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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2002;288:1226.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Although scientists have long suspected that the brain prevents weight gain by firing up a fat-burning furnace that turns excess calories into heat, little direct evidence existed to support this widely held hypothesis. Now, a new study in mice, conducted by researchers in the United States and Italy, has found that such a mechanism—known as diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT)—exists (Science. 2002;297:843-845).

A mouse (foreground) genetically altered so it lacks receptors believed to play a role in burning fat quickly became obese when put on a high-fat diet. (Photo credit: E. Bachman, MD, PhD; B. Lowell, MD, PhD)

DIT is thought to occur when neurotransmitters such as epinephrine and norepinephrine released from sympathetic nerve endings spark fat burning by acting on -adrenergic receptors (-AR) present on target tissues. To test this hypothesis, the investigators developed genetically altered mice that lack -ARs. They found that when . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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