Health · Medical Research · 7 hrs ago
Losartan linked to brown fat activity in new study
Researchers studying medical records and scans from more than 100,000 patients at a US cancer center found that people taking blood pressure drugs including losartan were more likely to have detectable brown fat.
Brown fat burns energy to produce heat, and earlier research has linked it with lower rates of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
In this study, people with detectable brown fat were also less likely to have anxiety or depression, although the data cannot show that brown fat caused these differences.
In experiments, losartan increased brown fat activity in mice, which used more energy and produced more heat.
The drug’s effect on brown fat appeared to use a different molecular pathway from the one that lowers blood pressure, raising the possibility of treatments for people with normal blood pressure.
The findings do not show that losartan improves health by activating brown fat in people, and the human data came from patients diagnosed with cancer, most of them women.
Researchers say further studies are needed to test the findings in broader groups and determine whether brown fat activation can benefit people.
A study linked losartan, a blood pressure drug, to a greater likelihood of detectable brown fat in patient records.
Brown fat burns energy to produce heat and was associated with lower rates of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, anxiety and depression.
In experiments, losartan increased brown fat activity in mice and cultured brown fat cells.
The researchers said the drug’s effects on brown fat followed a different molecular pathway from its blood-pressure effects.
The findings do not show that losartan activates brown fat in people or that doing so would improve their health.
- Who
- Researchers from Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center studied patient records and conducted experiments.
- What
- The study linked losartan to detectable brown fat in patient records and found increased brown fat activity in laboratory tests and mice.
- When
- Published on October 18, 2026.
- Where
- Patient records and scans came from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; laboratory research was conducted by the study teams.
- Why
- The researchers investigated whether losartan could help activate brown fat, which burns energy to produce heat.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Paul Cohen’s lab examined roughly 50,000 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center patients and linked brown fat with lower odds of cardiometabolic diseases.
The study linking losartan with brown fat findings was published in Nature.
- Patient records
- More than 100,000 patients in the SciTechDaily report
- Detectable brown fat
- Nearly 8,900 participants in the ScienceAlert report
- Drug
- Losartan, a blood pressure medication
- Human findings
- Brown fat was associated with lower rates of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, anxiety and depression
- Mouse experiments
- Losartan-treated mice used more energy and produced more heat
- Study caveat
- The drug’s brown-fat activation was demonstrated in mice, not people
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What people are saying
The fact that its different effects are mediated by different molecular pathways is advantageous, since it means we could potentially isolate them in future therapies.
That way you would be able to stimulate brown fat in people with normal blood pressure.