MRL Scientists identify an unexpected small effect of activity
on energy expenditure in mice The balance between energy
expenditure and energy intake is vital to maintaining stable
body weight. Therefore, understanding the processes that
contribute to energy expenditure is vital in order to interpret
the results of studies into the causes and consequences of
obesity. While most mammals expend energy by exercising more, by
shivering and by activating heat production in brown fat (a
process called non-shivering thermogenesis), the relative
importance of each of these is not well understood. In research
published in the journal Cell Metabolism, studies led by Dr Sam
Virtue and Professor Vidal-Puig at the University of Cambridge
Metabolic Research Laboratories Disease Model Core demonstrate
that how much a mouse moves does not appear to affect how much
energy it expends at temperatures below its thermal neutral zone
(the environmental temperature at which an animal does not need
to make heat in order to maintain