Brown adipose tissue helps keep the body warm and slim, new Canadian research suggests. According to Medical News Today, the study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation found that brown fat is activated in cold temperatures to maintain body heat and burn calories.
But the effects of brown fat depend on how much of the adipose tissue a person has; people with a normal body mass index (BMI) tend to have more brown fat, while people considered obese have less. This means that people of a normal weight are slower to start shivering and quicker to burn calories.
To reach these conclusions, Dr. Andre Carpentier and his team from the Universite de Sherbrooke examined six healthy young men whose BMI ranged from normal to obese. Each of the men had their brown fat levels measured, and were then placed into a cooling suit. The temperature of their skin was lowered by 3.8 degrees Celsius.
“During this exposure, these patients were slightly shivering,” Carpentier told CTV News. “They were at the threshold of shivering.”
But the men with high levels of brown fat didn’t start shivering as quickly, Medical News Today said. As soon as the men felt cold, the brown fat in their bodies activated to maintain their core body temperature. They also burned more calories.
