Brown fat: does activating it make you lose weight?
Body fat is considered the enemy of good health. Fat, unloved by the human body, is indeed considered unsightly and likened to a risk factor. However, the body needs a fat reserve to meet its energy and thermal insulation needs. Also, there is not one type of grease, but several: white grease, brown grease and beige (or brite) grease. To learn more about the organic functions of brown fat, and its possible potential to “make” you lose weight, read on.
What is brown fat?
Brown adipose tissue, or brown fat, is present in humans at birth. Indeed, its function is to ensure thermogenesis , that is to say to maintain body temperature by producing heat. The infant, whose nervous system is not sufficiently developed for him to know how to shiver, is well supplied with brown fat, which allows him to protect himself from the cold. As you age, brown fat tends to fade (1) . Nevertheless, there is evidence that residual brown adipose tissue persists in adults , especially in women (2). It mainly concentrates on the neck, collarbones, armpits, heart and spine (protection of vital organs). The main particularities of brown fat are that it is highly vascularized , oxygen-hungry and a high energy consumer .
What is the difference between brown fat and white fat?
Brown seed makes up a marginal portion of the overall fatty tissue of the human body – around 5%, sometimes less. The rest of the adipose tissue is made up of white fat , which performs several functions for the body:
- A triglyceride storage function , in order to meet the body’s energy needs, when carbohydrate reserves from food are depleted.
- A thermal insulation function , in case of cold.
- A protection function , for example in the event of a physical shock. This is the case of localized fat on the hands, feet or face.
Also, the nature and functions of the two types of fat vary significantly .
Also, the location of brown fat and white fat differ . White fat mainly concentrates:
- At the level of the thorax, in men ( abdomen , shoulders, neck )
- At the level of the lower body, in women (belly, hips , buttocks, thighs )
Women, better endowed with brown fat than men, are also rich in white adipose tissue: 20 to 25% of total body mass for a woman, 10 to 15% for a man.
Finally, in recent years, scientists have observed a third type of fat: beige adipose tissue . This fat would in fact correspond to brown adipocytes, present in the white adipose tissue. The scientific community is particularly interested in beige grease because:
- It would act like brown fat in terms of oxygen and energy consumption, as its function would be purely thermogenic .
- Its presence in white adipose tissue could be “activated” by exposure to cold ; this is called adaptive thermogenesis (3) .
Why is brown fat of interest to scientists?
Brown adipose tissue is currently the subject of many studies. Indeed, the level of brown fat mass of an individual would in fact be correlated with his BMI . The more brown fat a person has, the more likely they are to stay lean (4) . It would have been shown that individuals with a good supply of brown fat would have lower total fat mass, visceral fat and LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol ) (5) . Finally, a 2017 study (6) would have shown that during exposure to cold, brown fat would be activated and will have the effect of increasing glucose metabolism without causing an increase in insulin secretion.
Major discoveries, which invite significant questioning for the management of obesity. Even today, scientists wonder whether:
- Some cases of overweight and obesity could be explained by a low endowment of brown fat, in some individuals (7) .
- Activating brown fat and above all, pushing the body to produce beige fat, could trigger weight loss .
Can you “activate” your brown fat and thus lose weight?
Studies on brown fat and beige fat are still too little advanced on this subject. Some claim that exposure to cold could trigger the activity of brown fat and/or the development of beige fat and thus increase the body’s overall energy expenditure ( 8) . Nevertheless, research is in its infancy and current experiments are, for the most part, conducted on animals. They essentially aim to confirm that regular exposure to cold temperatures, coupled with energy intakemastered (via food) could activate brown fat, by necessity of thermogenesis by the body. The future will therefore tell us if “cold cures” could really help to lose weight.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.