Evidence mapPaperPMID 38459186Full record

ReviewNature metabolism2024

Futile lipid cycling: from biochemistry to physiology.

Anand Kumar Sharma, Radhika Khandelwal, Christian Wolfrum

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nature metabolism, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
33citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
17.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Guideline
  2. Article
  3. Improving incretin-mediated body weight loss via energy expenditure.Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM · 2026
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Advances in research on thermogenic substances.Journal of physiological anthropology · 2026
    Review
  7. Review
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  13. Review
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  19. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Anand Kumar SharmaLaboratory of Translational Nutrition Biology, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland. anand.sharma@hest.ethz.ch.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7532-5983
Radhika KhandelwalLaboratory of Translational Nutrition Biology, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland.
Christian WolfrumLaboratory of Translational Nutrition Biology, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland. christian-wolfrum@ethz.ch.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3862-6805
ETH Zurich · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In the healthy state, the fat stored in our body isn't just inert. Rather, it is dynamically mobilized to maintain an adequate concentration of fatty acids (FAs) in our bloodstream. Our body tends to produce excess FAs to ensure that the FA availability is not limiting. The surplus FAs are actively re-esterified into glycerides, initiating a cycle of breakdown and resynthesis of glycerides. This cycle consumes energy without generating a new product and is commonly referred to as the 'futile lipid cycle' or the glyceride/FA cycle. Contrary to the notion that it's a wasteful process, it turns out this cycle is crucial for systemic metabolic homeostasis. It acts as a control point in intra-adipocyte and inter-organ cross-talk, a metabolic rheostat, an energy sensor and a lipid diversifying mechanism. In this Review, we discuss the metabolic regulation and physiological implications of the glyceride/FA cycle and its mechanistic underpinnings.

Indexed as

Fatty AcidsLipid MetabolismAnimalsEnergy MetabolismGlycerolHomeostasisHumansFatty AcidsGlycerol

Identifiers

PMID38459186
OpenAlexW4392597304

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.