Health column

Not all body fat is the same. Researchers divide adipose tissue into white fat, brown fat and beige fat according to colour and role.

Three colours of fat

• White fat — Stores surplus energy in the form of triglycerides. Most belly fat and subcutaneous fat is white fat.
• Brown fat — Rich in mitochondria, which gives it a brown colour, and uses energy to produce heat instead of storing it. Adults retain some of it around the neck and collarbones, among other places.
• Beige fat — Found within white fat, and when stimulated by something like cold, it turns into cells that produce heat like brown fat. This change is called “browning.”

The key heat-producing protein is UCP1 (uncoupling protein 1). It lets the energy that mitochondria make flow out as heat instead of being stored. That is why browning has long drawn attention in obesity and metabolism research.

What is 4-HBA?

4-HBA (4-hydroxybenzoic acid) is a simple phenolic acid found in many plants. In our bodies, it is also used as a building block for coenzyme Q10, which is used for cellular energy production. In the leaf of Ribes fasciculatum, a plant native to Korea (known by the Korean herbal name chilhaemok), it is used as a marker compound for checking raw material quality. The chilhaemok sold on the market is mostly stem and root, so using the leaf as a raw material is rare.

The browning pathway the research revealed

Researchers at the Kyung Hee University College of Korean Medicine gave 4-HBA, a major component of black raspberry, to white fat cells and to mice made obese with a high-fat diet. UCP1 and browning markers (such as PRDM16) increased, and AMPK, the cell’s energy sensor, was activated, which set DRP1, which handles mitochondrial fission, in motion. When the researchers blocked AMPK or DRP1 with drugs, browning did not occur.

In summary, the sequence “4-HBA → AMPK activation → mitochondrial fission via DRP1 → browning” was confirmed in cell and mouse experiments.

Research on Ribes fasciculatum itself

There is also a study in which mice were fed Ribes fasciculatum extract. Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and elsewhere reported that the extract raised UCP1 signaling in the fat tissue of high-fat-diet mice and raised their body temperature, and this study pointed to afzelin as the active compound. This means that several compounds can act together even within a single plant.

Points to keep in mind when reading

Browning is a concept that explains a change happening inside fat cells; it does not mean that eating a particular food will burn fat. The basics of body fat management are still diet control and steady physical activity.

Partner company products that use Ribes fasciculatum leaf