中文摘要：

肥胖在发达国家和发展中国家广泛流行，成为世界性公共卫生问题．寻找安全、有效的措施拮抗肥胖形成已势在必行．近年来的研究证实了成年人体内存在功能性褐色脂肪组织，但是其活性却呈现随年龄增加而递减的趋势．与褐色脂肪组织不同，白色脂肪组织人体内分布广泛．最近的研究证实白色脂肪组织具有很强的可塑性，在特定情况下能够呈现褐色脂肪表型、获得褐色脂肪的产热活性，并证实某些信号因子以及某些植物化学物可介导白色脂肪组织褐变．

英文摘要：

Obesity is a public health problem worldwide, and deserves urgent attention in healthcare sectors. Recent studies show that there are active brown adipose tissues in human adults, but their mass and activities will decrease with aging. In contrast, white adipose tissues are distributed widely in the body. Most importantly, there has been great advancement in studying the function of white adipose tissue. The recent finding suggests that white adipose tissue has strong plasticity, and can get brown phenotype and possess capacity of thermogenesis under some conditions. Besides, some signal factors and phytochemicals are found to be able to mediate the browning of white adipose tissue. In the article, the breakthroughs concerned are reviewed with a view of providing some practical insights for obesity treatment and control.