How to Use brown fat in a Sentence
brown fat
noun-
In order to generate heat, the brown fat cells need to draw on energy reserves stored in other fat cells.
—Diana Hubbell, Popular Science, 10 Sep. 2025
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In infants, brown fat helps maintain body temperature.
—Claudio Villanueva, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2026
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Instead of storing calories, brown fat dissipates them.
—Claudio Villanueva, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2026
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It's even being studied as a promising obesity treatment, where it was shown to boost brown fat burn and encourage white fat to turn brown in mice.
—New Atlas, 16 Nov. 2025
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In humans, brown fat is most prevalent in infants and primarily located in stores between our shoulder blades.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 15 Jan. 2026
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This study suggests that the brain’s recollection of cold can act as a switch, turning on the metabolic furnace of brown fat even when the surrounding air is mild.
—William A. Haseltine, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
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Exposure to cold temperatures naturally triggers the brain to stimulate brown fat cells and generate heat.
—Claudio Villanueva, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2026
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If activating brown fat increases energy expenditure, could it be harnessed to treat obesity?
—Claudio Villanueva, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2026
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Studies in animals – and observations in humans – show that cold exposure not only activates brown fat but also increases appetite.
—Claudio Villanueva, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2026
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People with more active brown fat tend to have better glucose control, healthier cholesterol levels and lower risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease.
—William A. Haseltine, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
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Obesity is also correlated with lower levels of brown fat and higher levels of white fat, Spiegelman says, but more research is needed to fully understand why.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 15 Jan. 2026
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But imaging studies in the late 2000s revealed that many adults retain metabolically active brown fat, particularly in the neck and upper chest.
—Claudio Villanueva, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2026
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These cells arise within white fat depots under certain conditions – such as cold exposure or specific hormonal signals – and acquires some of the heat-producing properties of brown fat.
—Claudio Villanueva, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2026
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Current strategies to activate brown fat, such as extended cold exposure, are often uncomfortable and impractical.
—William A. Haseltine, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
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The study, led by researchers at Rockefeller University, builds on previous work in humans showing a correlation between brown fat and lower blood pressure.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 15 Jan. 2026
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One 2014 study published in the journal Diabetes found that the resting metabolic rate in healthy people with detectable levels of brown fat increased by 14% after cold exposure, though most estimates hover around five to 11%, according to Dada.
—Caroline Tien, SELF, 15 Jan. 2026
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In 2021 Paul Cohen, an associate professor at Rockefeller University who studies obesity, published a paper showing that people with more brown fat were less likely to have type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease and high blood pressure.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 15 Jan. 2026
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'brown fat.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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