A new research shows that exposure to cold temperature can aid in the weight loss process.
The study shows that exposure to cold temperatures transforms white fat tissue from the thighs and belly to beige fat that helps burn calories for heat.
Adipose tissue (BAT) is brown fat that burns energy and glucose to generate heat. Researchers explained that the fat does not have this ability but can burn calories when it takes on some brown fat characteristics and the tissue created in this process is known as beige fat.
Researchers conducted the study on rodents. They analysed the rodents' exposure to cold temperatures and found that they converted white fat deposits to beige fat. "We wanted to investigate whether human adults had the ability to transform some white fat deposits into beige fat when they were exposed to cold," said Philip A. Kern at University of Kentucky's School of Medicine in Lexington.
"Browning fat tissue might prove as an excellent defense against obesity and would lend the body burning extra calories instead of converting them into additional fat tissue," Philip pointed out.
For the study, belly fat tissue samples from 55 people were tested to see if there was a difference in browning activity between tissue samples taken in winter and those taken in summer. "Our findings indicate inflammation can hinder the conversion of white to beige fat," Kern stressed.
After assessing the tissue samples in the lab, the results revealed that exposing white fat to macrophage cells from the immune system inhibited the transformation.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
