Why Brown Fat Matters to People with Multiple Sclerosis and Fibromyalgia

A new word has entered my vocabulary: mitochondrial. If you follow multiple sclerosis and/or fibromyalgia, then I predict that one day a medical professional will say this word to you.

The View TV show had a segment about "brown fat," Monday. Apparently it was thought that only infants had this type of fat, used to keep them warm. New technologies have discovered brown fat in adults. As I watched the areas where the brown fat resides it struck me that these are the trigger points used to diagnose fibromyalgia.

Quoting the always perfect (not) Wikipedia: "Brown adipose tissue (BAT) or brown fat is one of the two types of adipose tissue (the other being white adipose tissue) that is present in many newborn or hibernating mammals.[1] Its primary function is to generate body heat. In contrast to white adipocytes (fat cells), which contain a single lipid droplet, brown adipocytes contain numerous smaller droplets and a much higher number of mitochondria. Brown fat also contains more capillaries than white fat, since it has a greater need for oxygen than most tissues."

I knew I had seen that word, mitochondria, during my MS research. It seems that an energy deficient state has been implicated in the degeneration of axons, the pathological correlate of disease progression as in multiple sclerosis. Mitochondria extremely efficient producers of energy and have a crucial role in calcium homeostasis. Scientists from Oxford University have analysed the density and function of mitochondria using immunohistochemistry and histochemistry, respectively, in chronic active and inactive lesions in progressive multiple sclerosis and they found a decrease in the proper functioning of these cells.

Many people with MS also have fibromyalgia (FMS)---stay tuned for new research into brown fat (looking for ways to lose weight) and the extension into IMPORTANT and serious, disabling conditions.