20% of basal metabolic energy expenditure of an adult human when maximally stimulated
*//*
When animals are subjected to cold environment or ingest surplus energy, ... lipase accelerates the release of free fatty acid from triacylglycerol contained in the droplet of brown adipocyte, which acts both as the fuel of thermogenesis and as an activator of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), a key component of thermogenesis. ... a large amount of energy is dissipated in the form of heat
*//*
It was previously believed that brown adipocyte and white adipocyte share a common ancestor in the course of adipogenesis. However, different opinion was rendered in 2007 ... The mesenchymal stem cell is the precursor of brown adipocytes.
*//*
BAT formation occurs in the early phase of embryonic development ... it was suggested that only small mammals and new born infants possess BAT, while human adults are practically devoid of functional BAT ... New England Journal of Medicine in 2009 rebutted this assumption ... researchers found that BAT was located in the neck and upper-chest regions. Moreover, BAT ratio was conversely correlated with body mass index (BMI)
*//*
Thyroid hormone is necessary for a full BAT thermogenic response in cold adaptation. ... Interestingly, bile acids released from the gallbladder has been shown to increase energy expenditure in BAT by regulating local thyroid hormone production
*//*
Until now, two therapeutic strategies have been suggested in obesity control ... One is to stimulate the original BAT development and function by small molecules. The other is to transplant functional brown adipocytes induced from proper stem cells into obese patients. The second strategy can be also considered as BAT transplantation.
*//*
Dinitrophenol (DNP) was developed to uncouple the biological process of oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria and make mitochondria produce heat ... It increases energy expenditure in a sustainable manner and no drug tolerance would happen.
*/

[outfinofulpv]

So, which of those would I have been taught is the one that can be increased during early childhood (as in total number of fat cells) and not later reduced?
(Only reduced in size of each, not number over all).

I never followed up on it or I could tell you more.

Undefined has covered the brown fat stuff well. We were always taught that it was an in-built heat generator for newborn animals. The growth of fat in the body is both through hypertrophy (increase in volume/size) and hyperplasia (number of cells). In contrast muscle growth is through hypertrophy only (although there is some recruitment of satellite cells).

We still have a lot to learn about fat...

[BEyng6hj]

Undefined has covered the brown fat stuff well. We were always taught that it was an in-built heat generator for newborn animals. The growth of fat in the body is both through hypertrophy (increase in volume/size) and hyperplasia (number of cells). In contrast muscle growth is through hypertrophy only (although there is some recruitment of satellite cells).

We still have a lot to learn about fat...

Thanks to all, yes, including for the question.
It's much clearer now.

[BEyng6hj]

Another re-telling of the research
From BBC News (UK) ‏@BBCNews Good fat?
Scientists discover that brown fat actually burns calories while the white stuff just clings to our waists
http://bbc.in/OxNpPg