Brown Fat - part 2

but it is a highly metabolic tissue in the human body that burns energy and calories when activated!

It has recently generated much excitement as a potential future method of fighting obesity.

For decades researchers have known about brown fat, but have just not been able to study it in live humans...until now. 

Here is what these preliminary studies have found about brown fat:

Activate it -  

the only current way to activate brown fat (inducing calorie burning), is to stay chilly, right on the verge of shivering, for prolonged periods of time.

Gender Differences - 

In adults, women have double the amount of brown fat (7.5% of female versus 3.1 male)

Lean Versus Obese - 

Lean men had four times as much brown fat activity as overweight men

Young Versus Old  - 

Younger persons were found to have more brown fat than older individuals

Calorie Possibilities - 

The maximum extra energy that people with relatively large brown fat deposits probably tends to top out at around 500 calories

Researchers are looking for more ways to activate the brown fat in our bodies to help us burn more calories, so we don't just sit around in the cold trying to freeze our butts, double chins, and love handles off!