Oh, terrific...

Well, turns out, we aren't just lucky enough to have "white" fat, which we commonly know as body fat (actually it's a gross yellow color), but we are unlucky enough not to have much "brown" fat - this is intramuscular fat that is used to regulate body temperatures (so a bad fat vs. a good fat...). There has been a lot of press regarding brown fat recently, but scientists have known about it for decades. Newborns, and in particular, premature babies, have more (it's located along the spine and can be 5% of their body mass) because they have an inability to keep themselves warm - they have lower body mass, so less body fat; their nervous systems are not fully developed, and they are not able to move away from the cold or keep themselves warm on their own. However, as we get older, the body becomes more adept at regulating body temperature, so brown fat stores shrink. It was previously thought that this brown fat was not important, but recent studies indicate that it has the potential to help you lose weight and keep it off by burning calories faster - while keeping your intake the same. When you are cold, your brown fat becomes activated and uses white fat for fuel; this is very inefficient for your body and consumes of lot of white fat (yeah!!) AND burns a higher amount of calories. All of this sounds great - we could just spend more time out in the cold or stick your head in the freezer, but the reality is that as adults we have very little of this "good" fat - adults have a small amount in the neck and between the shoulder blades, and by small amount I mean less that 1/2 of an ounce - and that's for women - we have twice as much as men (oh, hallelujah!!); obese people have less than leaner people, older less than younger, and those with high blood sugar also have less. Researchers have found one of the body's "messenger" proteins promotes the growth of brown fat, and they are working on drugs to stimulate this production; it has also been shown that decreasing the room temperature to the point that you feel chilly can burn up to nine pounds a year - but would you really rather do that than go to the gym and burn those calories the old-fashioned way??? Besides, as your body burns calories, it stimulates your hunger signals - this is why we always eat more in the winter, so it's very hard to keep your intake at the level needed to keep weight off. I just thought I would explain this to you because you will be hearing a lot more about it - please don't be fooled by some magic supplement, when all it takes is drinking a glass of cold water!! Melissa