Obesity is one of the most common diseases, the proportion of which is increasing annually today in Russia. Not only adults but also adolescents and children are at risk. Excessive body weight leads to the development of metabolic syndrome and related complications - diseases of the circulatory, musculoskeletal, immune and other systems, to premature aging of the human body. Until this disease has become an epidemic, researchers around the world are trying to find methods to combat it. For these purposes, various types of adipose tissue in the human body, their importance, morphology and biology, the possibility of further use of the results to solve this problem are comprehensively studied. The article provides an overview of current data on the morphological features of white, brown and beige adipose tissue at the tissue and cellular levels.The importance of specific proteins for the detection of different types of human adipose tissue is described. The biology and physiology of brown adipose tissue, which is of great importance in the implementation of various metabolic processes in the organism, is characterized. The need for further study of the role of brown adipose tissue for its possible promising use in the treatment of obesity is shown.