National researchers in cell biology have identified proteins that turn normal skin cells into brown fat cells, which use energy to generate heat.

“Energy only gets burned when your heart beats or your muscles walk up a flight of stairs or when you breathe,” said Clay Semenkovich, chief of the division of endocrinology, metabolism and lipid research at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Brown fat cells do not store energy. They burn it without carrying out a function, such as beating the heart or walking, Semenkovich said.

Until recently, scientists believed that only animals and human babies had brown fat cells. But researchers discovered brown fat cells in adults when PET scans showed higher rates of glucose metabolism in patients who had been waiting in cold waiting rooms at their doctors’ offices.

Brown fat evolved to help people and animals in cold environments stay warm, Semenkovich said.

“People were freezing in the waiting rooms, and they were actually turning on brown fat,” he said.

The presence of brown fat cells in human adults carries implications for obesity research.

“People who are overweight have much less active brown fat,” Semenkovich said.

Researchers at Harvard engineered skin cells from mice and humans to become brown fat. This technology requires further research, though, before scientists can test it on humans.

“There’s always a disadvantage to tricking the body into doing things that it probably should not do,” Semenkovich said.

With brown fat, that disadvantage stems from the heat that the cells release. The excess heat could lead to dangerous and possibly deadly fevers in humans.

In the early 20th century, a chemist identified 2,4-dinitrophenol, a chemical that produced the same effects as brown fat cells.

“At one point somebody estimated that there were perhaps 500,000 people who had taken doses of this industrial chemical,” Semenkovich said. “It really did make them lose weight, but it also made them show up in emergency rooms with such dangerously high fevers that they died.”

Brown fat cell technology will require extensive research into controlling heat release.

“I want a therapy for people who are morbidly obese…but we’re going to have to be very careful about the way this is done or we’re going to cause a whole new set of problems,” Semenkovich said.

Weight loss research has implications for nutrition as well. Connie Diekman, director of University nutrition and former president of the American Dietetic Association, sees students on campus attempting to lose weight by changing their food intake and exercising.

“What many students get caught up in, though, is it doesn’t happen as quickly as they want, so they wonder about the fast loss, whether it’s the pills, whether it’s the diet, whatever it might be,” Diekman said.

Diekman said that while obesity research is essential to provide an understanding of metabolism, the public should approach weight loss techniques cautiously.

“You want to follow guidelines that are based upon what we know,” Diekman said. “Don’t change every time a new research study comes out.”

Currently, the scientific evidence shows that food changes are the proven method of losing weight.

“Physical activity alone will not do it,” Diekman said.

Diekman works with chefs on campus to create healthy food options for students. She also works to educate the University community on healthy food choices by writing informational brochures placed on the tables at dining locations such as Wohl Dining.

Sophomore Stephanie Trimboli finds that eating healthily on campus is “easy if you want to,” but she does not see much evidence of the administration’s attempts to educate students on healthful eating choices.

Despite nutritional guidelines, the implications of new weight loss research remain appealing to the public.

“It’s so seductive to people to be able to take something that will solve their problems without having to exercise [or eat less] that someone will always wind up doing it,” Semenkovich said.

From Oct. 19-23, Washington University will participate in a national “Fat Talk Free Week,” in which participating students will sign pledges agreeing to think positively about their bodies.

The Reflections Body Image Program of Tri Delta created Fat Talk Free Week last year. On the University’s campus, the student group Reflections—not associated with Tri Delta’s Reflections Program—will run the event.

Reflections promotes positive body image and spreads eating disorder awareness.

“Nowadays, these issues are really starting to become very prevalent, and more people are starting to pay attention,” said senior Tess deBlanc-Knowles, event chair for Fat Talk Free Week at the University. “I think it’s really important that we’re on campus now.”

Fat Talk Free Week aims to ban the use of the word “fat” and other terms associated with a negative body image.

“Our modern society, especially on college campuses, is [a] breeding ground for negative body image,” deBlanc-Knowles said. “We really have to cultivate a positive body image for every person to be comfortable with themselves.”

The standards for a positive body image are not extreme or even out of reach.

“A healthy body image is someone who is comfortable in his or her body,” Steve Kraushaar, staff psychologist at the Habif Health and Wellness Center, wrote in an e-mail to Student Life.

Students with healthy body images “are not spending excessive time focused on their body that may result in interference with academic and social functioning or general quality of life,” Kraushaar wrote.

During Fat Talk Free Week, participants will wear pins as reminders to “be cognizant, for this one week, of how many times a day they think negative thoughts about themselves or others,” deBlanc-Knowles said.

Students may participate by signing pledges to be “fat talk free” for the week.

“The Underpass itself will be a blank petition,” said senior and Reflections president Sara Silbert. “We’re also going to have a big board outside the DUC. Every day, there will be those places that people can come sign.”

Fat Talk Free Week has both short and long term goals for improving body image.

Reflections would like to see students refrain from thinking negatively about their bodies, “even if it’s just for that one week,” deBlanc-Knowles said. “Hopefully, that’ll spark something in them to try and change their thinking so they think about themselves in a more positive way.”

Silbert added that one objective of Fat Talk Free Week is to encourage students to appreciate their bodies and stop comparing themselves to others.

Struggles with body image are not uncommon on college campuses.

“85 percent of college females believe that they are either slightly or seriously overweight,” Kraushaar wrote. “Males tend to have less body image concerns, however, they can still be quite significant.”

Body image concerns may be related to the media. Kraushaar noted that women’s magazines tend to have 10 times more advertisements about body image and weight loss than men’s magazines. Many of these magazines emphasize weight loss over health.

“It is important to note,” he continued, “that far fewer individuals will act on [body image issues] with disordered eating behaviors. Some studies suggest that 10 percent of female students have engaged in self-induced vomiting.”

Fat Talk Free Week might help students begin the process of improving their body images.

“Beginning the process of accepting their bodies may result in [students’] engaging in therapy or other valuable resources,” Kraushaar wrote.

Other universities in Missouri planning to participate in Fat Talk Free Week include Saint Louis University, the University of Missouri – St. Louis and five others.

Wrote Kraushaar: “Anytime we break down prejudice about words that have been historically inflammatory or hurtful we are moving in the right direction.”