Obesity has now reached epidemic levels worldwide. Consequently, there has been an alarming upsurge in major non-communicable diseases including type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, coronary heart disease and cancer – all of which negatively impact life expectancy. Karin Gillner at Symcel AB describes the activation and expansion of brown adipose tissue (BAT) as a method which has been shown to have beneficial metabolic impact.