Human 'beige' fat cells implanted in mice can improve the animals' glucose metabolism and liver-fat profiles.

The presence of beige fat — brown fat cells within white fat-storing tissue — is correlated with better metabolic health, but it was not known whether beige fat causes this. To see whether there is a causal link, Silvia Corvera of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester and her colleagues grew human beige fat cells in the lab, placed them in mice, and found that they formed well-defined adipose tissue. Animals with the implants had lower blood-glucose levels, absorbed the glucose more quickly than did untreated controls, and had less fat in their livers.

The results suggest that beige fat could have therapeutic use, the authors say.

Nature Med. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nm.4031 (2016)