Haul Buns

Don’t I Look H-h-hot?

April 9, 2009 at 9:00 pm Leave a comment

The good news: A few new studies show that adults may be able to reactivate the kind of fat that burns calories and could possibly reduce obesity. The bad news: You have to be really freaking cold in order for this “brown fat” to do its thing. “In addition to eating less and exercising more, people may one day be able to stimulate their bodies to get rid of stored energy — in the form of ordinary fat — purely as heat,” David Brown (no relation to the fat) writes in today’s Washington Post.

Before you run over to turn down your thermostat, you should know that “the only safe way to activate brown fat is to stay chilly, right at the verge of shivering, for prolonged periods. That reproduces the conditions that led to the evolution of brown fat — namely, life-threatening cold in babies and small furry animals that cannot put on clothes to keep themselves warm,” Brown writes.

So what’s it going to be, chicas? Thin or warm?

Entry filed under: Reasons Why. Tags: cold, Research.