For most people, fat bulges are something they don’t want. It makes our thighs jiggle, our clothes fit tight and look bad, and typically lingers despite our torturous attempts to eliminate it. Too much of it increases our risk for certain illnesses like heart disease and type 2 diabetes, so for decades researchers have looked for ways to reduce it. Humans have two types of fat: white fat & brown fat, and understanding the differences between the two, can help people lose weight. “White fat” is the thin layer of blubber we see on the human belly. backs of arms and on the thighs. This particular fat acts as a thermal insulator, that keeps body temperatures stable.
“Brown fat,” on the other hand, is less abundant in the body and creates heat, rather than trapping it like white fat does. Brown fat actually warms a cold body by burning energy or calories.
White fat however, can take on brown fat characteristics, with the resulting product called “beige fat.” This process is called “browning.” Because beige and brown fat are able to burn calories, they are a positive force for weight loss, while an excess of white fat is associated with weight gain and obesity. According to Dr. Philip A. Kern, a researcher of the University of Kentucky School of Medicine, browning fat tissue would be an excellent defense against obesity, as it would make the body burn extra calories rather than converting them into fatty tissue.
Where Do We Have Brown Fat?
Brown fat can be difficult to study because it is hard to find in adults, and typically found in unpredictable locations in the body, and not always in the same place on every person. There’s a region in the neck and the shoulders, where you typically find it, but again not on everybody. In a recent study, brown fat was found in the chests and down the spines of a group of healthy young men, along with places in the abdomen.
Japanese researchers asked 12 young men with lower than average amounts of active brown fat to sit in a 63 degrees F room for two hours a day for six weeks. At first, the study participants burned an average of 108 extra calories in the cold, compared with more normal indoor temperatures. After six weeks, however, their bodies were burning an extra 289 calories in the cold, and scans indicated that their beige fat had indeed increased. A group of similarly aged and healthy men who were not repeatedly exposed to the cold, showed no change in their metabolism.
Professor Michael Symonds and Dr. Helen Budge from the University’s School of Clinical Sciences say their research, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, shows that there is only about 50 g of brown fat in the neck area, and that it switches on and off throughout the day when it’s exposed to different temperatures or if you exercise or eat. The challenge now is to use this knowledge to find out how to switch on brown fat to lose weight and prevent excess weight gain.
Research has shown that certain groups of people tend to have more brown fat than others. For example:
- Younger people have more brown fat than elderly people
- Slender people have more brown fat than obese people
- People with normal blood sugar levels have more brown fat than those with high blood sugar
Studies Show Exposure to Cold Causes Fat Cell Death
Increased exposure to the cold helps turn on our brown fat, helping people keep weight off and lessen obesity issues. Researchers have suggested more people turn down their thermostats for a few hours each day during the winter months, and published the study in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
When taking biopsies of patients’ fat deposits, scientists found that in the winter, belly and thigh fat showed greater signs of “browning” than did fat samples taken in the summer. This suggests that cold temperatures facilitate the transformation of white fat into beige. Most homes in winter are heated to around 69F (21C), but Maastricht University Medical Centre advises turning the thermostat down to between 62F (17C) and 59F (15) for a few hours per day. Experts say that because we spend so much of our time indoors in overheated homes and offices, it can cause our bodies to not naturally burn calories to keep warm.
An article in The New York Times highlights a study where a group of men slept in a metabolic chamber that was kept at a mildly chilly 66 degrees. After four weeks of sleeping at this temperature, the men had almost doubled their volume of brown fat, experienced an increase in insulin sensitivity, and even burned a few more calories throughout the next day.
This practice is known as “cold thermogenesis,” and can lead to doubling of the volume of metabolically active brown fat, an increase in insulin sensitivity, and the burning of more calories.
- Moderate intensity cold thermogenesis would be sitting in a 50-60 degree room while only wearing shorts, which is significant for brown fat formation.
- Hardcore intensity cold thermogenesis can be achieved from wearing an ice vest and a pair of compression shorts filled with ice packs. This practice causes the body to start shivering, which then burns massive amounts of calories.
Ice Therapy To Burn More Body Fat
Tim Ferriss is the author of a book called The Four-Hour Body, which includes the concept of activating your brown fat, to boost fat burning by exposing yourself to frigid temperatures. He states you can increase your fat burning potential by as much as 300% by adding ice therapy to your healthy eating and workout routine. A Livestrong article backs up Ferriss’ claim stating:
A NASA scientist told ABC News that’s no hyperbole. In studying the effects of temperature on astronauts, he saw people’s metabolism boost by 20 percent in environments as mild as 60 degrees. A Joslin researcher told National Public Radio that 3 oz. of brown fat could burn 400 to 500 calories daily.
Scientists Find Popsicles Kill Fat, Causing Dimples In Children
The theory of fat cells can be frozen and killed has also been proven through another strange way called the “Popsicle Panniculitis,” that shows excessive exposure to cold from popsicles can result in the dimpling of the cheeks. The parents of a 9-month-old boy were concerned about the enlarging areas of reddish discoloration on his cheeks.The infant was born healthy, had no significant medical or family health history, had no bug bites, trauma, or illnesses, and hadn’t been around anyone who was sick. His growth and development were normal and immunizations were up-to-date.
However, the playful infant had symmetrical non-tender lesions on his cheeks, close to the edges of the mouth. His oral cavity was normal, and nothing more was found. Further questioning revealed that 2 days before the lesions appeared, his mother had given the infant a popsicles for teething, which led to a clinical diagnosis of popsicle panniculitis. Popsicles, icepacks, and exposure to cold have all been shown to cause “popsicle” or “cold panniculitis” in children.
It predominantly occurs during infancy after a “cold injury” and generally affects the cheeks and chin. These are the areas that are rich in subcutaneous fat and more often exposed to cold. Popsicle panniculitis usually looks like areas of reddish discoloration or as red-purple, hardened, non-tender, swellings of the cheeks 24 to 48 hours after contact with a popsicle or ice cube. The subcutaneous fat in adults has predominantly unsaturated fats, which may explain why popsicle panniculitis occurs almost exclusively in children.
Dr. Amy Brodsky, a Chicago board certified dermatologist, was also not born with a dimple, but at the age of six, she injured her left cheek in an accident that was then treated with ice compresses for several hours. Within days, her cheek turned into a solid firm mass, and six to eight weeks later, the injury resulted in a pronounced dimple. For years she thought this was a result of her injury, until she studied Dermatology and found it to be the result of Cold Panniculitis.
Freezing Fat For Spot Reduction On Trouble Areas
For the reasons listed above, researchers are saying that something as simple as applying ice packs to areas of white fat deposits for 30 minutes to an hour, could encourage this browning process and help boost weight/fat loss,if you also follow a healthy diet and regular exercise routine. This works by chilling the skin, then causing the underlying fat cells to naturally die off, then be metabolized by the body. This reduces the thickness of fat in the area that’s treated. There is a commercial treatment called CoolSculpting, which requires expensive equipment, yet it is very effective! With a session lasting one hour per spot treated, this machine produces a reduction in the fat thickness of the treated area. Once fat cells are frozen, they drain naturally from the body. It can take six to 12 weeks to see the results, but a patient can lose half an inch from their waistline after just one one-hour treatment. An area can be treated multiple times, but it is said the first treatment is usually the most effective.
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