Laboratory rodents and cold-adapted animals in the wild use a significant amount of the energy derived from food intake for heat generation. Thermogenesis involving mitochondrial uncoupling in the brown adipose tissue differs quantitatively in mice, humans, and cold-adapted animals and could be an important ally to combat obesity if humans were prepared to deviate slightly from thermoneutral living conditions to activate this pathway.
Keywords: cold exposure; metabolism; mitochondrial uncoupling.