Initial clinical trials of a new fat-reducing treatment have shown promising results; This treatment follows an unconventional approach. Instead of simply reducing the size of fat cells, as most weight loss strategies do, this treatment causes them to completely destroy themselves in a safe and natural way.
According to the "Science Alert" scientific website, the new drug is known as "CBL-514" and is given by injection. In addition to its effectiveness in reducing subcutaneous fat, evidence indicates that it can also reduce visceral fat (fat stored deep in the body around internal organs).
The drug relies on stimulating a process known as “programmed cell death,” which is a mechanism that leads to fat cells destroying themselves in a targeted manner.
Researchers hope that this approach will contribute to achieving more sustainable fat loss, especially in people who regain weight after stopping weight-loss medications.
The clinical trials included two groups of participants, the first included 107 people, and the second included 173 people, and the results showed a decrease in subcutaneous fat in the majority of participants who received the treatment.
In a subsequent analysis of data from 41 participants, people who received the injections for up to 12 weeks recorded an average reduction in visceral fat volume of 12.01 percent.
“We expect patients to be satisfied with the aesthetic results, such as a flatter abdomen due to the loss of subcutaneous fat,” says Timothy Garvey, an endocrinologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who led the study.
He adds: “But what is more important from a health perspective is the reduction in body weight, loss of visceral fat, and improvement in blood pressure, cholesterol levels and the like, which are expected to accompany the use of this treatment.”
Despite the encouraging initial results, Justin Rochford, a metabolic researcher at the University of Aberdeen, who was not involved in the study, warned of the need to ensure that the treatment does not increase the risk of fat accumulation in other organs.
He stressed that proving the safety of these aspects will be essential before the drug is considered an effective option for treating obesity.
Researchers are currently working on larger trials with additional numbers of participants and longer follow-up periods to evaluate the sustainability of fat loss and the overall health impact of treatment.
Tiny plastic fragments make their way deep into our bodies in alarming amounts, particularly through food and drink. But research suggests that there is something that can actually be done to reduce this.
Scientists in China have discovered a simple and effective way to remove these particles from water, starting with something that is already on the stove in your kitchen.
In 2024, the team conducted tests on fresh water and hard water from the tap, which is water rich in minerals. The researchers added nano- and microplastic particles to the water, then boiled it and filtered out the sediments that formed.
Tests have shown that boiling water and then filtering it can make a big difference in the amount of plastic pollutants that may enter the body when water is consumed.
The researchers explained in their published study: “Nano- and microplastic particles in tap water, which escape central water treatment systems, are raising increasing global concern, because they pose potential health risks to humans through water consumption.”
In some cases, the boiling and filtration process removed up to 90 percent of nano- and microplastics, although the effectiveness varied depending on the type of water, according to Science Alert. The big advantage of this method is that most people can apply it using tools they already have in their kitchens.
Biomedical engineer Ximin Yu, from Guangzhou Medical University, and his colleagues explained: “This simple strategy based on boiling water can remove nano- and microplastic pollution from household tap water, and it can also contribute to reducing the entry of these particles into people’s bodies through water consumption in a harmless way.”
A greater amount of nano- and microplastics were removed from hard water samples, which naturally form limescale, or calcium carbonate, when heated.
This chalky substance, commonly seen inside household kettles, forms on the surface of plastic as changes in temperature cause calcium carbonate to emerge from solution, trapping the plastic fragments within a layer of deposits.
“Our results show that the sedimentation efficiency of plastic nanoparticles increases as the hardness of water increases when boiled,” the team wrote. They added: “For example, the efficiency increased from 34 percent at a concentration of 80 milligrams per liter, to 84 percent and 90 percent at concentrations of 180 and 300 milligrams per liter of calcium carbonate, respectively.”
Even in fresh water, which contains less dissolved calcium carbonate, about a quarter of the nano- and microplastics from the water could be captured.
The researchers said that any plastic parts covered in limescale can be removed using a simple filter, such as the stainless steel mesh used to filter tea.
“Drinking boiled water appears to be a viable long-term strategy for reducing global exposure to nano- and microplastics,” Yu and his team wrote. They added: “But drinking boiled water is often considered a local tradition, and is only widespread in a few regions.”
Small pieces of plastic are an increasing problem. Microplastics originate from clothing, kitchen utensils, personal care products, and countless other everyday items.
The team that conducted this study wants to conduct further research to find out how boiling water can prevent synthetic materials from entering our bodies, and perhaps limit some of the troubling effects of microplastic particles that have begun to appear.
“Our results confirmed the feasibility of a very practical strategy to reduce human exposure to nano- and microplastics, and laid the foundation for future studies with a much larger number of samples,” Yu and his colleagues concluded. The study was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
People with “active” brown fat in their bodies are significantly less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety, according to a pioneering study.
In a study that included more than 100,000 participants, the largest of its kind, scientists found a direct link between the presence of active deposits of brown fat and a reduced risk of developing a group of metabolic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and mental health disorders, according to what the British newspaper “The Independent” reported.
Brown fat (brown adipose tissue) is a beneficial type of body fat that acts as an “internal oven” to burn calories and produce heat in order to maintain body temperature in cold climates. Brown fat is found in areas around the neck, armpits and chest, and is a tissue rich in specialized protein that can bypass the body's usual energy storage mechanism.
Unlike white fat, which stores excess calories, brown fat works in the opposite way, pulling sugar and fatty acids directly from the bloodstream, which means it actually burns other types of body fat.
This process, during which brown fat begins to burn white fat, can be activated through exposure to cold, physical activity, and some hormones.
Although scientists have long known that brown fat helps keep newborns warm before they can shiver, it was previously thought to disappear after infancy, until a landmark study in late 2009 demonstrated that adults retain it.
The results, published in the journal Nature, were described as “one of the most comprehensive, and perhaps important, studies in this field,” according to Dr. Shingo Kajimura, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School.
During the study, researchers found that people with active brown fat were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and they also discovered an unexpected “protective effect” against depression and anxiety.
The study concluded, as a whole, that the more brown fat people have, the more protection it provides them from a range of disorders and diseases.
The mechanisms by which brown fat may help prevent mental disorders are still under research. “One possible explanation is that people with brown fat have a healthier metabolic profile and therefore have fewer psychological problems,” said Dr. Nicolas Gomez Pano, a physician and scientific researcher at Rockefeller University, and one of the study’s co-authors.
Experts point out the need to conduct further studies to prove a direct causal relationship. “We need more work to prove that brown fat is actually the cause of all these benefits, but the study is still interesting and has surprising results,” said Dr. Irfan Lodhi, a molecular biologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
Finding practical ways to enhance the activity of brown fat remains a challenge, as exposure to cold is not practical in all cases, and the medications currently used to activate it may cause side effects.
But by analyzing participants' prescriptions, the researchers found that the common high blood pressure drug losartan boosts brown fat activity in cell and animal models, opening the door to further research.
“We hope that we can use this type of data as a platform for discovering new biological information, and perhaps to repurpose already approved drugs to activate brown fat in humans and capture the resulting benefits,” said Dr. Paul Cohen, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Metabolism at Rockefeller University in New York.
