New Science: Why Brown Fat is Good and White Fat is Bad
I recently got a strange PR text about a body cream in my mailbox. It was claimed that the new product for belly and hips can turn white fat cells into brown ones. How is this metabolic remodeling supposed to be accomplished with creams alone, I ask myself, when even serious scientists in this field are still largely fishing in the dark.
The human body is naturally endowed with two different types of adipose tissue. Brown and white. In this way it is possible for him to react to a lack of food as well as to cold. The white fatty tissue is mainly located under the skin, on the abdomen and buttocks, which is why it is also referred to as subcutaneous because of its location directly under the skin of the abdomen. It’s the fat we feel when we pinch or do sit-ups. Its task is to isolate the body from the cold and to provide the organism with energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate. When there is a high energy requirement, this ATP is obtained from lipids that we ingest with food. If we eat too much fat, it will be stored. In addition, white fat acts as a separating tissue between the organs in the abdominal cavity. Medical professionals then refer to it as visceral fat. Even liposuction cannot help against this fat.
Brown fat creates warmth
For a long time it was assumed that the body only has brown fat in infancy, which is extremely well supplied with blood and therefore also has the darker color. Adults shiver to keep warm. Babies still have too little muscle mass for this. They get warmth from the brown fat cells on the torso. In contrast to the white fat cells, these do not work as energy stores, but rather burn them in the cell’s own “power stations” (mitochondria) in order to then give them off directly as heat. This unique feature maintains body temperature in newborns. One also speaks of tremor-free heat generation or adaptive thermogenesis. Very little of this plurivascuolar fat tissue can be found in the adult body – under the collarbone, on the neck, in the neck and along the spine. We have only known that for a few years. In 2009, US researchers discovered it when they were looking for cancer cells using computed tomography.
White turns to brown
If brown fat can increase the body’s energy consumption without muscle activity, wouldn’t it also offer a new starting point for the treatment of obesity and its secondary diseases such as type 2 diabetes?… weiterlesen
CultureAndCream Author from Munich
To travel during my profession as a beauty journalist was never enough for my. Also my six month on a world trip didn’t do it. It always attracts me to other cities, foreign countries, on roadtrips and places I don’t know yet. But I am not only interested in “culture” and “cream”, I am also fascinated by people who have stories to tell . Such unique experiences I want to share with you.