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Brown Fat: Magic Fat That Burns Calories (& Everyone Has)

news.health.com — What if you had a special kind of fat in your body that burned calories instead of storing them—and it could be activated simply by spending time in the cold? According to three preliminary studies published this month, you probably do.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 15, 2009

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  • GnralHavoc, on 04/15/2009, -0/+25That is a racist statement white fat is just as good as brown fat.
  • Scrappy1850, on 04/15/2009, -2/+24Brown Fat is my Wu-Tang name
  • abadonn, on 04/15/2009, -1/+22I live in Minnesota, I'm still fat.
  • slimkevi, on 04/15/2009, -1/+20There's another kind of magic that burns calories, too. It's called exercise.
  • pyngthyngs, on 04/15/2009, -1/+14Frankly, I don't want to know what color my fat is but if it burns calories I want some more.
  • RadiatedAnt, on 04/15/2009, -1/+13Krafts new Brown fat mayonnaise now with -200 calories per tablespoon!
  • Afrochu, on 04/15/2009, -2/+12Another article claiming that brown fat causes cancer in 5...4...3...
  • FeloniusMonkey, on 04/15/2009, -0/+9Dugg for the gratuitous picture of a cold dude.
    (Ann Coulter would have worked just as well)
  • nepidae, on 04/15/2009, -2/+9Or you could get off your ass and put down the donut 3 days a week.
  • Gerbosaurus, on 04/15/2009, -0/+7This is not new news. Cold acclimated rats have been shown to have higher brown fat activity. They created drugs to stimulate the beta 3 adrenoceptors to activate this fat, the problem is is that the agonist they made was not specific enough in humans and it directed white fat to release lipids into the blood stream, increasing the persons lipid profile making them less healthy. If someone can isolate the human beta 3 adrenoceptor and determine the structure and make an agonist specific to that, then in theory you could just take a pill and burn more energy.
  • elephantstomp, on 04/15/2009, -1/+7I kept my thermostat set at 62 the entire winter and I didn't lose any weight.
  • anexanhume, on 04/15/2009, -2/+8In other words, shivering all the time will help you loose weight.
  • TheInformer, on 04/15/2009, -0/+5Too bad brown fat isn't made from sitting in a chair all day watching TV.
  • eraofk00l, on 04/15/2009, -1/+6FTW...For a second I thought this was from The Onion
  • mehan, on 04/15/2009, -1/+6brown fat sounds delicious.
  • painting, on 04/15/2009, -5/+10or just stop eating so much fatties.
  • PiggtailGirl, on 04/15/2009, -0/+4Great, now a bunch of fat people are gonna move to Canada.
  • anexanhume, on 04/15/2009, -0/+4And what do muscles need?

    Energy.

    Where does energy come from if we don't have calories readily available?

    You can do it, I know you can.
  • inactive, on 04/15/2009, -1/+5Protip: If you're fat and want to lose weight you should eat better and exercise.
  • Black6x, on 04/15/2009, -1/+4Then why are people in the Polar Bear Club still so fat.
  • Nboy514, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3For the nerds out there, brown fat burns calories by decoupling ATP synthase from the electron transport chain in the mitochondria. If you're all out of brown fat, Ephedrine does similar stuff.
  • Shipyaad, on 04/15/2009, -2/+5Sounds like a good excuse to lock my fat cousin into the freezer for a few weeks.
  • anexanhume, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3loose vs. lose fail on my part.
  • sigmaman2, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3...and I like Black BBWs!
  • ninjakuNerd, on 04/16/2009, -0/+3Just come off it. You know you wish your fat was brown.
  • Scrappy1850, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3what did it used to say?
  • jezsik, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3Well, not if you live in Hawaii.
  • jezsik, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3Touché; I stand corrected!
  • LilJimmyNordin, on 04/16/2009, -0/+3Great. This "brown fat" should provide Russell Peters with enough fodder for another two hours of awful content.
  • iamnos, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3FTA: “It doesn’t take much extra food to eliminate any benefit you’ve got,” he says. “I personally don’t think that hanging out in the cold is going to be an effective way of fighting obesity.”

    And it was most noticeable in people with a BMI under 25 (I know BMI isn't the best measurement, but that's what the article talks about and it is a good general measurement, though there are exceptions).
  • sigmaman2, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3He said he thought it was a racist story about fat chicks, or something close to that.
  • someology, on 04/16/2009, -0/+2but, but, have you _tried_ doughnuts? They're addictive.
  • etx313, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2MMMMMMM Bacon
  • ihavefrowned, on 04/16/2009, -0/+2What kinda sex are you having? Its always a workout for me.
  • mrogi, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Brown fat is good. That's why everybody loves Oprah.
  • orion2013, on 04/16/2009, -0/+2BORRING!!!!!!!!! still no cure for obesity ! we are so primitive....
  • pintocat, on 04/15/2009, -2/+4Magic fat? :p
  • shutaro, on 04/15/2009, -1/+3I bet it's the same stuff they make brown sauce out of.
  • orion2013, on 04/16/2009, -0/+2Nope. We need a cure or obesity will never be end. We will continue being so primitive.
  • slimkevi, on 04/15/2009, -1/+3You'd think, but wear a heart rate monitor during sex. I guarantee you don't last long enough to count it as exercise.
  • zantos420, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2nope just some cheese that someone stuck up their nose first
  • malechite, on 04/15/2009, -1/+3or sexercise
  • Enterres, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Definitely not - good fat comes from eating saturated fats. Essentially the difference between olive oil and the cheap canola oil they use at most pizza eateries.
  • anchor, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2I could have sworn the first thing to be consumed after your supply of carbohydrates was muscle tissue, then fat.
  • matude, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Dunno, Northern Europe is doing pretty good at not being fat:
    http://www.coolmelbourne.org/coolwr/_assets/main/l ...
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6148456.stm
  • Enterres, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2You may also sum up the 'discovery' about brown fat like this: eating exclusively saturated fats is healthy because the oils and fats that tend towards being unsaturated will spoil and become rancid in the heat. When your body converts healthy fats it makes brown fat in you.
    Ever seen a fat mean sweating in the summer? It's in large part because of a diet of unsaturated, greasy foods and of course dairy products.
    Also, since no one else is taking this stance i've got to say that the idea of making a drug, even one as fantastic as Gerbosaurus describes, is ridiculous. You'd get the same effects essentially by eating healthy and then drinking coffee (speeds up your metabolism).
    On the other hand there was this article about a Finnish guy who scaled Mt. Everest wearing only shorts. If i could take a pill and not feel the cold like him i'd be all for it...unless there were side effects.
  • jezsik, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Seriously. Ever notice that cold countries have a lot of fat people?
  • elixeo, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Umm...so why do we have so many obese Eskimos?
  • sigmaman2, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Aw, you changed your original comment!
  • inactive, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2fitness pwn.
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