{"id":1356,"date":"2026-03-12T09:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nutrimedia.info\/?post_type=news&p=1356"},"modified":"2026-03-09T21:13:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:13:32","slug":"microbiota-fat-beige-thermogenesis","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.nutrimedia.info\/en\/news\/microbiote-graisse-beige-thermogenese\/","title":{"rendered":"Beige fat: when the intestinal microbiota does the work that diet alone cannot do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transforming white fat into beige fat - in other words, converting passive storage tissue into active thermogenic tissue - has been one of the Holy Grails of metabolic research for the last ten years. A study published in Nature<\/em> by the teams of Kenya Honda and Ramnik Xavier has just shown that this is possible in mice. Not with a drug. With four bacterial strains and a low-protein diet. The mechanism involves a double signal via the liver, bile acids and the hormone FGF21. And there are human analogues.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beige fat: a quick reminder for those who missed the course<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

White fat stores energy. Brown and beige fat dissipate it in the form of heat,<\/strong> via activation of UCP1 - a mitochondrial uncoupling protein. This \u00abbeige\u00bb state of white adipose tissue is associated with improved insulin sensitivity and reduced cardiometabolic risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem: in adult humans, Active beige fat is rare,<\/strong> which varies from one individual to another, and which is difficult to induce in a sustainable way using conventional nutritional approaches. Hence the interest in understanding what activates it - and in particular what the intestinal microbiota<\/a> has to do with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study design: axenic mice, bacterial consortia, controlled diet<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The team worked with three types of mouse model: conventional mice, axenic mice (with no microbiota, known as germ-free<\/em>) and models colonised by defined bacterial consortia. All were fed either a standard diet or a low-protein diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First net result : <\/strong>the low-protein diet induced a marked increase in beige fat - but only in animals with a microbiota. In axenic mice on the same diet, there was no conversion. Protein restriction alone is not enough. The microbiota is a co-requisite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers then identified four human bacterial strains capable, in association with this diet, of triggering the conversion of white adipose tissue, with induction of beige adipocytes expressing UCP1 in subcutaneous and visceral deposits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A two-signal system: bile, FXR, liver and FGF21<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is the mechanistic core of the study - and the most interesting for B2B players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n