What is Brown Fat and How Can You Get More of It?

Everyone has some brown fat. Unlike regular white fat, which stores calories, mitochondria-packed brown fat cells burn energy and produce heat. 

 

5 Fascinating Facts about Brown Fat 

 

1. Brown Fat is Activated by the Cold

 

According to a 2014 study conducted by National Institutes of Health Researchers, spending time in the cold makes your brown fat more active, and could even cause you to grow new brown-fat cells. 

 

Brown fat “helps us to defend our body temperature in a comfortable manner," said Barbara Cannon, a professor of physiology at the Wenner-Grenn Institute in Stockholm and president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

2. It’s Found in Weird Spots 

Brown fat is found in unpredictable locations in the human body. Scientists know where brown fat can be found, but it’s not always there in every single person. For example, it’s typically found in the neck and shoulders. 

 

In a recent study, brown fat was also found in the chests and down the spines of a group of healthy young men. 

 

3. You Have at Least Some Brown Fat 

Everyone has some brown fat, even if it cannot be seen with a PET/CT scan. Aaron Cypess, head of the Diabetes, Endocrinology and Obesity Branch at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Maryland, believes that it’s possible to grow brown fat cells in anybody.

 

4.It is hard to find

Brown fat can be hard to find and to study. This is because brown and white fat cells are often mixed in together in fat tissue. Therefore, finding the brown fat cells requires performing CT scans to show where the fat is, combined with PET scans to identify the most metabolically active cells. 

 

5. Someday, You Might Be Able to Take a Pill to Activate Your Brown Fat 

A drug that treats people with overactive bladders can boost brown fat activity, according to findings that Cypess and his colleagues reported in January 2015. The medication, called mirabegron, stimulates receptors called beta 3 receptors, which cause smooth muscle to relax. These receptors are also found on both brown and white fat cells. 

 

5 ways to Increase Brown Fat to Help Burn More Calories  

 

1. Don’t Starve or Stuff Yourself 

We all rely on hunger-regulating neurons in the brain to notify us when we have had enough to eat. But it turns out that these neurons have another job to do: Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine found that in mice, these neurons can actually encourage fat to turn brown. 

 

The study, which was published in the journal Cell, found that eating too few calories prevented white fat from turning brown, while eating just enough to satisfy hunger turned white fat to brown. Other research has shown that eating too much can do harm as well: Not only does overconsumption increase white fat, but it also interferes with brown fat’s ability to burn calories. 

 

2. Eat an Apple 

An apple a day might just keep the doctor and the fat away. Researchers from the University of Iowa found that ursolic acid, found in apple peels, boosted brown fat in mice – even when they were fed a high-fat diet.

3. Exercise

 

 

A study on animals published in the journal Disease Models and Mechanisms found that working out triggers the release of an enzyme called irisin that prompts white fat cells to convert to brown. Newer research that was presented at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association found that exercise can prompt the browning of fat in men, with the benefits still increasing after 3 months of training on an exercise bike. 

 

4. Turn Down the Thermostat

One study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, looked at twelve young men with lower-than-average amounts of active brown fat who were asked to sit in a 63-degree Fahrenheit room for two hours a day over a six week period. They burned an extra 108 calories in the cold compared with normal indoor temperatures. 

 

 Even better, after six weeks their bodies were burning an extra 289 calories in the cold, prompting researchers to hypothesize that the exposure to lower temperatures increased the activity of a gene that converts white fat to brown. 

 

5. Stimulate Your Body’s Melatonin Production 

Not only does melatonin help regulate our sleep-wake cycle, but research found that in rats, it increases the presence of beige fat, which is similar to brown fat in its calorie-burning capabilities. 

 

However, while you might be tempted to take a supplement, experts say that it’s better to stimulate your body’s own natural production by avoiding nighttime exposure to light from TVs, computers and other screens, getting exposure to sunlight throughout the day, and loading up on melatonin-rich foods such as tomatoes, almonds, cardamom, and coriander.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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The Health Benefits of Sleeping in a Cold Environment

We usually don’t value sleep, right until the moment when we don’t get enough of it, and when insomnia is to blame, every minute of shut-eye turns into precious and treasured time. But what if we told you  sometimes, it isn’t stress, genetics or your sleeping position  that’s to blame for poor sleep quality, it’s the temperature of your surroundings. It turns out that room temperature affects not only our sleep quality but our overall health as well.

In fact, scientists have proven that the cozy feeling you get when you sleep under the covers in a cold room isn’t just pleasant, but also beneficial for your metabolism and weight loss, may help lower chronic inflammation and pain and promotes hormonal regulation. Here is why you should try to always sleep in a cold room.

