German study finds appropriate cooling and weight loss protects the heart

According to a report by the British "Daily Telegraph" on February 13, a new German study published in the British "Nature Medicine" found that appropriately lowering temperature can help lose weight and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Scientists at the University of Hamburg Medical Center in Germany have found that appropriate exposure to a low temperature environment can allow brown adipose tissue, also known as brown adipose tissue, to clear harmful fat molecules from the blood. Cold causes brown fat to burn high-calorie fat molecules, which are converted into heat to maintain body temperature. These high-calorie fat molecules from food, which are rich in triglycerides, can cause hardening of the blood vessels and lead to cardiovascular disease. It can also cause unhealthy white fat accumulation throughout the body, leading to obesity.

Experiments performed by scientists using experimental mice found that placing experimental mice in an environment of 4 degrees Celsius could increase the ability of brown fat in their bodies to burn high-calorie fat molecules and reduce the fat in the experimental mice. Scientists claim that low temperature enhances brown fat activity, which also helps reduce the impact of a high-fat diet on human health, and helps obese patients burn more body fat.

Brown fat is one of two types of adipose tissue. Large amounts of brown fat are found in newborns and hibernating mammals, which helps generate extra calories to maintain body temperature while keeping the body still. White fat is high-calorie fat molecules stored in the body, while brown fat burns these high-calorie molecules to generate heat. Past research has believed that brown fat does not exist in adults. The latest research has found that adults store a certain amount of brown fat in their chest and neck. New research also found that it may increase the body's storage of brown fat; under low temperatures, white fat is also expected to transform into brown fat.

Dr. Alexander Batterte, who led the new study, said that brown fat plays a role in penetrating blood lipids, especially high-calorie triglyceride-rich lipoproteins from liver and dietary fats. If the formation of brown fat in the human body can be stimulated through drugs or biological pathways, then among the "diseases that can be cured with brown fat", hyperlipidemia and obesity will top the list. (Editor in charge: Yang Miao Intern Editor Yan Yugeng)