

Brown Fat, Triggered by Cold or Exercise, May Yield a Key to Weight Control - mhb
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/health/brown-fat-burns-ordinary-fat-study-finds.html?_r=1&hp

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neworbit
This isn't a particularly new claim - back when the fad weight loss supplement
was ephedrine (or a "ephedrine/caffeine/aspirin stack") the purported
mechanism was brown fat thermogenesis.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedrine>

First I recall hearing about it was the mid-80s book Life Extension Weight
Loss Program from megavitamin proponents Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. So this
has been known of for a while.

It was also thought to be debunked because "adult humans don't have brown fat"
- which, as this article makes clear, is more "don't have much". But better
imaging techniques have brought brown-fat thermogenesis back around.

If you're trying to do this with vitamin/herbal supplements, I think the
current trend is to use "bitter orange" instead of ephedrine. I find it's not
very effective for me, but I wasn't a fan of ephedrine either.

~~~
bretthopper
The E/C/A stack isn't a "fad weight loss supplement". It's actually one of the
few weight-loss methods that's been proven by many studies.

Meta-study: <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12672771>

Scientific reasoning behind the stack:
[http://thinksteroids.com/articles/ephedrine-targeting-
beta-a...](http://thinksteroids.com/articles/ephedrine-targeting-beta-
adrenergic-receptors/)

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aymeric
Is it related to what Tim Ferriss recommends in the Four Hour Body when he
suggests to take cold showers?

~~~
newandimproved
Perhaps, but Daniel Duchaine recommended it first, back in 1996 in his book
Body Opus.

Actually, his recommendation was swimming in cold water, which would probably
be much more effective.

~~~
billswift
Way back when I was in Boy Scouts, I tested for my lifesaving merit badge in a
mountain lake in October. In my opinion, anyone who has the self-discipline to
do this regularly isn't going to have any problem lowering his weight whatever
method he chooses.

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jacques_chester
While this is interesting, it's still early days. In the meantime, using a
control system based on a caloric deficit and regular measurement of weight
and caliper fat, combined with some weight training to prevent muscle loss, is
still the best way to lose weight.

People spend too much time looking for a silver bullet. We already have lead
bullets and they're plenty effective for 99.999% of cases.

~~~
bad_user
You really should read "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes:
<http://amzn.to/yLvq0A>

TL;DR - diets based on caloric deficit don't work so well / are inherently
unhealthy and there's staggering evidence that gets ignored.

~~~
yummyfajitas
Nonsense. There is plenty of evidence that many people don't stick to caloric
deficits without a gimmick (e.g., "no carbs", "no yellow food", etc), but
caloric deficit is the only known method of causing humans to lose weight.

It's also worth noting that Taubes is a charlatan and most of his scientific
claims have been debunked.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3396162>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3416009>

~~~
scythe
>but caloric deficit is the only known method of causing humans to lose
weight.

Obviously false. See also polio, chemotherapy, etc. Taubes may be a fool, but
that doesn't mean that $dissenting_statement is valid.

~~~
yummyfajitas
Fair enough. See also chopping off your leg, fire, etc.

When I said "the only known method", I meant within the universe of things
normal people attempt with the goal of losing weight.

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chillyconker
I'm not clear whether cold and excercise are capable of increasing the number
or proportion of brown fat cells, or whether they just trigger activity in
existing brown fat.

~~~
jacobolus
The impression I got from the article was that cold triggered distinct brown
fat deposits in particular places (neck, back, etc.) to burn fat (and sugar?)
as a way to increase temperature. By contrast, the article implied that
exercise turned “white” fat into “brown” fat, spread throughout the body
rather than in particular isolated spots. It wasn’t clear what the purpose of
this exercise-related brown fat was.

~~~
BerislavLopac
I'm just guessing as wildly as Doc Brown's hair, but it seems logical that the
"white" fat is the storage form of fat, while the brown one is the kind that
body uses to do actual useful stuff. Like in a gasoline engine -- the gas is
stored in concentrated form, but it's diffused and mixed with air moments
before the actual combustion, as that's more efficient.

So body creates the exercise-fat to have a ready source of energy required for
physical activity (remember, while humans were evolving there were no
exercise, only physical activity needed to survive).

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checoivan
Ray Cronise also gave a talk at ted med about how the cold can increase fat
loss.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrQ_ldCwKUQ>

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scythe
see also: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin#Obesity>

~~~
niels_olson
At this stage, any link between obesity, brown fat, and melatonin is somewhere
between one of many highly speculative hypotheses, and randomly selected
string of grammatically coherent words. Not to be dismissed, but not worth
reading any more unless your actually the one writing or funding the grant.

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programminggeek
I realize it's just one data point, but I tracked my weight for a whole year
basically and while my diet fluctuated somewhat, there did seem to be a strong
correlation to weight loss and using cold therapy to activate brown fat.

When I did the cold therapy, I lost weight much faster.

Ice pack on the back of the neck for 30-60 min each night while reading a book
works wonders.

