Brown fat breaks down blood sugar (glucose) and fat molecules to create heat and help maintain body temperature. Cold temperatures activate brown fat, which leads to various metabolic changes in the body. Most of our fat, however, is white fat, which stores extra energy. Too much white fat builds up in obesity.
Most of the fat in your body is white fat. You typically store it in your thighs, hips, and stomach. Too much white fat in your belly can raise your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
The review largely included studies done on rats, but it found that turmeric and curcumin spices, foods with resveratrol (like wine), green tea, and spicy foods with capsaicin may activate thermogenesis and/or trigger fat oxidation, which is the browning of white fat.
Some studies suggest turning down the thermostat, taking a cold shower or an ice bath could activate brown fat to help your body produce more to burn more calories.
Researchers have long known that many of us have an excess of white fat: The kind that ups the risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and more. But now, emerging research is suggesting that it's possible that increasing our levels of brown fat can actually help us burn calories in the long run.
The researchers compared the effects of drinking a cup of coffee with those of drinking water, and found that “drinking coffee (but not water) stimulated the temperature of the supraclavicular region,” which corresponds to the area where brown fat accumulates in humans, and which “is indicative of thermogenesis.”
Interestingly, the protective effects of brown fat seemed most pronounced in people who had obesity, reducing key cardiometabolic conditions to levels typical in people without obesity. “It almost seems like they are protected from the harmful effects of white fat,” says senior study author Dr.
The scientist concluded that drinking coffee increases the temperature between the chest and neck region, where brown fat is situated. So, a small cup of coffee can help you increase the production of brown fat in the body.
Many fruits and herbs boost brown fat, but you have to eat the skin. The waxy coats on apples and other fruits and in herbs such as tulsi holy basil, basil, rosemary, lavender, and peppermint are rich in ursolic acid, which has been found to boost brown fat.
Scientists have discovered that exposure to cold conditions is a way to activate brown fat. It was shown in a study that brown adipose was activated after subjects were exposed during 10 consecutive days in mild-cold conditions (15-16 degrees). Brown fat is supposed to decrease with age.
Turn Down the Temperature
By keeping your home at a lower temperature (around 63–65 degrees, for example), going outside in the cold, and even taking cold showers might help activate more brown fat and burn hundreds of extra calories per day!
Turmeric's curcumin increases production of energy-producing mitochondria, which generate brown fat.
Some adults have small amounts of a type of fat that is more commonly found in young infants and hibernating animals. Called brown fat, this type of fat differs from the other main type of fat — white fat — that most of us are familiar with.
How Have Scientists Activated Brown Fat? Almost all studies on rodents and humans have involved lowering room temperature to around 58 degrees or using cooling vests, garments and blankets to target the non-shivering cooling effect. Cold exposure times have generally been 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours a day for several weeks.
Cold water immersion also activates brown fat — tissue that helps keep the body warm and helps it control blood sugar and insulin levels. It also helps the body burn calories, which has prompted research into whether cold water immersion is an effective way to lose weight.
Like ginger, black pepper boasts plenty of fat-burning properties. The spice has also been shown to block the formation of new fat cells, Mendez says, which can help prevent weight gain in the first place.
The mother of all folate-rich green leafy vegetables that kids despise is the secret to activating brown fat. Spinach can help you lose fat faster. It is rich in a plant compound called Resveratrol(RSV). This study found that RSV helps in maintaining blood sugar levels by converting white fat into brown fat.
Exercise in Cold Temperature: Swimming in cold water and exercising outside in cold weather or with the air conditioner on can stimulate some amount of white fat to heat generating beige fat.
Brown adipose tissue function declines during aging and may contribute to the onset of metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity. Only limited understanding of the mechanisms leading to the metabolic impairment of brown adipocytes during aging exists.
Exercise makes cells burn extra energy—that's one way it helps control weight. It also generates a newly discovered hormone, called irisin, that transforms energy-storing white fat cells into energy-burning brown fat cells. Irisin also appears to help prevent or overcome cellular changes that lead to type 2 diabetes.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is the main site for hormone-dependent (non-shivering) thermogenesis in response to cold in lower mammals. The hypothalamus controls the cold-induced BAT activation by stimulating the sympathetic nerves and the secretion of norepinephrine (NE) in BAT.