Obesity and its associated metabolic syndrome continue to be a health epidemic in westernized societies and is\ncatching up in the developing world. Despite such increases, little headway has been made to reverse adverse\nweight gain in the global population. Few medical options exist for the treatment of obesity which points to the\nnecessity for exploration of anti-obesity therapies including pharmaceutical and nutraceutical compounds. Defects\nin brown adipose tissue, a major energy dissipating organ, has been identified in the obese and is hypothesized to\ncontribute to the overall metabolic deficit observed in obesity. Not surprisingly, considerable attention has been\nplaced on the discovery of methods to activate brown adipose tissue. A variety of plant-derived, natural\ncompounds have shown promise to regulate brown adipose tissue activity and enhance the lipolytic and catabolic\npotential of white adipose tissue. Through activation of the sympathetic nervous system, thyroid hormone\nsignaling, and transcriptional regulation of metabolism, natural compounds such as capsaicin and resveratrol may\nprovide a relatively safe and effective option to upregulate energy expenditure. Through utilizing the energy\ndissipating potential of such nutraceutical compounds, the possibility exists to provide a therapeutic solution to\ncorrect the energy imbalance that underlines obesity.
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