Brown Adipose Tissue in Human Infants.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review of physiological mechanisms and existing literature without systematic review methodology or primary data.
PubMed 29675580 · doi:10.1007/164_2018_118
What was done
This narrative review synthesized historical and modern literature regarding the biological role, characteristics, and physiological importance of brown adipose tissue (BAT) for thermal regulation in human newborns.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data, effect sizes, or study counts. It qualitatively notes that human newborns have high surface area-to-volume ratios and lack the skeletal muscle mass necessary for effective shivering thermogenesis, relying instead on BAT to convert chemically stored fatty acids and glucose directly into heat via non-shivering thermogenesis.
Why it matters
Understanding the physiology of infant brown adipose tissue clarifies how neonates maintain core temperature in cold extrauterine environments and highlights areas where mechanistic and clinical evidence remains sparse.
Limits
The abstract provides no primary data, systematic search criteria, or quantitative meta-analysis. The authors explicitly note that published literature investigating BAT specifically in human infants remains limited despite over a century of research.
Cited by
- supports Human infants rely on metabolically active brown adipose tissue for thermogenesis because they cannot initially shiver.