The attitude of most Canadians to “adipose tissue”—fat—tends to be pretty straightforward.

It’s bad.

But for University of Ottawa researcher Dr. Pascal Imbeault, the issue is a lot more complicated. “At best,” he says, “people regard adipose tissue as a sort of passive cargo space for storing excess energy. But fat secretes a lot of proteins that are involved in appetite and cardiovascular behaviour. It isn’t passive—it’s a very active organ.”

Dr. Imbeault is a lead researcher at the Behavioural and Metabolic Research Unit, based at Montfort Hospital in Ottawa. Along with two other lead scientists, he’s looking at the causes of obesity and potential strategies for combating it—a quest that covers a lot of territory, from practical
matters of nutrition and exercise to the complexities of metabolic chemistry.

Dr. Imbeault’s research also takes him in another interesting direction: north. Over the last two years, he’s spent eight weeks with the people of the Wapekeka and Kasabonika First Nations, 450 kilometres north of Sioux Lookout. His work with these remote communities gives him a unique window onto a fundamental change that’s taking place in human eating habits. In just 50 years, the people of this area have made the transition from a hunter-gatherer diet—a menu that shaped the evolution of human metabolism for hundreds of millennia—to modern processed food. He’s hoping that his findings will help address the rising incidence of obesity and diabetes among First Nation peoples—and offer clues for treatment and prevention in the larger Canadian population.

While a significant and essential part of Dr. Imbeault’s work is low-tech, involving nutritional surveys and exercise regimens, it’s complemented by some very fundamental science and some sophisticated tools. Using a lab equipped in part by an investment from the Ontario Innovation Trust, he’s investigating some of the important and surprising roles adipose tissue plays in our bodies, and how those roles are affected by diet, exercise and other factors. In one set of experiments, for example, Dr. Imbeault has shown that exposure to low temperatures produces more of an important fat-derived protein with antidiabetic and anticarcinogenic properties.

The experiments made use of a refrigerated suit designed by an Ottawa company for soldiers in Afghanistan. In an intriguing development, the cold suit research has attracted the attention of a large sportswear manufacturer interested in a potential consumer version of the outfit as a weight-loss and exercise product.

If the suit works out, it will be just one more way that putting flab in the lab may lead to better health for Canadians.

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