Loosing weight, brown fat, white fat
What is the difference between white fat and brown fat? Well is better to have brown fat for thermogenesis (production of heat) if you want to lose weight and keep warm. Brown fat has got a high degree of vascularity (more blood into them). They contain more mitochondria, where the energy fuel is made. Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) is the main energy for the building up compounds as well as breaking them up. Babies have a lot of brown fat as they need to cool down or warm up more than adults for survival, then, once they start moving the muscles will deal with activating our brown fat. Adrenaline, which is the hormone that deals with stress activates the brown fat which is why when hunting or doing fighting might make you lose some weight (also there is a danger of exausting your adrenal glands if that carries on for too long). Thermogenesis is the dissipation of energy derived from ingested food as heat. So when you overheat or you are exposed to prolonged cold, the brain and more specifically the sympathetic division of the brain (the division that is more to do with stress activation, running, fear, etc) activates the thermogenesis. For this process also retinoic acid is also stimulated (vitamin A). Also lipoprotrein lipase and glucose transporters are enhanced to provide fuel. This means that the more heat is needed the more ATP needs to be produces which stored glucose and nutrients are then broke down to supply this. In theory this is a way to lose more weight. There is a theory regarding obesity and defective thermogenesis in obese people, which counts for the fact that they cannot loose weight. I have been to a seminar yesterday that actually confirmed this with plenty of research. According to their study, people exposed to cold baths would activate the brown fat and therefore thermogenesis. The people participated in the study lost about 38 kgs in 24 weeks without being on a restricted diet. Certain food activate or de-activate thermogenesis, capsicin and protein would activate it and carbohydrates and sugars would turn it off. Nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin D and essential fatty acid (omega 3 oils) are needed for the brown fat to be activated. Low or deficiency of these nutrients would not activate the thermogenesis. Warm clients or heating system would not activate the thermogenesis either. Also this is my thought is the eschimos have a lot more brown fat than anybody else and they do not have high incidence of heart problems. That because they eat a lot of fat from fish and because they are exposed to extreme cold.
The above is a thought for people that would like to lose weight and nothing works…… There are many more factors to losing weight though, as emotional and mental condition, allergies, and the entire body-mind integration…..
