In this sense, several studies showed a potential anti-obesity effect of fucoxanthin, which may be mediated by altering the plasma adipokine level, downregulating fat production, upregulating β-oxidation and UCP gene expressions in visceral adipose tissues: fucoxanthin upregulates the gene expression of the uncoupling proteins, UCP1 and UCP3, in brown adipose tissue (BAT) and UCP2 in white adipose tissue (WAT), which is a primary site of energy storage, accumulating triglycerides during nutritional excess [27]. Here, UCP1 is linked to obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.