ArticleThe New England journal of medicine2009
Identification and importance of brown adipose tissue in adult humans.
Article in The New England journal of medicine, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 5 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 2,284 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Brown Adipose Tissue Activity in Response to Semaglutide Administered to Obese Subjects.
Collection of Human Tissue Samples From the Neck Region for Characterization of Its Molecular and Biochemical Signatures
BAT as a Therapeutic for the Metabolic and Cardiac Dysfunction With Senescence Pilot
Change of Adipose Tissues and Triglyceride in Obese Patients With Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease After Bariatric Surgery or Life-style Intervention
Study of the Effect of Capsinoid Supplementation on Brown Adipose Tissue in Obese Adolescents
Who cites it
2,284 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 4,353 citations in OpenAlex.
- Japan Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma 2025.Endocrine journal · 2026Guideline
- Thermogenic Differentiation of Human Adipocyte Precursors in Culture: A Systematic Review.Cells · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of habitual cold exposure on brown adipose tissue activity in Arctic adults: a systematic review.International journal of circumpolar health · 2025Pooled it
- Towards a consensus atlas of human and mouse adipose tissue at single-cell resolution.Nature metabolism · 2025Guideline
- Single intake of matcha increases brown adipose tissue activity in young women with low thermogenesis.Physiological reports · 2026Trial
- Prolonged β2-agonist treatment enhances muscle-specific glucose uptake in individuals with overweight and obesity: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.Nature communications · 2026Trial
- Changes in circulating bile acid levels during cold exposure are associated with brown adipose tissue in humans: a secondary analysis from the ACTIBATE study.Journal of physiology and biochemistry · 2026Trial
- A nitroalkene derivative of salicylate, SANA, induces creatine-dependent thermogenesis and promotes weight loss.Nature metabolism · 2025Trial
- Cold induces increased ad libitum energy intake independent of changes in energy expenditure: a controlled crossover trial in adults.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Trial
- Phytocompounds That Target White Adipose Tissue for Weight Loss: A Review Spanning From Ucp1 Induction in Rodents to Human Clinical Trials.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Review
- Understanding adipocyte heterogeneity across species, depot, and disease.Biochemical Society transactions · 2026Review
- EID1 overexpression in brown adipose tissue enhances cold-induced thermogenesis in male mice.iScience · 2026Article
- Improving incretin-mediated body weight loss via energy expenditure.Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM · 2026Review
- Psoas and pectoralis muscle indices and brown adipose tissue activity may be prognostic indicators in older patients with multiple myeloma.International journal of hematology · 2026Article
- Adipose Tissue Heterogeneity: Depot-Specific Location and Functional Specialization in Obesity-Related Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- UCP1-Dependent Thermogenic Adipose Tissue in Human Disease: Adipose-Centered Mechanisms, Biomarker Limitations, and Translational Perspectives.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Macrophage-derived itaconate is a negative regulator of adipose tissue thermogenesis.Nature metabolism · 2026Article
- Alternative Receptor Signaling for the Selective and Multifaceted Regulation of Human Brown Adipocytes.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Itaconate as a paracrine brake on thermogenesis.Nature metabolism · 2026Article
- PCPE-1 promotes cardiac fibrosis with aging and obesity.JCI insight · 2026Article
2,224 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundObesity results from an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. In rodents and newborn humans, brown adipose tissue helps regulate energy expenditure by thermogenesis mediated by the expression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), but brown adipose tissue has been considered to have no physiologic relevance in adult humans.
methodsWe analyzed 3640 consecutive (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) positron-emission tomographic and computed tomographic (PET-CT) scans performed for various diagnostic reasons in 1972 patients for the presence of substantial depots of putative brown adipose tissue. Such depots were defined as collections of tissue that were more than 4 mm in diameter, had the density of adipose tissue according to CT, and had maximal standardized uptake values of (18)F-FDG of at least 2.0 g per milliliter, indicating high metabolic activity. Clinical indexes were recorded and compared with those of date-matched controls. Immunostaining for UCP1 was performed on biopsy specimens from the neck and supraclavicular regions in patients undergoing surgery.
resultsSubstantial depots of brown adipose tissue were identified by PET-CT in a region extending from the anterior neck to the thorax. Tissue from this region had UCP1-immunopositive, multilocular adipocytes indicating brown adipose tissue. Positive scans were seen in 76 of 1013 women (7.5%) and 30 of 959 men (3.1%), corresponding to a female:male ratio greater than 2:1 (P<0.001). Women also had a greater mass of brown adipose tissue and higher (18)F-FDG uptake activity. The probability of the detection of brown adipose tissue was inversely correlated with years of age (P<0.001), outdoor temperature at the time of the scan (P=0.02), beta-blocker use (P<0.001), and among older patients, body-mass index (P=0.007).
conclusionsDefined regions of functionally active brown adipose tissue are present in adult humans, are more frequent in women than in men, and may be quantified noninvasively with the use of (18)F-FDG PET-CT. Most important, the amount of brown adipose tissue is inversely correlated with body-mass index, especially in older people, suggesting a potential role of brown adipose tissue in adult human metabolism.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.