How to convert white fat to brown fat and why it is important for those looking to lose weight

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Thanks to the latest research, scientists have found that training does not just burn extra inches in problem areas. They boost your metabolism and turn standard (white) fat into brown fat, which burns more calories.

What is brown fat

Brown fat (Brown Adipose Tissue) provides thermogenesis or heat production by burning fat. Obese people tend to have significantly less brown fat than white fat.

Its cells have an exceptional feature - they contain a lot of mitochondria (organelles responsible for the accumulation of energy in the cell). In the mitochondria of brown fat cells, there is a special protein UCP1, which instantly converts fatty acids into heat, bypassing the ATP synthesis phase.

allows you to burn fat. When activated, fatty acids are pumped from white adipose tissue to brown adipose tissue. White fat is deposited under the skin, in the omentum and capsules of the internal organs. Brown fat, instead of storing energy, burns it in large quantities, releasing heat.

In a recent study. It was found that during exercise, a type of fat cells change from metabolically inactive (white, standard fat) to brown fat, which burns more calories.

Now scientists have even more evidence that the number of calories burned during sports is not limited.

This fact is key to all the other benefits we get from exercise. This is what the study's author Li-Jun Yang, professor of hematopathology at Florida State University, said.

Everyone knows about the benefits of playing sports, but few people think about the mechanisms that trigger all these processes. This study explains why people who exercise regularly have a leaner body and a denser bone structure. It also helps prevent obesity, metabolic diseases (such as type 2 diabetes), heart problems, and stroke.

How it works

During physical activity, a number of hormones are produced in the body. One of them - the hormone irisin - is responsible for regulating the process of breaking down fat (lipolysis) in the body. It is he who is considered a potential fat burner.

In the laboratory, fat cells were exposed to irisin. Under its influence, the activity of another protein increased, which turned white fat into brown.

Brown fat helps the body burn as many calories as possible, rather than storing them in secluded places at the waist or in the hips.

In addition, brown fat has a positive effect on other aspects of the metabolic process: insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. It is these processes that help prevent obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

For the first time, the conversion of regular fat to brown after exercise was observed in mice. In a recent study, the same effect was observed in humans.

The benefits of the body's production of irisin do not end there. Scientists have also found that when mixed with stem cells in adipose tissue (young adipose cells that have not reached maturity), irisin turns it into something other than standard adipose tissue. Under the influence of a hormone, stem cells become a completely different type of tissue, which thickens the structure of the bones and makes them stronger.

Another interesting fact. In a sample of adipose tissue with the addition of irisin, the amount of standard white fat is 20-60% less than in the sample without the addition of the hormone. It is worth noting that the experiments were carried out on samples of human tissue, and not on the person himself. The next step is to repeat the experiment in humans to finally confirm the effects of irisin in real life, not in laboratory conditions.

This effect of irisin on our body can be considered an additional stimulus for training, even if the research data is not 100% confirmed. And while Dr. Young and his colleagues work on the evidence within the walls of the university, we can continue to work on our bodies in the sports club.