According to the latest study on brown fat, daylight plays a significant role in brown fat production and regulation.

The last time brown fat was news, I predicted it’d be back in the health headlines when the sleigh bells were a jingling, ring-ting-a-tingling.

Consider it an early Christmas gift.

Back in April, the last time I talked about brown fat, a study was published in the American Journal of Medicine that cleared up some formerly long held beliefs about how much brown fat the average adult has.  Prior to the study, it was largely held that brown fat deposits dissipate as we age (brown fat deposits have more capillaries than white fat, thus are able to burn calories more quickly and more efficiently than white fat deposits).  The study didn’t negate that finding, but did find that brown fat deposits were in greater supply in the average adult than once thought.

And that’s a good thing.

But as I said at the time, it doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot if there’s no real way to increase brown fat deposits.  And outside of pill-popping (and no pill has been developed to increase brown fat, just in case you’re wondering), the next best bet is to move to a consistently cold climate (researchers found that exposing people to freezing cold temperatures activated brown fat deposits).

But before you board the next plane bound for Juneau, Alaska, consistently cold climates are often dark (or nearly dark) 24 hours a day.  And darkness is the antithesis of brown fat boosting.

That’s right.  According to the latest study on brown fat, daylight plays a significant role in brown fat production and regulation.

Researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing the fat deposits of over 3,000 men and women over several months.  According to Michael Symonds, the study’s lead author and professor from the University of Nottingham’s School of Clinical Sciences, the amount of brown fat in a person’s body was “significantly correlated” to the amount of daylight they were exposed to.

For example, in the winter, a time in which there is less daylight, brown fat deposits were lower and less active.  But as each day passed – and with each day an extra minute of sunlight (up until the summer solstice) – brown fat deposits became more active.

In a statement released by the University of Nottingham, Symonds said this finding could “potentially lead to new treatments for the prevention or reversal of obesity.”

The study is published in the journal Diabetes.

The study didn’t nix the idea of moving to Alaska altogether, as it confirmed that cold temperatures do, indeed, stimulate brown fat deposits.  However, daylight seems to play a more significant role in brown fat stimulation.

This finding offers additional reasons why people tend to gain weight in the winter months.  Not only do people move less and eat more (lest we forget the two big eating holidays:  Thanksgiving and Christmas), but their exposure to daylight is diminished.

Hopefully, this finding will “shine a new light” on how we can naturally combat obesity.  And that new way may be found in the sun’s rays.

Source:
sciencedaily.com

Overweight

I often like to review past articles so as not to repeat myself.  Even though there’s a fairly constant flow of new health news developing, major media outlets are sometimes slow on the uptake, reporting on things that yours truly already knew about.

So when news “broke” about brown fat being better than white fat, I felt certain I’d covered it.  Why repeat what’s already been discussed here eight months ago, right? 

But as I combed through previous postings, there was one thing I didn’t cover that this most recent report uncovered.  Here’s a portion of what I wrote in that past article (note the bold type):

Sadly, white fat – called “white” fat because of the lesser amounts of mitochondria and capillaries compared to the amount found in “brown” fat – makes up the majority of fat cells found in our bodies, at least in our adult years…

The latest news throws something of a wrench into that statement, because researchers now say adults have more brown fat than originally thought. 

As reported in the April issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have found previously unforeseen brown fat deposits through PET scans, potentially paving the way for curbing diseases associated with obesity – even obesity itself.

Brown fat burns fat more efficiently than white fat does.  So much so, researchers say, that it burns as much as 400 to 500 more calories while at rest than the same person who has more white fat deposits.  Further, when fully activated, brown fat could burn as much as 10 pounds over the course of a year!

Now, all that’s well and good, but this research is entirely fruitless and falls on deaf ears if no one knows how to pump up brown fat stores and deflate white fat stores.  And when I first reported on this topic back in August, all the research seemed to point to some sort of pharmaceutical drug as a means to boost brown brawn.

Not exactly my idea of a good idea, thus not worthy of further reportage.

While researchers haven’t shied away from pill popping as a suitable means, there appears to be some natural forms for stimulating brown fat reserves.  And if you hate the cold, it’s not good news.  One of the ways researchers stimulated brown fat was by exposing the participants’ bodies to cold temperatures.  In other words, when participants reported being the coldest was when brown fat stores were the most active.  

Another way to stimulate more brown fat?  Stay thin.  When comparing obese adults to slim adults, the slender adults had more brown fat stores than the obese adults.  I don’t necessarily doubt this finding, but here’s one of those classic “chicken or the egg” cases:  Are the obese adults obese because they have less brown fat, or are they obese simply because of overeating and not exercising and that’s what’s caused them to have lesser amounts of brown fat?

As researchers determine how to stimulate the adult body’s brown fat reserves, the finding is “stimulative” (to use a frequent phrase we’ve all become familiar with in these economic times) in and of itself.  The topic of brown fat versus white fat has been in and out of the R&D phase for more than 40 years now, but when new evidence comes to the forefront, expect more discoveries to result.

And if history is any guide – considering this is the first we’ve heard about the topic in eight months – expect to hear more about brown fat around Christmastime.  In the spirit of the season, here’s hoping the news brings glad tidings of great joy (i.e. how to stimulate brown fat stores naturally through foods or environmental conditions, not pills permeating with side-effects).

(Note:  Speaking of pills permeating with side effects, one of the side effects of taking beta-blockers is diminished brown fat stores).

Sources:
NewsDaily
MSN Health & Fitness