Methods for increasing the amount of brown adipose tissue in a subject, of increasing the ratio of brown fat to white fat in a subject, or for effecting a change in white adipose tissue to become brown adipose tissue in a subject include the administration of one or more agents. The agent can increase or induce hypothalamic expression of BDNF, can be a TrkB receptor agonist or a beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist, or encode an agonist that modulates a hypothalamic-adipocyte axis.
