Brown Fat – Evolution’s Warm Blanket (Pt. 2)

Warming up to the good fat

(CLICK HERE for part one of this article from your payday loan source)

“It is, in a sense, the discovery of a new organ,” said Sven Enerback, University of Goteborg researcher and lead author of one of three studies on brown fat.

“This is a tissue whose sole physiological purpose is to expend energy,” said Francesco Celi of the National Institutes of Health. “That makes it an ideal target” for drugs or treatments to make it more active.

What’s the safest way to activate it?

Currently, the only safe way to activate brown fat is to stay cold , however, the only safe way to activate brown fat is to remain cold enough to be on the verge of shivering… for a long period of time. This recreates the scenario that led to the evolution of brown fat: life-threatening cold in creatures that couldn’t put on clothes to stay warm.

It’s important to maintain a proper balance of brown fat in the body. If you’re carrying too much or too little weight, not only are the calorie-burning benefits mostly negated, but you become more vulnerable to diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. Generally, a lean form is most ideal to maintain the body’s energy balance, yet according to Brown, it is unclear whether brown fat is the cause of leanness or its result.

Groundbreaking studies

Researchers at the Netherlands’ Maastricht University Medical Center examined 24 young men, one half lean and the other half overweight. Each stayed in a 61-degree room for a couple of hours and then given a PET scan. After the men had been kept cold, activated brown fat deposits could be seen in 23 of the 24. The heaviest man in the group showed no activation. Lean men had about four times more brown fat activity than the overweight men. Interestingly, when several were tested again later without being subjected to cold first, brown fat activity could not be seen.

So dump your double cheeseburgers, get lean and stay cold. Your brown fat is evolution at work.

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