1. You’ll get more and better sleep

Temperature regulation plays an incredibly important role in our sleep, as our temperatures naturally drop by bed time. This is a necessary biological process that’s part of circadian rhythms that regulate our sleep, eating schedule and energy levels. And while this natural drop in body temperature works well in most people, a cool, but not freezing room temperature can facilitate this process and help you fall asleep faster.

The recommended range of temperatures is between 60 and 67°F (15-19°C). A cool room temperature is especially beneficial for those whose circadian rhythms are disrupted (which is true of some insomniacs), as it nudges your body in the right direction even when you don’t feel particularly sleepy.

2. Cold temperatures can help you get your beauty sleep

It’s known that melatonin production is at its peak when a person is in a dark and cool surrounding, which is a good thing, as melatonin does a lot of helpful things for our body. For one, melatonin is a powerful antioxidant, so it will make you age slower and be less prone to chronic disease.

As a bonus, melatonin also regulates fat cells in the body, so make sure you sleep in a dark and cold room if beauty maintenance is your goal.

3. Pain and inflammation decrease in the cold

If you ever applied a cold compress on a swollen wound and watched it get better, you have observed the anti-inflammatory effects of cold first hand. In fact, the pain brought about by inflammation may be the primary reason why you have trouble sleeping, so by literally cooling things down, you’ll be able to hit two birds with one stone and improve your symptoms and sleep better simultaneously.

4. Your metabolism benefits from cooler temperatures, and so does your waistline

A healthy metabolism is key to keeping such problems as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity at bay. One way to boost your metabolic health is to simply sleep in a cold room, as proven by a 2014 study. In this study, participants slept at a temperature of 66°F (19°C) for only 4 weeks, and by the end of the experiment, it was observed that their insulin sensitivity, as well as brown fat production, was much better than before.

Insulin sensitivity is a key marker measuring how well our body regulates blood sugar, and being more sensitive to insulin means you’re less at risk of suffering from metabolic syndrome and diabetes. An increase in brown fat, in turn, is also a beneficial marker, as brown fat is the kind of fat our body will use up, unlike white fat, that just accumulates in our body.

In this way, sleeping in a cold room may help you prevent diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and will keep your waistline in check.

 

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   
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Eating Without Gaining Weight Might Now Be Possible!

There will be many like me, foodies, who love to eat their heart's content and still not gain a pound. Some may say, wishful thinking, why not? as soon, it may happen, thanks to genetic studies that are happening all over the world. Soon, we’ll be able to find out. Researchers  have identified a gene called RCANI, the inhibition of which could allow a person to eat as much as they want without getting fat.

The research reports, was based on the understanding that increasing non‐shivering thermogenesis (NST), which expends calories as heat rather than storing them as fat, is a well-championed way to combat obesity and metabolic disease. However, certain innate mechanisms constrain the capacity for NST. Regulator of Calcineurin 1 (RCAN1), one such gene, suppresses two distinctly different mechanisms of non‐shivering thermogenesis (NST).

After conducting the study on mice, the researchers found: Mice deficient for RCAN1 have an elevated metabolic rate and are resistant to diet‐induced obesity.

It is hoped that inhibiting this gene in humans could lead to similar results and help tackle obesity.
As reported , a Prof. who led the study explained that they looked at a variety of different diets with various time spans from eight weeks to almost six months, and observed health improvements in all cases where there was an absence of the RCAN1 gene.

We know a lot of people struggle to lose weight or even control their weight for a number of different reasons. The findings in this study could mean developing a pill which would target the function of RCAN1 and may result in weight loss.

Inhibiting the gene could convert white fat to healthier brown fat in humans, eradicating many health problems in them.

"In light of our results, the drugs we are developing to target RCAN1 would burn more calories while people are resting. It means the body would store less fat without the need for a person to reduce food consumption or exercise more," the Prof. added.

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New skin patch may help reduce obesity

Scientists have developed a new type of skin patch that may help reduce bulging tummy fats and obesity by delivering drugs that turn energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat.
This innovative approach developed by scientists, reduced weight gain in mice on a high fat diet and their fat mass by more than 30 per cent over four weeks. 

The new type of skin patch contains hundreds of micro- needles, each thinner than a human hair, which are loaded with the drug Beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist or another drug called thyroid hormone T3 triiodothyronine. 

When the patch is pressed into the skin for about two minutes, these micro-needles become embedded in the skin and detach from the patch, which can then be removed. 

As the needles degrade, the drug molecules then slowly diffuse to the energy-storing white fat underneath the skin layer, turning them into energy-burning brown fats. 

