Scientists working at the University of Nottingham have found a new technique that can be used to help tackle the global obesity epidemic.

The new technique will use a thermal imaging camera to detect healthy fat in the body that is also known as brown fat. The technique based on the heat seeking technology is available since some time but was never used to detect fat before.

The researchers were able to see brown fat in children and also determine the amount of heat it produces through the technique. They believe that children who become obese early in life not only have more white fat cells, but have less brown fat. The ability to determine the activity of brown fat can be very useful for health care providers in different areas.

Michael Symonds, lead author of the study said, that the technique “avoids harmful techniques which use radiation and enables detailed studies with larger groups of people. This may provide new insights into the role of brown fat in how we balance energy from the food we eat, with the energy our bodies use up.”

The study was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.