KEEPING INDOOR TEMPS LOWER INCREASES METABOLISM-BOOSTING BROWN FAT

A new small study has found that keeping indoor temperatures lower increases adults’ levels of healthy brown fat.  Brown fat is a specialized type of fat that is very metabolically active and helps to generate body heat.  Brown fat is plentiful in babies but adults have very small amounts.  Prior research has found that persons with greater levels of brown fat are less prone to developing obesity and diabetes.  This small study is one of the first to show that adults are capable of growing additional brown fat and that cooler indoor temperatures stimulate its growth while warmer temperatures cause the loss of this beneficial type of fat.

In this study, 5 healthy men lived in a temperature-controlled environment.  During the day they lived their normal lives but at the end of the day they returned for at least 10 hours to the climate controlled environment.  Temperatures were kept at 75°F during the first month, 66°F during the second month, and then back to 75°F during the third month, and finally up to 80.5°F during the fourth month. Researchers assessed brown fat levels using CT scans, as well as muscle and fat tissue biopsies.   They found that brown fat levels rose by 30-40% during the cool second  month, returned to original levels in the third month, and then fell below original levels in the warmer fourth month. 

Another important result was that participants’ insulin sensitivity (the amount of insulin the pancreas needs to produce to bring blood sugar levels down after a meal) improved as amounts of brown fat increased.  This is a key result because as the body’s cells become insensitive to insulin, diabetes develops.

What to do:  Research in the US indicates that over the last couple decades, target indoor temperatures have risen approximately 6°F.  While this was only a small study, consider keeping indoor spaces cooler. So, to give your metabolism a little boost, turn down the heat and turn up the air conditioner!

Articles adapted from:

http://consumer.healthday.com/diabetes-information-10/misc-diabetes-news-181/cooler-indoor-temps-may-help-good-fat-grow-689073.html

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2014/06/18/db14-0513.abstract?sid=a1948b2f-f658-48a3-abb8-5e0800df8451

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140622142228.htm

Source:

Lee P,Smith S, Linderman J, Courville AB, Brychta RJ, Dieckmann W, Werner CD, Chen KY, Celi FS.  Temperature-acclimated brown adipose tissue modulates insulin sensitivity in humans. Diabetes, June 22, 2014 DOI: 10.2337/db14-0513