Brown fats are found in babies and they help to keep the baby warm by burning energy. As humans grow older, the amount of brown fats lessens and is replaced with visceral white fats. 

Published in the journal, this approach could help address the worldwide obesity problem without resorting to surgical operations or oral medication which could require large dosages and could have serious side effects. 

"With the embedded microneedles in the skin of the mice, the surrounding fats started browning in five days, which helped to increase the energy expenditure of the mice, leading to a reduction in body fat gain," said the scientist.

Obesity which results from an excessive accumulation of fat is a major health risk factor for various diseases, including heart disease, stroke and type-2 diabetes. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that 1.9 billion adults in the world were overweight in 2016 with 650 million of them being obese, researchers said. 

"What we aim to develop is a painless patch that everyone could use easily, is unobtrusive and yet affordable," said the scientist. 

"Most importantly, our solution aims to use a persons own body fats to burn more energy, which is a natural process in babies," the scientist said. 

The treated mice also had significantly lower blood cholesterol and fatty acids levels compared to the untreated mice.

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This Needle-Covered Patch Dissolves Excess Body Fat Wherever You Stick It

A skin patch that effectively melts excess body fat wherever you decide to apply it sounds too good to be true, but this thing actually exists, thanks to new research.

The medicated patch uses an array of skin-piercing micro-needles to deliver nano-particles of drugs to the body, and while it hasn't yet been tested on humans, trials with mice show it reduces fat by as much as 20 percent in treated areas.

Developed by researchers, the skin patch doesn't just hold promise (and potential riches) for the cosmetics industry – it could one day help us to fight conditions like obesity and diabetes.

The way it works is to do with how our bodies store fat, which largely comes down to two kinds of fat cells: white fat and brown fat.

Brown fat is often thought of as 'good fat' because it readily breaks down and produces heat – which is why newborns have a lot of it, given they need help regulating their body temperature.

 Unfortunately for grown-ups, we don't have as much brown fat, and are instead saddled with ungainly deposits of white fat around our bodies, which is used for long-term energy storage, but not so easily burned.

In recent years, there's been a huge amount of scientific effort focused around bridging the gap between these two kinds of fat – or, more accurately, learning how to convert energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat.

 A number of studies have shown success in triggering the transformation – sometimes called browning – but from a health care perspective, there's a problem.

"There are several clinically available drugs that promote browning, but all must be given as pills or injections," says one of the team.

"This exposes the whole body to the drugs, which can lead to side effects such as stomach upset, weight gain, and bone fractures. Our skin patch appears to alleviate these complications by delivering most drugs directly to fat tissue."

 This is possible due to the patch's grid of microscopic needles, which deliver browning chemicals under the skin wherever white fat is being stored.

 In their study, the researchers used two different browning drugs, rosiglitazone (aka Avandia) and a chemical called CL316243, which has previously been shown to brown white fat in mice.
 
First up, the drugs are encased in nanoparticles, each measuring about 250 nanometres (nm) in diameter – for reference, a human hair is approximately 100,000 nm wide, so we're talking really, really small.

 These nano-particles are then deployed in the patch, and when the micro-needles painlessly pierce the skin, the nano-particles are delivered into the tissue directly under the patch, where they dissolve.

 "The nano-particles were designed to effectively hold the drug and then gradually collapse, releasing it into nearby tissue in a sustained way instead of spreading the drug throughout the body quickly," explains one of the researchers.

In experiments with obese mice, patches were applied every three days for a total of four weeks. Treated mice had two patches applied on different sides of their bodies: one containing a browning drug, and the other containing empty nanoparticles.

 The results showed that the patches containing either rosiglitazone or CL316243 produced a 20 percent reduction in fat on the animals' treated side (compared to the empty nanoparticles patch).

 They also showed lower fasting blood glucose levels than control animals who were also only given patches containing no browning drugs.

In lean mice the treatment also offered benefits, increasing animals' oxygen consumption compared to untreated controls.

 Of course, there's no guarantee humans wearing the patch would see the same results, but it's another promising step forward as scientists gradually uncover the mechanisms that control brown and white fat production.

 The team are currently researching which drugs, or which combination of drugs, might work best to enable this kind of localised browning – as it's possible the right chemical might even be able to improve on the already impressive 20 percent fat reduction they've seen so far.

 "Many people will no doubt be excited to learn that we may be able to offer a noninvasive alternative to liposuction for reducing love handles," says a researcher.

 "What's much more important is that our patch may provide a safe and effective means of treating obesity and related metabolic disorders such as diabetes."

 While at present there are no firm plans to release the patch for use by people, it's quite possible that something like this might become available in the future once more a lot more research and safety tests are completed.

 Until that fateful day, there's always fish oil.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.
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