In This Article
Brown Fat vs. White Fat
A January 2021 study published in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine has linked brown adipose tissue, also known as ‘healthy’ brown fat, to protection against several chronic diseases. This is just the latest in a growing collection of research that has shown us we should build more of this beneficial, energy-burning mass within our bodies.
To understand all of the benefits of brown fat, it helps to compare it to the white fat we are so often combating. While brown fat gobbles up glucose (sugar) to burn calories and create energy, white fat simply stores calories and accumulates around the belly and hips. Metabolically harmful, white fat seems to be a byproduct of a comfortable lifestyle… often the result of living in a warm house, with warm clothes and an abundance of food—specifically a diet of sweet, highly processed, and refined foods.
See also Detox Fat Cells: How to Remove Toxic Substances from Fat Cells
The Science on Brown Fat
Before I discuss ways to increase your brown fat levels, let’s look at the science. Studies now show that certain lifestyle techniques can help convert white fat into beige fat. Beige fat is when some of the white fat is marbled with brown fat making what scientists are called beige fat. White fat undergoes a browning process when exposed to low temperatures. They have similar characteristics to brown fat cells in that they can burn calories almost as effectively as brown fat.
Irisin Helps Convert White Fat into Brown and Beige Fat
Irisin is a hormone that facilitates the transformation of white fat into brown and beige fat. Irisin improves energy production and metabolism while reducing the risk of insulin resistance and diabetes. In one study, irisin blocked the formation of white fat and reduced the fat cells formed anywhere in the body by 40-60%. Irisin is stimulated by aerobic exercise training. Specifically, exercise that stays steady at moderate to high intensity can include interval training. Cold exposure as well as exercising in the cold has been shown to increase the amount of circulating irisin and increase the production of both brown and beige fat.
Irisin then acts as a “messenger,” telling the various parts of your body how to respond. It essentially informs your body that you need to start burning fat instead of storing fat and that you need to cut down on your production of adipose tissue in the future. What’s becoming clear is that exercise is about more than just building stronger muscles and bones, or about improving overall cardiovascular health. Those are all vital, of course. However, physical activity could play an even more significant role in triggering biological and biochemical mechanisms within your body. Every time you exercise, your body is ramping up its production of irisin, which is then distributed throughout your body.
5 Ways to Build Brown Fat
Studies have found that our ancestors were genetically adapted to cold environments, which encouraged the evolution of brown fat as a natural means of thermogenesis. Modern heat-adapted populations have slowly lost this genetic advantage and suffer from a lack of brown fat, often meaning they are predisposed to a host of metabolic concerns.
Today, brown fat is naturally abundant in newborns and animals but generally deficient in modern humans. This may suggest that a modern lifestyle favors genes that slowly replace our baby brown fat with metabolically challenging white fat. Researchers fascinated with building brown fat have discovered numerous techniques to change white fat to brown fat. Below are some of the ways we’ve learned how to flip the switch on white fat.
1. Calorie Restriction Increases Brown Fat
A 2019 study in the journal Aging Cell found that calorie restriction increased the production of brown fat. Just a 20% reduction in caloric intake actually increased the production of brown fat and reduced white fat in mice. The effect was linked to longevity and a decrease in metabolic disorders. Studies also show that calorie restriction did not increase the levels of irisin, suggesting that other biological mechanisms are involved in converting white to brown fat.
To access these benefits, try the Ayurvedic Calorie Restriction Program. The easiest way to do this is by skipping or reducing calories at supper. Having a breakfast and late lunch with no dinner is the classic way to intermittently fast and reduce calories without starvation.
See also Calorie-Restrictive Kaya Kalpa Cleanse for Autophagy and Stem Cell Regeneration
2. Some Foods, Herbs, and Spices Can Increase Brown Fat
Many fruits and herbs boost brown fat, but you have to eat the skin. The waxy coats on apples and other fruits and in herbs such as tulsi holy basil, basil, rosemary, lavender, and peppermint are rich in ursolic acid, which has been found to boost brown fat.
Ursolic acid has also been found to increase fat burning and support healthy weight loss, healthy blood sugar, and healthy liver function, as well as increase energy production.
Curcumin, one of the main constituents in turmeric, has been found to boost energy production in mitochondria and generate an increase in brown fat production. Turmeric has also been shown to slow the generation of unwanted white fat. Lastly, studies on capsaicin (found in cayenne peppers and green tea) and resveratrol(found in red grapes and omega-3 fatty acids derived from fish oils) increase brown fat production.
See also Turmeric Increases Health-Promoting Brown Fat
3. Exercise Increases Brown Fat
Numerous studies have linked regular exercise to the increased production of brown fat. In a study published in the journal Disease Models and Mechanisms, researchers determined that exercise stimulates the release of the irisin enzyme (named after the Greek messenger god Iris) that converts white fat to brown fat. For the best production of irisin, aerobic exercise was the most effective.
In another study, published in the journal Biology, 12 weeks of bicycle exercise training 3 times per week boosted irisin levels significantly, resulting in an increase of brown fat and a significant reduction in insulin resistance.
How does exercise help? Exercise is perceived by the body as a stressor, one requiring energy to either fight or flee (sympathetic nervous system activation). This need for fuel results in increased brown fat production. Some reports suggest that the muscle contractions during shivering in the cold is the underlying reason why any muscle contractions would increase brown fat production.
4. Cold Exposure Increases Brown Fat
Exercising in the cold or in combination with cold exposure provides even greater brown fat production benefits.
In one study, published on PloS One, cold exposure doubled metabolic activity while increasing the production of brown fat. In another study on cold exposure, volunteers were in 60-degree Fahrenheit temperature-controlled rooms for 6 hours a day for 10 days. These volunteers saw a significant increase in brown fat and blood sugar control.
Cold exposure has been recently popularized by the “Iceman,” a.k.a Wim Hof, who has broken several cold exposure records. His studies have documented the ability to increase brown fat with cold exposure. He suggests starting your cold exposure journey by ending a warm shower with cold water, or by slowly building up to a 10 minute cold shower or 10 minute ice bath.
5. Melatonin Supplementation Boosts Brown Fat
In the scientific community, melatonin is known to be much more than a sleep aid. Surprisingly, it’s linked to brown fat too.
As a circadian clock regulator, melatonin aims to restore an evolutionary baseline of metabolic activity. Our increasing intolerance to cold and lack of brown fat as we age can be reversed with melatonin supplementation. In one study, published in the journal Diabetes, 3 mg of melatonin was taken before bed for 3 months. Researchers found that this dose supported healthy cholesterol, blood sugar, and insulin levels, as well as a significant increase in brown fat.
Learn More About Low Dose Melatonin
See also The Longevity Benefits of Melatonin + the Science on How Much to Take
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