Obesity articles from across Nature Portfolio

Small rodents are still the most widely used animal model to study the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus but non-rodent species can also provide valuable insights. The advantages and disadvantages of selected animal models of diabetes mellitus are outlined in this Review.

In this Review, Lucia and colleagues explain why obesity is an evolutionarily novel condition, summarize the epidemiological evidence for its detrimental cardiometabolic consequences, discuss the major mechanisms involved in the association between obesity and the risk of cardiometabolic diseases, and examine the evidence for potential ‘healthy’ phenotypes associated with obesity.

Rubio-Navarro et al. identify a subset of pancreatic beta cells marked by high CD63 levels with enhanced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. CD63-high beta cells are diminished in mouse models of and in humans with type 2 diabetes.

Single-cell studies of human white adipose tissue (WAT) provide insights into the specialized cell types in the tissue. Here the authors combine publicly available and newly generated high-resolution and bulk transcriptomic results from multiple human datasets to provide a comprehensive cellular map of white adipose tissue.

Activation of white adipose tissue (WAT) thermogenesis alleviates obesity-associated metabolic disorders in rodents. Here the authors report that the m6 A RNA modification reader YTHDF1 promotes WAT thermogenesis in a study with male mice, and may be a potential target for the treatment of obesity.