New Scientist
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Easy weight loss always comes with a catch. A widely taken plant extract has helped obese mice burn off the calories without exercise – but there are concerns over its safety.
The fight against obesity gained ground in 2009 with the news that our bodies carry small deposits of brown adipose tissue – a type of fat that burns calories by turning energy into heat. Since then, researchers have been looking for ways to ramp up brown fat activity to realise the dream of weight loss without exercise or counting calories.
Enter berberine. A plant extract found in many Chinese herbal medicines, it has been linked to reductions in insulin resistance in animals. Guang Ning at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine have now shown that it helps weight control in obese mice by both activating brown fat and helping turn ordinary white fat brown. Read more on newscientist.com…
