Activating and Generating Brown Fat

[Maleficarum]

Not sure where to post this... but here seems relevant.  I am recently fascinated by the idea that humans are increasingly fat because of modern comforts, specifically hot water and heavily insulated, warm homes.

 

I have always been a "space heater."  Trying to understand this exothermic tendency... has led me to the idea that adult humans have a variable amount of brown adipose tissue.  I have always had a preference for the cold (working in the cold box when i was at a grocery store, never wearing a jacket, melting my igloo when i tried snow camping, etc).

 

The stumbling block for me has been that there seems to be an inverse relationship between white fat and brown fat.  Yet i have always been overweight.  How can i have so much exothermic fat and yet maintain an overweight body.  Brown fat is supposed to help burn calories.

 

If anyone has any good research on this subject, I would be greatly interested.  I am trying to collect as much as possible.  Specifically articles relating to increasing the proportion of brown fat in the body, either by exposure to cold or through exercise.  Both methods appear to activate the conversion of muscle tissue to brown fat.

 

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-primal-primer-brown-adipose-tissue/#axzz2JEuxiEwe

[notanartmajor]

I don't want to sound like a jerk, but you'll be making far better use of your time by simply monitoring your caloric intake and altering it as needed rather than trying to generate more brown fat in your body, if it's even possible.

[mandy75]

http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/10/12961/researchers-identify-lynchpin-activating-brown-fat-cells

[Maleficarum]

@notanartmajor  I think you are missing my point.  im not interested in this as a method of weight loss... i am simply fascinated by the concept of heat generation.  There are extreme examples of humans who can generate intense body heat when plunged into icy conditions... or even stories of monks who can meditate to generate very high temperatures.  Beyond that... i am interested in how humans are currently being shaped by our environment.  I just like research and information.

 

@mandy75... thanks.

[Maleficarum]

Interesting... the UCSF article mentions norepinephrine as a key to initiating the electrochemical process to burn fat as heat energy... so would a norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitor, like say Adderal... increase this in the body?

[aj_rock]

Hah, to answer your roundabout question, adderal has been used for quite some time in the fitness world. Increases energy, focus... 

 

NF is not a purveyor of illicit substances, however, so other than as a cursory interest in the subject matter, I'd probably drop the subject.

 

You can nose around reddit if you want a full discussion of whatever. It's not what NF wants though.

 

Anyway, the uncoupling protein and heat burnoff has been discussed in academic circles for quite some time. The only problem with actually doing it is, well, turning it off again afterwards. SIgnificant numbers of mousey lives went into the discovery of that fact.

 

Either way, end result is that the body is incredibly adaptable. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a way that genetics + good training could increase brown adipose tissue reserves.

[Starstuff]

It's cool if NF doesn't want us talking about substances that can be and are by some people used illicitly, but could we maybe refrain from describing medications that some people have legal prescriptions for as "illicit"? Thanks.

[Maleficarum]

@Starstuff  Indeed.  my (ex)wife is perscribed adderal.  I am not even sure how the focus was turned to that.  If i was not being clear... i am more interested in techniques that naturally induce increasing brown fat.  Like lowering the core temperature of the body by 2 degrees... it has to be warmer than the temperatures that induce shivering... but the body gradually adapts.

 

I find it slightly amusing that people automatically jump to chemical conclusions.

[aj_rock]

The context in which you mentioned it is illicit. Not a single person ever has gotten an adderall prescription for losing weight. I realize that more than a fair share of NFers are probably taking adderall or a similar substance, but I encourage them to keep taking it to address a medical condition.

 

I find it slightly amusing that you've now derailed your own thread with passive aggressive comments.

[Maleficarum]

LOL  Ok... for one.  You are factually inaccurate.  Adderal was and is still prescribed for weight loss. In fact there are a wide range of amphetamines prescribed for weight loss... and other assorted imbalances, including Meth.  The pharmaceutical industry writes blank checks to our government in order to write our laws.  I do not endorse or support them in any way.

 

I am passive aggressive.

[notanartmajor]

I'll offer my apologies then, it read to me like you were pursuing a weight loss method. Carry on!

[Maleficarum]

I'll offer my apologies then, it read to me like you were pursuing a weight loss method. Carry on!

 

No worries... no apologies needed.  Since science follows the money most of the current research articles i can find are focused on using drugs to trigger Brown Fat activation.  I am more holistic than that... as AJ pointed out, currently they can turn it on... but not turn it off effectively.  Im not interested in turning into the guy from Thinner.

 

I suspect that since the human body (at least those semi-adapted to northern climates) has a seasonal weight gain / weight loss component... that brown fat probably plays a key role in winter survival (burning off the excess store of fat gained in the summer/fall)... especially given the gradual nature of how decreasing temperatures increases activation.

 

I found one piece of info that i found discongruent... excess calorie consumption causes the same hormonal cascade that triggers brown fat.  There was no mention of insulin... and i am curious if that has any effect on the process. 

[Relic]

I don't remember where I read it (so sorry) but I read that to build brown fat take your showers at a-little-too-cold-for-comfort temperature. The idea is that you slowly build up the cold tolerance and eventually are taking cold showers without shivering. Cold water has always been my nemesis so I've thought about doing this for awhile but so far no dice. (warm showers are just so nice)

[docksideguy05]

From my personal experience and from talking to people I know(which is certainly not a scientific study Lol) but most of us northerners(I'm from Minnesota ) tend to put on fat in the winter and lose it in the summer. Although up here during the winter you don't see the sun much so that could be due to lower levels of vitamin d which would probably cause most people to eat more and be less active. Although when summer comes I lose my fat in a heartbeat. Although I climb trees for a living and so when weather is nice I'm busy and when it's not I'm not busy.