Army intends grunts to lose weight by transplanting extra fat?

This goes against all logic, but then again, perhaps the scientists in the Army know far more than I do. In their quest for smaller and leaner soldiers, they decided to give their General Infantry additional fat cells through a transplant. Having received a green light to churn out transplantable brown fat cells, the whole idea is to accelerate rapid weight loss. Since soldiers who carry extra weight around their tummies are not exactly the epitome of a fighting machine, there must be a faster and better way to lose the fat instead of long runs, grueling drills and leg lifts. The solution? Adding brown fat tissue to one’s body, where the Army’s research award notes state that “Increasing [brown fat] by about 50 grams in obese patients could induce strong weight loss and improve metabolic status.”

The whole idea would be to isolate a brown adipose progenitor cell, generate more of these in a petri dish somewhere, and then offer “transplantation therapy” to personnel who carry more than their fair share of weight. No idea on whether this unique potential method of weight loss might make it to everyday slimming centers, but one can definitely hope, can we not?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Military
Tags: military