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A new approach to reducing bulging tummy fats has shown promise in laboratory trials. It combines a new way to deliver drugs, via a micro-needle patch, with drugs that are known to turn energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat. This innovative approach developed by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) reduced weight gain in mice on a high fat diet and their fat mass by more than 30 per cent over four weeks.
The new type of skin patch contains hundreds of micro-needles, each thinner than a human hair, which are loaded with the drug Beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist or another drug called thyroid hormone T3 triiodothyronine.
When the patch is pressed into the skin for about two minutes, these micro-needles become embedded in the skin and detach from the patch, which can then be removed. As the needles degrade, the drug molecules then slowly diffuse to the energy-storing white fat underneath the skin layer, turning them into energy-burning brown fats.
Transdermal Delivery of Anti-Obesity Compounds to Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue with Polymeric Microneedle Patches (DOI: 10.1002/smtd.201700269) (DX)
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday December 29 2017, @06:13PM
FWIW, and I don't know why, I believe that brown fat cells have a higher probability of turning cancerous than white fat cells. I'm sure this is based on something I read at some point, but it may have been a "that seems likely" kind of thought. But it is certain that we are born with a higher proportion of brown fat cells, and as we grow up the proportion shifts to a higher proportion of white fat cells. It's also been reported that one "easy" way to convert white fat cells to brown fat cells is to live for a month or so at a temperature of below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. So you don't need micro-needles or exogenous drugs.
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