Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. E-mail: min. Clinically, low and moderate alcohol intake improves human health with protection against metabolic syndromes, including type 2 diabetes; however, mechanisms that are associated with these effects remain to be elucidated.
Alcohol intake prevented body weight gain, induced the formation of uncoupling protein 1βpositive beige adipocytes in white adipose tissue, and increased thermogenesis in mice, which is associated with decreased serum glucose and triacylglycerol levels. Mechanistically, alcohol intake increased RA levels in serum and adipose tissue, which was associated with increased expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase family 1 subfamily A1 Aldh1a1. When RA receptor-Ξ± signaling was conditionally blocked in platelet-derived growth factor receptor-Ξ±-positive adipose progenitors, the effects of alcohol on beige adipogenesis were largely abolished.
Finally, moderate alcohol prevented high-fat diet-induced obesity and metabolic dysfunction. Obesity is a worsening problem worldwide and is closely linked to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and a number of cancers.
In the United States, more than one third of the population is obese with another one third classified as overweight. Taken together, the occurrence of these conditions produces huge medical costs and overall loss of human capital 1 ; therefore, it has become critically important to control the obesity epidemic. Adipose tissues can be separated into 3 major types: white adipose tissue WAT; white fat , brown adipose tissue BAT; brown fat , and brown-like adipose tissue beige fat 2.
The function of white fat is to store extra energy in the form of triacylglycerols, which are closely associated with obesity. In contrast, brown fat is mainly found in the interscapular region and dissipates energy as heat 3.
